Hello from Kansas!

Just getting starting with Sq Ft Gardening... Looking forward to all the insight and experiences you all have to share. I am pregnant with #2 due in August, and I figured this year would be the best time to start simplifying my garden! Looking forward to the journey...

mamalexy

How nice to have you join us. And congratulations on the upcoming birth!

SFG is going to make your gardening so much simpler. And the older one can "Help" in the garden.

Have fun setting up your new SFG. Please keep us updated on your progress!

Welcome to the SFG Forum!

You will love gardening the SFG way - it is so addicting...

Dunkinjean

The older one can definitely help! She's going to be 12 years old this summer... so it's expected! She will be a help in many ways.

I am purchasing the remainder of my mel's mix ingredients tomorrow. I am ill-prepared, have no home made compost, and have only found 3 different kinds locally.

1. cotton burr
   
2. mushroom
   
3. an organic mix
   

Do you think this will do to get started? He's so adamant in the all-new sq ft gardening book that you need AT LEAST five... I don't want to jinx myself from the beginning but I may not have a choice.

Rather than driving all over, perhaps you could make a few phone calls to places like a feed and seed, a farm and tractor store, local nurseries, wal-mart, Home Dept and Lowes to find another couple of types. Not brands, but types of ingredients such as,

composted forestry products,

composted cow manure,

composted chicken manure,

worm castings,

mushroom compost,

rabbit manure

leaf mold

and if a package says garden compost, check out the list of ingredients.

By having five types of ingredients, your plants will have access to a larger variety of nutrients. If you are unable to locate five types, don't panic, the more varieties the better, but you can still grow a good garden with less. However, you may need to fertilize if you are missing enough nutrients.

Check out this thread on Different Composts

Welcome to the forum, Mamalexy.

You're starting your new little one out right, as a SFG'er from the beginning. And how nice that you already have a 12 y/o helper, too. SFGs are great for kids.

In some areas you can find Black Hen at Lowe's or other garden centers. We have Black Cow at our Lowe's, but not Black Hen. Composted cow manure is usually much easier to find than chicken manure.

Beware of cotton burr compost. I used some last year, and it was full of stems, cotton bolls, and big wads of cotton fiber. I think it took some nitrogen away from my plants while it broke down. If you use it, it might be a good idea to sift out the larger pieces of stems and bolls before mixing unless your brand is already well composted.

Keep us posted on how your garden grows, and remember that we love photos.

Welcome aboard!! Happy to have you here. Where in Kansas? I grew up in the SE corner, Independence, down there with Coffeyville, Parsons, Chanute, etc. I have such a soft spot in my heart for that area of the world.

Glad you have a little help. I have a daughter that loves to help me, too. Pictures are worth 1000 words. I would encourage you to post some up when you get settled a bit more. We love to see how your garden is growing.

As for the compost, you have a pretty good start. I would run with it and just keep topping up with the homeade stuff as it becomes available. Most of us have difficulty in finding five types of composts....not that you should stop looking. However, it sounds to me like you have done your diligence to this point, too.

Hope to see you around frequently.

I'm originally from the Gulf Coast Texas area and moved to Kansas in 2010. Had read about square foot gardening a long time ago,and then forgot about it till I saw a reference to it. So pleased to have discovered this site and am really looking forward to starting with SFG in my new home! Should I wait till next year to set up a box and just spend the fall winter reading and planning?

Happy to be here!

Hi mamalexy, hi crispy! to the forum!

Okay mamalexy, I'm as excited for your new baby as your new garden (I just love babies!), but the math isn't working out for me. Conception for an August 1st baby would be November 9th - that's almost a month in the future. What am I missing here? My first child is an August baby. She requested her "own square" in the garden today after spying strawberry corn seeds at the nursery today! Oh, and check the ingredients on your organic mix. It may have different types in there for you already!

Crispy, hopefully some Kansas gardeners will be along to help you with your question, but my two cents says if you still have nice weather, build it now. That way you'll be ready to plant in the spring as soon as your last frost date clears, instead of waiting for nice weather to build in. Plus, there may be things you can pop in there now to overwinter like garlic or onions!

gwennifer wrote:Okay mamalexy, I'm as excited for your new baby as your new garden (I just love babies!), but the math isn't working out for me. Conception for an August 1st baby would be November 9th - that's almost a month in the future. What am I missing here?,,,

Mamalexy's post was in March?

Mamalexy's post was in March?

LOL!!! Yep! That's what I was missing! Thanks Boffer. I thought the post was from today since it just appeared today in the latest topics. But now I see it was crispy that bumped it.

Sorry mamalexy!!! Having an August baby myself, I was just too familiar with when you would "know", and I just jumped in there. I'm such a dork! I can't see if you've been back on the forums but I hope you're around and had a safe delivery and can post some pics of the new babies (garden and human varieties)!