Hi from Illinois

This is my first year having a veggie garden. I realy wanted to start one for a long time and went looking for a book when I came across mel's sfg book. I started reading it on line and decieded to stop on my way home to get it. Mel made it sound so easy I got excited. I told my sisters about the book and my twin wants to try it and my older sister thinks it wont work. So this year we are all starting a veggie garden. I kind of feel like we're in a compitition. I went to homedepot to price supplies to build my garden and came across a 4x4x6h premade gardening box for $15 on clearance. Last years model. I had to drive all over the place to find the five different compost for my MM. Everything else was easy to find. I have pea's,spinach,carrots,strawberries,onions, and lettace already growing. I plan on putting cucumber,watermelon,tomatoes,greenbeans,chives,bell peppers, and eggplant in also. I was going to grow potatoes but decieded to try that next year. I hope I'm not being two ambitious. My backyard is mostly full sun so I hope I wont have a problem with too much sun. Right now my biggest problem is a 10 week old beagle that has jumped into my garden 3 times now. I need to figure out how to keep him out until he's trained. My 3yr old has helped me poke the holes and plant the seeds. I'm hoping to get my son interested in gardening. root for me in my gardening competition.

Beaner just wait until your sister who does not think it will work gets a load of your garden she will be a convert in no time. Great score on the $15 box you are off to a great start.

Welcome. Is your twin going to try SFG or is she following your older sister. I can see a competition of 1 row garden, 1 raised bed garden not using Mel's Mix and you following the All New Square Foot Garden book. Bet you get more with less work. Keep us posted as you progress AND take lots of pics.

Kay

The key is LESS WORK! Sure, if I fertilized my tomatoes, I could get them up to the roof and loaded with fruit like my step-father used to do. But, I don't want to have the sit in the garden for hours everyday or something dies attitude. I want to relax in my garden.

That said, I'm sure you'll get what you want. And, I hope you win!

Welcome aboard. This is a great resource, along with your book, when it comes to firing off questions about what to do, what to try, and what is going on/wrong. We, obviously, love to help. Pictures are worth 1000's of words, too.

Come check out the regional forums when you get settled in. Our Midwest forum is getting loaded with local information.

Keep the spinach in the shade of another plant so it continues to provide once the weather starts to really warm up.

And, where in Illinois are you? Closer to St. Louis or Chicago?

Hi Beaner! From the zone you entered I would guess you'd be in the southern part of our state... I'm in Park Ridge up near Chicago. I think you're plans sound wonderful especially the competition. I think you're ambitions are just positive plans for the future... can't have too much of that... I am new to gardening and SFG too... from my LITTLE experience with lettuce, though, I would give your spinach LOTs of water and maybe a little mulch if it is in direct sun. But you will get all kinds of good advice from more experienced gardeners here. Anyway... WELCOME!

You will win hands down!!

OK I'm closer to St.Louis. My twin is doing a combow thing, she also bought the same sfg box that I did and the same compost,peat moss,verm. Which see plans to mix for her box and till into the ground next to her box as well. She is planning to do Mel's method in the box and I think row in the other garden. I'm not sure how well she is going to do. She has a habit of not watering her plants and I don't think she has as much sun as she thinks she does. However I could be wrong.
On another note I saw little carrot top popping there little heads out of the ground the other day. Yeeaaahhh. I get home from work in the morning and run around back to see whats new in my garden. Its like a present just waiting for me. The dog on the other hand got into the garden again. Luckily he was digging in a square that had not been planted yet. The only real damage was to my grid and one of my two pea's top got snapped off. The plant had another set of leaves on it and has gotten bigger since the crime occured so I think its going to make it. Oh yeah I just found out I have a bun in the oven.

Accra warned us. https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t5386-i-blame-the-mel-s-mix

Congratulations on both growing endeavors.

Kay

Beaner

Congrats on the little bun. I agree, you need to blame the Mel's Mix.

That 3 year old is going to have so much fun helping. The beagle.............., well you will just need to find a way to keep him out of the garden.

Enjoy!

Hey, congrats on the baby!! That's just great.

My dog digs, too. I can't figure the best way to get her, either. She is a pro at doing things when I'm not looking.

Hello there and welcome! My little chihuahua mix is a digger too. Our neighbor's cat thought the beds were its new litterbox...I went to Lowes and bought some plastic netting. It is black and came in a 4 foot X 50 foot roll for $13 dollars. Since my beds are 4' wide X 8 feet long I put a couple of screws on each end of my boxes, put the netting on the screws and rolled across to protect my beds. It has solved my dog and cat problem. Oh and it is easy to roll back up when you need to get to your squares