Just getting started!

I am just trying my hand with my first SFG, and have to say I love the concept already! Living in Nashville our weather seems to change daily this time of year but I planted chives, basil, okra and a few tomatoes yesterday. I am very excited to read everyone's posts and enjoy the pics for I have alot to learn so please bear some crazy questions I might ask!

Hi there! and welcome to the forum! We are so glad to have you. The more you put the SFG garden concepts into practice, the more you will love it.

Have you read the All New Square Foot Gardening book? If not, it is worth making the effort to get yourself a copy. It will help you a lot. The fact that Mel has done all the work for us and explained it all so simply in his book makes it worth getting and keeping in your gardening library. Mine is getting a bit dogeared and stained. (oops!)

There are quite a few on here who are from your part of the continent. I am on the same continent but quite a bit further north in Canada. Feel free to ask your questions and you will find lots of people who are willing to help out. As you can see from the posts, photos are encouraged. So is a certain amount of goofiness......okay maybe the goofiness is not really encouraged but it is tolerated.

We are so happy to have you!!

Gwynn

Robin

Very nice having you join us. A first SFG is a wonderful thing.

As Old Hippie said, be sure you read the book, if you haven't already. It is such a great resource and I refer to mine all the time.

Now that you are set up and have a few plants in, you will have very little "work" to do. You will want to check for the errant weed, maybe pinch a sucker out of your tomatoes and watching for any pests in your garden.

The next great thing is harvesting. Oh Joy!

Keep us posted on your progress.

Hi Robin, I'm so glad to have you join us! This is my first year for sfgs, also. I have 2 4X4 boxes to start and already am antsy for more, more, more!!! Hopefully, I'll be able to add 2 or 3 boxes for my fall garden. How many boxes do you have to start?

Post questions, photos and comments. There are many knowledgeable sfgardeners who delight in helping us newbies with our many questions and insecurities.

Gwynn is right about the certain amount of goofiness - it really helps to have a good sense of humor here! There are some folks on here who are just fall-down-funny and I hope you enjoy the goofiness, along with the good gardening advice. Also be sure to check out the regional forum for your area where there will be folks who can be especially helpful for advice specific to your locality.

Again, welcome and I wish you the best with your sfgardening efforts! Keep us posted on how things are going!

Thanks to the replies, I did get a copy of the book as a gift from a friend. I already had a raised bed 4x12 with soil filled from last yr so I was not able to start from scratch as suggested in book so I am going to do the best I can. I did get my grids done and a fence around it (deer love it), since it's raining today I am going to continue my reading! Looking forward to learning lots from you all and yes a great sense of humor gets us through lots!!!!

Good to have another mid-southerner on the forums.

I'm sure you will enjoy SFG. It's a lot of fun and so much easier than traditional gardening.

I just wanted to encourage you to do the best you can to put real Mel's Mix in your raised bed. SFG is an intensive gardening method. You will be planting things a lot closer than usual in shallow (6 inches) earth. In order for you to get a good harvest without doing a lot of supplemental fertilizing you are going to need a super rich mix that hold water and drains well. That mix is Mel's Mix.

How deep is your bed? You only need 6 inches of Mel's Mix. Maybe you could take some of the old soil out and top up with Mel's Mix? Just don't mix the two together.

At any rate, I hope you decide to stop by the Middle South regional forum. Regional forums are a great place to get region specific information, ask regional questions, and generally get to know folks from your area. We have a lot of folks from TN on the forums.

Welcome from another Tennessean. I'm fairly close, outside of Chattanooga. You will love SFG and the forum is so helpful. I hope you have a great gardening year.

Welcome! I think a lot of us newbies are in the same spot.... just trying to figure this gardening thing out... it should be a lot of fun figuring it out....

Ask away! That's why we are here, too. We love he concept and we love to talk about it however we can.

Welcome aboard. Poke around and you will find lots of categories for posting from composting to showing off your accomplishments. I hope to see more of you very soon!