Greetings & Hallucinations from Georgia!

Newbie here from the furnace belt...South Georgia...been poking around the regional thread for a day or so, trying to find my way around...and guess I should've started here...but anyway...hi all...good to come across this forum of fellow square footers!

Wife and I had our first SFG last year and did so well...enjoyed it so much....we fenced off another section of lawn....had boxes built and basically doubled our garden. We canned lots of tomatoes last year and have enjoyed soups, chilis, pasta, etc all year from those babies! She wanted to freeze 'em this year...and added a couple of spices (a tiny bit of vinegar & mini-mini-mini basil, I think)...plus some cayenne from our garden...and that stuff is the bomb!

I used to always have a small garden, mainly for the homegrown tomatoes...but they always died about halfway through the filling out process. I learned that it was the "tobacco wilt" virus and was a ground-bound disease. So...after about 5 years of failed attempts, I quit gardening. My sis-in-law said "grow 'em in buckets...it works". I did and it did. Then we heard about SFG and it's been awesome!

Sorry to ramble...I like reading more than writing...so I'll get back to it. Glad to be amongst ya! cheers....elwojavascript:emoticonp('')

Welcome, elwowee! I'm so glad you've decided to join us! We're a friendly and "talkative" group who just love comparing notes about sfgardening. I'm in my first year with sfgs and am enjoying it tremendously, though I have had some not so successful ventures. That's just my learning curve, though, and I hope to be better at it next time. I still had much better luck than with my few row gardening attempts. We have some of those soil-borne diseases here in Mississippi, too, and that's one of the major reasons I wanted to try sfgs.

This was the first year I didn't have blossom end rot on my tomatoes! I hope you'll post often and share your questions and your successes with us. Everyone loves pics, too, so post those if you can. We love to see how other's gardens are doing! I hope to see you around the forum!

Another elwowee from Kelejan who lives in the Great White North.

I love this method of gardening, kept myself in salds all season and had extra runner beans and kale to freeze for winter.

Tomatoes not so good, but plenty of other stuff to keep me happy.

Started last year with two 4x4 and added another this year.

elowee, Are you in my region of GA, the coastal and tropical south? If you are planning a fall garden what are you going to plant? I am planting one for the 1st time in two weeks or so.

Welcome...How far south are you?

Thanks for the hospitality! Sherryeo....congrats on escaping the blossom end rot! That was a part of the "dirt" gardens problem, once the wilt virus kicked in. Mine practically ended by switching to container, and subsequently SFG...but still tried to come back near the season-end. I cured it with the addition of some lime both when we set out the plants...and then a little sprinkled and watered in about halfway through the season. Thanks for the welcome!

Kelejan...thanks! Amazing how the regions and their temps play such an important role in plants. My neighbor has relatives in the North Georgia mountains...and suggests various types of heirloom plants to him...nearly none of which work. We have to seek hot weather varieties which do spectacularly! Congrats on bean runners...all I seem to grow are the plants...no beans! Switched to a bush bean this year...Roma II...best I have ever eaten...and HUGE production. We nearly fainted.

Shannon1 and AprilakaCCIL....we're in South Georgia, about 40 miles north of the Georgia/Florida line....hot and humid here...especially this year...but love the other seasons. The local seasonal joke here is "The four seasons of South GA are summer, summer, summer and Christmas." LOL pretty warm these days.

Re the fall garden...we're still planning...but have sweet potatoes growing like crazy...peppers still doing great and herbs all over the place. We are thinking we'll plant lots of greens, turnips, mustard, cabbage, cauliflower, brussell sprouts, rutabagoes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, etc. Any suggestions? We're wide open! We both enjoy getting out and digging in the dirt! :-)

Thanks for the welcomes...have a great weekend! cheers....elwo

elwowee wrote:
Re the fall garden...we're still planning...but have sweet potatoes growing like crazy...peppers still doing great and herbs all over the place. We are thinking we'll plant lots of greens, turnips, mustard, cabbage, cauliflower, brussell sprouts, rutabagoes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, etc. Any suggestions? We're wide open! We both enjoy getting out and digging in the dirt! :-)

Thanks for the welcomes...have a great weekend! cheers....elwo

Plant what you like to eat is always my suggestion. In my case it will be chard, collards, spinach, beets, turnips, brussle sprouts, lettuce, sprouting brocc.,zuccs, onions and garlic. At least that's the plan so far. I have herbs, two chilies, purple beauty bell pepper, and one tom still doing well so they can stay. My brussle sprout seeds have just sprouted and my little round zuccs have their true leaves just peeking out.

elowee!! I'm in SE Georgia, so I know what you mean about the heat, humidity and redundant seasons. You're so right, calling it the furnace belt. I have to agree with Shannon about planting what you'll eat. The only thing growing in my garden that we don't eat are the eggplants. Those I planted at the request of my son; turns out he doesn't like eggplant either, but my mom loves them and they're pretty so they got to stay.

I still have cukes, eggplants (I swear they just won't die), basil, parsley, okra and cantaloupe growing from my summer crops. For fall I'm growing: cabbage, mustard greens, collard greens, carrots, beets, swiss chard, peas, snap beans, lima beans, lettuce (buttercrunch, grand rapids and romaine), broccoli, pumpkins and spinach. I think that's it. lol

Welcome again to the forum! Looking forward to seeing you around.

[quote!

Re the fall garden...we're still planning...but have sweet potatoes growing like crazy...peppers still doing great and herbs all over the place. We are thinking we'll plant lots of greens, turnips, mustard, cabbage, cauliflower, brussell sprouts, rutabagoes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, etc. Any suggestions? We're wide open! We both enjoy getting out and digging in the dirt! :-)



DIRT? DIRT? How dare you call Mel's Mix dirt.

Kelejan wrote:[quote!

Re the fall garden...we're still planning...but have sweet potatoes growing like crazy...peppers still doing great and herbs all over the place. We are thinking we'll plant lots of greens, turnips, mustard, cabbage, cauliflower, brussell sprouts, rutabagoes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, etc. Any suggestions? We're wide open! We both enjoy getting out and digging in the dirt! :-)

DIRT? DIRT? How dare you call Mel's Mix dirt.

LOL! Enough dirty talk on here...we apparently have a "Mix"ed audience! (I still like to play in it, whatever it is!) javascript:emoticonp('')