Hello from PNW, Whidbey Island, WA

Hi, fellow gardeners!
I'm glad to find this page and say a little about my garden. It's been around 30 years since I first read Mel's book, and started using some of his techniques. I was pleased to find my old notebook with his spacing diagrams xeroxed and taped inside, from my 1984 garden when I started up gardening again last year. It took me a little while to convince my landlord to give up some lawn and let me plant, but he (and I) have been impressed with the results.
This time, I actually built the boxes, seven 4'x8' from 2"x8", and one 4'x4' from 2"x12". Deer, dogs, slugs and powdery mildew have been my biggest challenges this year, and stunned admiration from my friends and family have been almost as sweet as my SunSugar tomatoes. Walgreen's $2.99/6-pack beer has been my greatest secret weapon against the slugs, and deer netting has been the biggest surprise (it works!)
I've already learned a bunch from reading posts for the last 24 hours, and look forward to learning and sharing here. I'm particularly excited that there's a regional forum. Yay!

Welcome to the forum! I am glad to hear about your gardening success. Slugs and powdery mildew are a sure sign you live in the rainy PNW. No deer in my area but the coyotes and raccoons seem to visit alot. Happy Gardening!

Howdy HappyCamper:

Glad to have you on board. The ALL NEW SQUARE FOOT GARDENING book is such a blessing. It has made gardening so much easier and with your notes from the original book you are miles ahead of other folks. Using Mel's Mix (one third each of vermiculite, peat moss and blended compost) you have a gardening medium that is by far the best that there is.

Again a big hardy welcome to our little slice of gardening heaven and as I'm sure you have learned - if you like to garden, hunt and fish in the rain Whidby Island is as close to heaven as you can get on earth.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.