Where are the Central Ohio SF Gardeners?

There is hardly a peep from gardeners in the vicinity of Columbus, Ohio. In the past year I think I read one post from one person. As the capital of the state and also a medium size city it makes me wonder, where are you and how is your garden? It would be great to hear how your 2011 garden went, and do you have 2012 gardening plans?

They all went to Cincinnati for the warm winter?

Thats funny BBG since Cincy is mostly west of here and a tiny bit south!
But seriously, I never paid attention to the lack of Columbus/Central Ohio input until today.
Maybe in the past Mel or someone from his team has spoken there. Not Here.

Well, lets see how much warmer we are. We got to 53 today, what about yourself? St. Louis is much warmer from the looks of the TV radar system.

We got up to 58, I believe. Tomorrow...61+. Crazy January.

Our tv guy says in November, "December will be super cold and snowy...white Christmas....much like last year. January still cold...no "January thaw" this year....maybe a storm or two..."

Lemme tell ya how badly he missed this one. December was cold to start, but mostly warm and all rain. January isn't hardly started, but we've already received our "thaw."

LOL.

Tomorrow I take down the Christmas lights. I may do it in shorts...because I can.

Today's high suppose to be 52 on Jan. 6th. Next six days suppose to stay in the 40's. This will make the heating bills nicer.

2012 Will be our first year to SGF. Looking forward to it and we are reading the book now and in the planning stages for spring. We are just a tad north of Marion, 1 hour N of Columbus.

It is great you are reading the book. Hopefully you are reading the All New Square Foot Gardening book. There is a picture of it on the Home page.

If you are still looking for vermiculite, check out hydroponic stores in your area too. That is where I found my closest source in Columbus. And remember its never too early to start your own compost heap.

I'm located about 40 minutes southeast of Columbus. Looks like we'll be in the 50's the next 2 days. Here it is Jan. 31st and I have show-off dandelions in the lawn!

This is my second spring season sf gardening. The anticipation is as much fun as the first. See you around the forum adn feel free to comment, ask questions, and share any pictures.

Are you down around Lancaster / Logan area? I used to race dirt bikes in the Hocking Hills area for many years. We owned land in Longstreth too but its so small you will not likely find it on a map Do you use a compost tumbler? Thx for the tip on vermiculite. Not having any luck at Lowe's or Menard's locally.

I'm 25 minutes due west of Lancaster, very close to Slate Run Park. I have not used a compost tumbler. Picked up free pallets for a 3 bin system --- guess what hospitals need? Lots of food and supplies delivered on pallets. Not sure I would trust myself with a tumbler, the contents would be out of site, out of mind, at least for me. I'd probably forget to turn it and have a slimy mess. With a bin system on the ground I know the worms and bugs are getting in there and helping out even if I forgettaboutit. That's my little theory anyway.

I had a bins several years ago and same thing for me. It was out of site so I forgot to turn it, It was three side by side bins 4' x 4' and lots of work to turn over. I had three bins where I could turn it over from one bin into the next. It looked pretty cool but in the end was more work than I cared for. That's why I was hoping the tumbler would be less work and a faster process. Time will tell...

I live just north of Columbus in Delaware! I've been writing out my plans for this year's garden and placed a seed order at Baker Creek yesterday. Trying to get together my seed starting supplies, and gathering some more ingredients for mels mix for a new bed. Also looking for compost to top off the bed my peas will be going in in a few weeks! I'm going to try some off-the-beaten-path stuff this year and I'm pretty excited about it, can't wait to get my hands back in the dirt... err, mels mix.

Diana

Igolfat8 - --

There is really no right or wrong way. I can use the exercise and it satisfies a kind of outdoor/creativity thing for me. It is a lot when the bin is filled and moist. I turn over all I can and admit my husband finished where I left off. It has quite a lot of weight to it!

Hi Dianam --
Not sure if we've "spoken" before. Hello! This is so nice to see central Ohioans on the forum! I've been a little lonely

FYI Central Ohioans
There is a square foot garden teacher out in Newark that has bags of Mel's Mix, if you want to order from her I believe she is travelling around to some parts of the state to make deliveries too, and selling it for 15 instead of 18 dollars/bag. Here is her website, she is only taking orders for a very short time as I recall--
cassie@cassiesstuff.com

Hi, I am in SE Ohio. In SE Perry County but would like to say "Hey" to my fellow Ohioian. So there is a SFG teacher in Newark? That isn't too far.

I'm in Lebanon, north of Cincinnati. I'm right by Kings Island. If you ever come down this way, we have Marvin's organic gardens that is a great resource. This year they will have their Zoo Doo, which is a homemade compost of poop and bedding from the Zoo. I'm so excited about it! Yep, excited about poop, go figure.

Although I am not in Ohio, I am from western Pa. What is your last frost date as I am having difficulty determining when to start my seeds?



Thanks

I plugged your zipcode into this site and got some interesting data. It lists percentage of likelihood that you will reach certain temps at and below freezing:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-frost-dates/index.php?q=15367&submit=Go

"Each winter, on average, your risk of frost is from October 17 through April 29.

Almost certainly, however, you will receive frost from October 31 through April 18.
You are almost guaranteed that you will not get frost from May 10 through October 3."



I put my zip code in the site and here is what I got. I got a lot of dates with percentages of changes I might still get a frost and my focus is for spring plants, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. For summer crops I will use the May 10th date.

The odd thing is I remeber cutting my yard last April. My main concern is when to start spring seeds indoors?

Floyd1440

Personally, I would use the average last frost date of April 29th date to calculate the weeks before for spring veggies like broccoli, etc. Those spring veggies can usually take a bit of frost as transplants.

Example: indoor seed starting dates for an average last frost date of April 29th

12 wks before 2/5 Broccoli, Cabbage, Kohlrabi

10 wks before 2/19 Cauliflower

8 wks before 2/26

7 wks before 3/4 Lettuce, Swiss Chard

6 wks before 3/11

4 wks before 3/25

Of course, this is my calculation and YMMV (your mileage may vary)

Thanks for the dates. I was leaning toward the end of April rather than early May for the spring veggies. I will plant my spinach today and the rest this week.

This is my first full year at SFGing so hope all goes well......

I was so excited to see this post! I'm just trying to get this square foot gardening thing figured out. I'm in Cbus!

I need to fill a 64 cu ft bed with soil that doesn't break the bank. I'm trying to decide if I should fill the bottom of the bed with topsoil, and use the 1-1-1 formula for the top half (12" deep bed).

Has anybody used Com-Til? I saw that Columbus is using 3rd parties this year, and I found it mostly available at Ohio Mulch.

Does anybody have a good source of peat moss? I can't seem to find anything over 3.8 cu ft at a time.

Also, vermiculite. I have no idea where to get it, searches aren't turning up anything.

javaaddict wrote:I was so excited to see this post! I'm just trying to get this square foot gardening thing figured out. I'm in Cbus!

I need to fill a 64 cu ft bed with soil that doesn't break the bank. I'm trying to decide if I should fill the bottom of the bed with topsoil, and use the 1-1-1 formula for the top half (12" deep bed).

Has anybody used Com-Til? I saw that Columbus is using 3rd parties this year, and I found it mostly available at Ohio Mulch.

Does anybody have a good source of peat moss? I can't seem to find anything over 3.8 cu ft at a time.

Also, vermiculite. I have no idea where to get it, searches aren't turning up anything.

Welcome! I have used Comtil that was bought at Ohio mulch (along with Posy Power and organic hummus) with good results but some folks are not using it due to the process of obtaining it. Vermiculite can be purchased right across the street from Ohio mulch at Ed's feed and seed.

Peat moss - I purchase that at Lowe's in the compact bales. HTH

Thanks Kim! How is Com-Til obtained? Is there a better option around here?

Well Hello there neighbor, you can try Strader's nursery for vermiculite and peat, also for peat you can try home depot, lowes, greenhouses, call around. Oh and search hydroponics stores and greenhouses for vermiculite.

If you are doing square foot gardening -- get the book! Really!
All New Square Foot Gardening. The 2006 edition. No topsoil, just about no weeds, loose and friable, a pleasure to work with. Great results if you follow the directions and it is easy reading.
My humble opinion -- you are cheating yourself if you try to just use this forum only - as you will miss things instead of getting it right the first time from the book. I refer to my copy a lot and so do many other people around this forum.

Comtil is recycled treated human waste. You may want to to investigate a lot before using it. Square foot gardening does not really use it, I haven't heard of anyone on this forum that using it.

Welcome to the forum there is a lot of info here, enjoy and have fun!