New to Gardening

I heard from a couple of you on Facebook and in email about the gardening sites you love and wanted to share with anyone else who's interested. I'm anxious to share pictures of our remodeled garden here, but I want it to fill in a little before I take the "after" pictures and we also have one more bed and fruit tree to plant.

First, in my research, I stumbled upon this book:

It's interesting, his theory is that you can plant more crops and get a better variety and yield by planting in square foot patches rather than rows.  My raised beds are already planted for the year, but maybe next go-round, I'll convert one to his method.  He also has a great chapter on compost and soil mix.  He's a rebel rule-breaker and questions all the conventional wisdom, which I love.  He has a website, Square Foot Gardening.

Secondly, another site that was recommended to me is this one, Diggin Food.  I really like it, but I haven't checked out the whole thing and it came to me from multiple sources.

Thirdly, if you are in the Seattle area, I think Sky Nursery is a very helpful place for the newish gardener.  I woke up to hear their ad on my husband's alarm clock so I am going to check them out.

Lastly, we have had success buying very inexpensive, good quality plants, shrubs, and trees on Craigslist.

I also wanted to share with you that as a new gardener, I failed to read the thinning instructions on my arugula seeds envelope...I should have thinned the plants about three weeks ago...ah, well.  Everything got thinned yesterday that was out of the ground and ready.  I did no thinning last year, so I'm already ahead of the game!


Happy growing!