Hello

Welcome.

Your drawing looks fine - i assume each box is one square foot.

The most important things you can do for success is to have good soil and to water enough. I would suggest against growing your own seedlings until you get the in ground stuff under your belt. Seedlings need a lot of babying.

If you buy seedlings - go for small ones not the big ones. Large tomato plants with fruit already on them are usually root bound. A tomato or pepper seedling about 3" high is usually perfect.

Then make sure you harden them a few days - let them get used to outside weather. Someone from your area of the country should give you advice on this.

I would fill the raised beds with a 50/50 mix of good topsoil and compost. The compost should not include human waste and should be well aged. Ask a good garden store for help on this. Once filled the beds will serve you for years.

Once your seedlings are in the ground - make sure to water deeply a couple times a week. A soaker hose and a timer might really help. Lots of fertilizer is probably not needed with a good soil mix. I just add more compost each fall and never fertilize.

Happy to help with any other questions. You'll find the folks here have varying opinions on things but will really try to be of help.

Scott

Thank you for the welcome!

Yes, each box is one square foot.

Last week I kind of went overboard buying seeds from Home Depot, Burpee, and Johnny... so financially I shouldn't buy vegetable seedlings at this time, unless none of my seeds come up. But we will be buying herb seedlings for sure this year. I have the next couple weeks off since work is slow so I can devote a lot of time to seedlings.

Thank you for the advice of what to fill the raised beds with. I had no idea how I was going to fill those things! I'll ask the garden store about the compost.

Do you think a soaker hose is better for now than drip irrigation? We saw soaker hoses at the store and were interested but didn't know which system we should get.

This looks like it will be hard work but a very fun gardening times ahead for you. I have no advice because I am a newbie myself :)

I am only doing container gardening at the moment but I was just reading this thread about a raised bed and weeds eventually causing a problem...

I just thought maybe you would like to read it just so you can learn for the future of your garden :)

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0312060021687.html?10

Here is a link that might be useful: Starting over ...again

Hi Ameera :)

I was reading that post last night actually and being overcome with weeds like that hadn't crossed my mind at all! I'm thinking of laying down that weed resistant fabric over my soil and then cutting into it to plant my vegetables. Then covering everything with mulch. I'm not sure how well that will work but that's the plan so far :)

This morning the first of my cherry tomatoes came up! I don't have any grow lights but have many windows facing the south in our family room. The room is like a mini-greenhouse and is always 10-15 degrees warmer than the rest of the house so I think the seedling will be fine in the window.

{{gwi:26924}}

Welcome. Gardening in LA takes some getting used to, all my lettuce and spinach bolted in our 90 degree days in Jan and Feb, my soil is bone dry below 24 inches right now, and my tomatoes germinated outdoors in Feb (I'd suggest never bothering with lights or indoor set-ups, I germinate all my seeds outdoors 12 months long).

So I'd say for SFV, lettuce and spinach need dappled shade from now until Nov. It's a little late for peas, but the results are so good, it might still be worth the effort (I plant in Jan for a crop now). Tomatoes, bell peppers and culinary sage are fine to plant now. A little early still for cantaloupe and eggplant and jalapenos in my mind, I might start those in April. But if it's a warm enough spot and we don't get fog or storms, you might get a good jump on the summer. Most LA gardeners struggle with aphids, because they never get knocked back by a frost, and fungal diseases like powdery mildew that hit the cukes, squash and melons.

If you're having trouble getting germination in the ground, do a back-up seed planting in containers in your yard's warmest spot. Then you can give those away if your seeds sprout & survive in the ground, but you're covered if they don't.

I'm glad you got your first seed to sprout. I love to grow from seeds, but it is a challenge some times. I find that the bigger the seed the better luck I have. Although I did have all of my tomato seeds sprout this year. The garden fabric is expensive. I know a lady that uses newspaper and cereal boxes to keep her weeds out of the garden. Then she mulches on top of that. It's free and you are recycling.

Thanks for the replies!

Dicot my soil get bone dry too. We have three dogs that have been tearing around the yard since we moved in and now the top layer is just blowing away. So much dust...We're trying to combat that now by fencing off a large area and sowing grass seed and mulching the rest so at least the soil can get a break from dogs.

I do have a lot of shade in my yard from lemon trees where the raised beds will be. I'm going to have part of the bed in the shade for the lettuce. I don't have high hopes it'll last very long but we'll see. I read it was late for peas but I had already bought the seeds and thought "why not." I haven't eaten a fresh pea in so long I'm sure it'll be worth the effort.

Good to know about the aphids and fungal diseases. Is there any way to prevent powdery mildew?

Thank you Zackey. I don't get newspaper delivered but do have some cardboard boxes. Maybe I could cut some up and use that?

Powdery mildew is a problem when the weather is damp. I'm a little south of you, and had a lot of it last summer. Don't water from above. You can try neem oil to control it if it gets bad.

Here is a link that might be useful: My raised bed veggie garden