disappointed Gardener! Yes I am, I am disappointed that last year was the first time I had been able to do more than a couple of tomatoes, due to time and space issues, space is no longer a problem, disappointed at the amount of time my twin 5 yrs old's are prepared to attend, "their" garden, way to keen, disappointed that I will never be able to keep supply to demand, disappointed that I don't seem no matter what I try, beg, borrow, steal! I can't make a huge Compost heap.... Gardening is not just about the veg at the end, if it where, no one would do it, I love the time I spend, examining, weeding, spending time with my boys, teaching, their keenness on the growing process, the look of pride on their faces, when they have pulled out from the roots, the first tomato plant, with 1 very small, very green tomato on it... I as hinted at before only started gardening last year and boy I have learned a lot in that time, I had to start from scratch as although I gardened as a Child with my Dad and Pop, that was in England, and the rules of the Game are different there, such as tomatoes are difficult to grow without cover. I started with Books, catalogs, and the internet, which was when I got my first bit of the mania which comes with Gardening, I brought almost every seed available to mankind..even stuff I don't like or in some cases had never eaten... I managed to reign myself in and start small, a couple of lonely stacker boxes, without friends and Marg' tubs and dollar store trowel... not enough, I needed more, so I hunted about and used one of my sons old toddler, beds to create a raised garden bed, not enough, I need more... so I brought 2 more beds... It is an addiction, to which the only Patch available is a Veg Patch. I am champing at the bit, to crack on this year and I plan on more raised beds including using the other Toddler bed.... I used raised beds as my soil wouldn't even grow weeds. link hopefully works and shows my toddler bed of which I am disproportionately proud. open to contact, nothing else to do until the weather warms up :-) Here is a link that might be useful: My small start

I attempted to plant my first test this fall using the UF guide. Then I look at my just now barely eating size plants and compare them to Tom's, Silvia's and Lou's and scratch my head. Or pull my hair out. Recently, I'm thinking I need to ask more questions about how to start seeds. And, while I was looking around in the seed starting forum, I found an interesting FAQ about Byron's World Famous Tea Recipe (linked below). I've been working on my early spring planting plan, and I've got what I think are my seed start dates figured out. But, just how do you experts start your seed? I found that starting in garden mix in cell trays didn't work so wonderful. Starting in seed mix in cups works really well, but then they need to be planted out to keep growing. Right now, I'm thinking of starting the winter seed in cups then transplanting to garden mix in cell trays. Once the plants are in cell trays; I was going to line the bottom of my cart with black plastic; put the cell trays on top. Then roll the cart out to the driveway each morning, and back into the garage each night. During the winter that is. Then I read about somebody putting an old window up on blocks and putting their seed trays on black plastic underneath and just leaving it in place. Presuming we have growing babies, how often do you fertilize and with what? I'm not going to have my worm factory crawling around under my babies to help if they are getting carted in and out of the garage, so I'm guessing I'll need to give them a bit more personal TLC. So, starting seeds and growing edible baby plants? WTB tips, tricks and hints! ~dianne Here is a link that might be useful: Byron's World Famous Tea Recipe

Hi Ahelaumakani, If you put a raised bed directly up against your fence, then yes, you would have to worry about rotting it out. You would have to make a bit of room between the fence and whatever you used for the edging of your raised bed to prevent rot. St. Augustine will grow in the shade. Bermuda won't grow in very shady areas (Bermuda can be a gardener's nightmare because it's very invasive. I have it.) I'm not crazy about either of these grasses because they take a lot of water to keep them green; however, these are the two most used grasses in Austin. Others are Zoysia, Buffalo grass (native) and Turfalo. Winter Rye is also sometimes over-seeded into other grasses in the fall. It grows all winter, but then you have to mow in the winter or so I've been told. :-( As edging for a raised bed: cut dry-stacked limestone would be pretty, but might be too expensive. Wood boards work, but will eventually rot. Cinder blocks and bricks would also work. Lowe's and Home Depot also have various concrete pavers & scalloped edgers that might work as well. Or- instead of doing a raised bed, add lots of compost to amend your existing soil or create a lasagna bed as suggested above. Containers also work well as act-upon suggested above. Containers can be arranged and moved around in a variety of configurations, which is a plus, and you can stand one pot behind another and make it taller by putting it on a brick or cinderblock or place several pots on a wooden shelf or two supported by cinderblocks or pavers, if need be. With our heat, I would suggest you use the largest containers possible because they will dry out quickly. Clay pots generally dry out more quickly than plastic but in my opinion, clay pots are prettier. I have plants in clay pots, wash tubs, plastic pots, and one copper pot. Even ugly black nursery pots can be painted with spray paint or house paint in fun colors to make them pretty. I actually put mulch over the soil in some of my container plants. You can intersperse different kinds of containers/pots in a garden bed and that can look good too. You might also purchase or make a trellis for a vine and you can hang a plant wall-pocket or two on your fence to jazz it up. As for Hostas, I haven't seen many grown in Austin, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. Treelover is right that raised beds do dry out more quickly.

Hello Janel! Here are my thoughts on the veggies and herbs you mentioned: Zucchini ~ Very simple to grow and very productive. I'm just south of Madison and I'm able to direct sow zucchini in the ground about 2 weeks after our last frost. That works out to a late May or early June planting here. They virtually grow themselves. Zucchini plants are bushy and can get to 3' in diameter or larger so they'll need a lot of room. One zucchini plant produced enough squash to feed my family of three easily. Tomatoes ~ I personally think tomatoes are fairly simple to grow as well. I start my tomatoes from seed and then transplant them into the garden. Whether you start them from seed or buy tomato plants, you'll want to transplant them into your garden roughly 2 weeks after your average last frost date. In my neck of the woods, I usually transplant them right around the end of May. I second what Putzer said about planting the tomato plants deeply. I don't remove any leaves before planting...I just bury the plant deep enough to cover up most of the bare stem portion at the bottom. Most tomato plants will need to be staked or caged to keep them off the ground. Which method you choose seems to be mostly a matter of preference. I could go on and on about tomatoes so if you want any more info, just holler. Winter Squash ~ Winter squash has been somewhat of a challenge for me. In my area, squash vine borers are a real problem. They look almost like red wasps but they are actually moths that lay their eggs along squash vines, usually at the base. The eggs hatch and the little hatchlings literally bore into the vines and munch their way through, often killing the plant in the process. Aside from the borers, winter squash is fairly simple to grow. In my area, those mean little moths are only active in early-mid June so I have to directly sow my squash seeds at the end of June. Squash vines grow quickly and they usually get very long. Spaghetti squash is quite prolific in my experience. Broccoli ~ I have no input on this one because it seems that I am broccoli challenged. I cannot for the life of me get it to grow properly. Eggplant ~ I tried eggplant in my first garden. From what I remember, it was very newby gardener friendly. I grew it from a store-bought tranplant and the only thing I ever had to do with it was keep it watered. That's it. The plant basically took care of itself. Eggplant likes hot weather, as do tomatoes and peppers. Lettuce ~ You can't go wrong with lettuce. I generally grow looseleaf lettuce. As soon as the soil can be worked in the early spring (i.e. soil's not frozen or waterlogged from melted snow) scatter the seeds about according the recommended spacing on your seed pack. Barely cover them. They usually sprout very quickly. Lettuce likes cold weather and will get bitter/pungent in hot weather. Jalapenos ~ These buggers are very easy to work with. I start my peppers from seed but nursery transplants will work just as well. Either way, peppers like hot weather so don't transplant them into the garden too soon or it'll retard their growth. I plant mine out in early-mid June. Basically, I try to plant them out when I know daytime temps are around 70 degrees on average and nighttime temps are no less than 50 degrees. They like full sun. Garlic ~ As SandiBluffs said, Garlic is planted in the fall. I have found that garlic works great for deterring hungry bunnies and squirels in my yard. My garden bed is square, so I literally plant a garlic border around the outside to keep the pests away from my food. (Thankfully we love garlic!) Basically you take a garlic bulb, split it up into cloves and plant the individual cloves about two to four inches deep. I think you're supposed to plant it 4 to 6 weeks before your ground freezes. I aim for September. Also, I've read that you're not supposed to separate the bulb into individual cloves until the day you plant them. After planting the cloves, don't let them get too dry. Garlic likes moist (not waterlogged) soil. I don't have any input on the other items. I've never had any luck growing strawberries however I think that's because I'm doing something wrong...not because they're terribly difficult. I have a devil of a time getting oregano seeds to sprout so I've only managed to grow it one year out of three so far. It was simple once I got the seeds going though. I've never tried raspberries, parsley or spearmint. I'm planning on growing parsley this year though so I guess we'll learn about that one together. Good luck and happy planning!