I got golden gate gardening by pam pierce, and it's not a bad book for the microclimate information, but I don't need to buy it now. It has a lot of you cannot do this and you cannot do that. For example being that IÂm in the fog zone, I cannot grow tomatoes or corn. When you have a problem like a blight she has a lot of can and can nots. I wish she offered more alternates to can situation with the pros and cons instead. I would rather Google the topic to get a number of different opinions, and then mull the situation over in my mind. It give me something to think about. I went to the Lnygso website and it's bad, they have a lot of stuff there, but they don't deliver. The "compost" in the photo looks like they kind they dye black, the color did not look natural. It's not a good as making a labor intense food scraps compost. I add star bucks coffee and osh redwood bark shredded, and it's the only compost I really need. They have seminars there. And there is a garden to view, but thatÂs not the kind of plants I like to grow, the lush ones, but Redwood city is quite a bit hotter than San Francisco in the summer. I still think Supersoil gave me good results when I used it in the past. It has sand, but the sand is a good type of grains of sand. The grains are not the kind of tiny grains that get all compact on you, like my sand which is bad sand, that hardens to a Caliche. When this happens the water wonÂt penetrate the soil, it just sits on top of the soil and evaporates. If you try to dig down you will see the plant roots are dry underneath. This encourages shallow rooting of plants. So, thatÂs good sand. Almost no one makes real compost anyway. Whole foods has some compost, but it was just some like pointed pieces of wood without any real deposed material. I would think with all the fruit they donÂt sell because itÂs priced too high, they could make a great compost. The other book on northern ca, has arrived and I have to pick it up an read it this weekend.

My advice for new gardeners is to go to your local garden center and buy a paperback book on the basics of gardening. Most important is the soil. It should be neutral pH (tested by your local cooperative extension) amended with compost and manure (available in bags), loosely dug to 2 feet deep, less for just annuals. Go talk to gardeners in your neighborhood. They are a wealth of info for your area, and usually love to talk about gardeneing. Keep reading the info on this website. Experience will be your teacher, too. Gardeners are always experimenting and learning, always making mistakes and new discoveries. Start small and you will be rewarded with enjoyment. Good luck!

I'm a transplanted gardener from the Midwest as well, and had to get used to gardening in the desert. It was tough at first. Now I'm loving it! The others are right: compost and mulch are your friends. I've added it, along with the proper organic fertilizers, and watched the plants I've inherited come to life! A lot of people don't plant with compost, and use rocks for mulch. That's fine. You can put rocks over shredded bark. It works. Just a little more work to removed the rocks when you want to add compost. The plants will love you for it. I'm slowly turning a dull landscaping into a green and healthy one. Getting the drip system fixed was important too! But don't forget that some plants just do better with a good soaking every 2-3 weeks in the cool months and as much as once a week, or at least every 10 days, in the really hot months. I have some hybrid Tea Roses that I'm coaxing back to health, and they are doing beautifully. I trim about a third off every year -- there's no taking them down to 2 feet in this climate, or you'll kill them. So I'm keeping them shaped, and cutting off dead wood. They were sorely neglected, but have responded to the pruning, compost, fertilizer, and tender loving care with more blooms, and are they beautiful! Hybrid tea roses are a species that will do well down here as long as they are properly cared for. Check out "High Country Gardens", and you'll never again feel that there are no beautiful plants and flowers you can have down here. The place is LUSH with flowers. You just have to get the right kind. There are even plants from the midwest that can handle living on much less water, as long as they have a bit of compost and mulch. And there are many, many plants not at that site, that are both beautiful and hardy here. Check out the local Nursery! Once you've become acclimated to the gardening here, you'll be glad you moved! It's still gardening. It's just different. And in the summer, when it's so hot, and you don't want to work outside, just wait for evening. It cools off then in all but the hottest month. You can garden outside until 9-10:00 PM, and NO BUGS. That's big when you're from the Midwest, I know. Best of luck to you! MacThayer

Mind you, I don't garden in Florida (east central Mississippi), but if I were betting, here are some things I bet went wrong: My first bet is your watering schedule. Unless your soil is pure sand (Not, since you amended it.), your plants do not need to be watered every other day, and certainly not for 25 minutes at a time! You also mulched, which will help the soil retain moisture longer. In my area, an inch of water per WEEK is considered ideal. I know it's hotter there (Our high temps average in the low to mid nineties through the hottest part of the summer), but still, that sounds like way too much water to me. If you're in doubt, check with your local Agricultural Extension Service. They have pamphlets and such that will be helpful to you. 2. You don't say when you planted your garden. Typically, you want to plant once your nightly low temps are above 50 to 55 degrees. Here, that is in early to mid April, probably even earlier for you. In our area, most folks have harvested the majority of their garden by mid July. Once the hottest weather sets in, alot of plants (tomatoes, especially) will stop setting fruit. Depending on when you planted, this might be the trouble. 3. Miracle Grow (nor any other commercial fertilizer) should never be applied to plants that are already stressed and not thriving. Once a week is too often. Label directions say to apply Miracle Gro every two weeks, and honestly, that's still alot of fertilizer. If you add compost, manure, etc. to your soil each year before planting, you shouldn't need nearly that much fertilizer. The only way to know for sure is to have a soil test. And here's another possibility. 4. Why did you add lime? If you had a soil test and the test indicated that lime is needed that's one thing. But if you just added it, you may have done yourself in right there. Most vegetables like a neutral to slightly acid soil PH. If you over did it (or under did it) that could definitely explain your problems. Do not despair! Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a "born gardener". Knowledge is the key, and it's widely available. Read all winter. Look for and attend gardening classes and seminars. Ask questions. Get your soil tested. Visit your Ag Extension office. Take a Master Gardener Class. (You're a Master AFTER, not before you take it.) Try again!! And be grateful that your family won't go hungry while you're learning. :)