My First Garden

I have been wanting to grow a garden for the past couple of years now.  This is one of the reasons I wanted to buy a house so bad.  I was hoping for a yard of my own, because I thought it was necessary to have the long rows in the back to be able to have a garden at all.  When I started looking into the gardening process a couple months ago, a found a book about square foot gardening. In this book, Mel Bartholomew (weird that I had a friend in high school named Melanie Bartholomew) talks about a new method where you just plant in a 4ft x 4ft x 6in box. There are a ton of benefits; like little to no weeding, less space and seeds used, and not having to worry about the soil being too rocky or whatever. I am excited that even though we don't have the private yard I was hoping for, I can still have a garden. So we built the box (mine is 4'x2'), put the grid on, and transplanted some veggies.  I have absolutely no experience gardening, so I figured it might be easier to transplant this time instead of trying to start the seedlings.

There is still so much I don't know. I really have no clue what planting time is the best for each plant. We will see what survives. This time I planted a couple of tomatoes, a red, yellow, and orange bell pepper, and a couple of string beans. I am open to advice if anybody has any. 

We are also going to give composting a try. They say it is really easy, but I'm a little nervous about not having a bigger, private yard for this. I don't want it to stink really bad and be so close to us and the neighbors. I'll let you know how it all turns out. 

I almost forgot to add all the links that I have found helpful for my gardening. (mostly for my own benefit, but if you are interested...)

The All New Square Foot Gardening Book (word-for-word) http://books.google.com/books?id=Kvy1DZ6wjIkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=all+new+square+foot+gardening&hl=en#v=onepage&q=all%20new%20square%20foot%20gardening&f=false

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_foot_gardening

The Wealthy Earth (blog by someone who has been square foot gardening for years and years). http://thewealthyearth.com/

My Pinterest Garden Board http://www.pinterest.com/kassyccox/garden/