On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 11:50:10 GMT, Heather Husvar
wrote:


PS - Heather...as a PS to my previous post.

1. I'd really encourage you to read 'Square Foot Gardening'
if you haven't already. Also, be sure to read his website,
he's updated a few of his ideas and the updates are on the
website.

http://www.squarefootgardening.com

The only real difference between 'tire gardening' and
'square foot gardening' is that tires are round rather than
square, and tires are smaller than his recommended raised
beds.

Bartholomew is especially helpful on the 'what to grow' and
'how much to grow' questions, IMHO (except that he doesn't
cover the Asian greens and other exotics.)

2. If you think 'succession planting' - at least in my area
- this absolutely requires that you start your own seeds.

I had lettuce transplanted outside (into containers on the
deck) by April 2 last year. I had bok choy, choy sum,
chard, and hon tsai tai also growing outside in early to
mid-April. I started a bit late, they could have been
growing outdoors in late March - and probably in mid-March
with a bit of floating row cover to protect them.

There are no plants available to purchase that early in
spring in this area. There just aren't any at all here in
stores until mid-May.

We have four plant-starting shelves with fluorescent lights
in the living room (we've no place else to put them - if we
had a cellar or extra bedroom, we'd use it for this
purpose), but you can also start seeds on a sunny
windowsill.

Pat
--
"Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of
supply and demand. It is the privilege of human beings to
live under the laws of justice and mercy." - Wendell Berry