Natalie'sMom - I've been looking at plans for raised beds all morning. It really doesn't look difficult to make. A few pavers, bricks or pieces of wood for the "walls" and some potting soil.

Anybody put that landscaping plastic down before putting the soil in?

Don't buy potting soil - go for black earth or other garden soil and save some bucks.
Put down several layers of newspaper rather than landscape fabric.
Call the utility company before you dig!

Great! That's really helpful, Ruth! So, do you score them (i.e. rub on sandpaper or emery board) first? I should be able to plant them in peat pots, right?

Schmoodle, the manure is a great idea! Would that be safe for a vegetable garden?

We've had trouble in the past with late tomato blight. I tried moving our tomato-planting location to another part of the patch, but they were still infected. So last year, I only grew a couple of them in pots on the other side of the yard and left the veggie garden patch tomato-free. We were part of a CSA, so we had plenty of tomatoes and it worked fine. But I don't know that we can afford to do the CSA this year. How long do you think I should wait before trying tomatoes again? And is there anything I can do, organically, to get rid of the blight spores in the soil?

Natalie's Mom, you should try Carrots, too. And baby lettuces. The lettuce will grow very quickly, especially if you cut the leaves when they are young and tender, so they can be fascinating for a little one. The carrots will grow quickly, too, and then will need thinning (where you pull out a lot of the plants, leaving just one every inch or more--read the packet to see how much distance they need). When you thin them, you find tiny little carrots...it's darling! Then, when they are ready to come up, they are so much fun and such little miracles! Definitely worth growing. Oh, and check out the book Tops and Bottoms for a great garden-related read for kids that's funny, too!

Laurie, I don't score them - I just soak them between the towels until I see the wee white sprouts. It's too early to start them though unless you have grow lites and loads of space. Wait until April 1 or later and then plant in peat pots to be hardened off and set outside mid-May.

Well rotted manure is good for your veggie garden.

You may be able to avoid blight by layering straw around your plants as the spores seem to come from earth spattering up in the rain.

Ruth - Thanks for the tips on just using black earth. I see ads for it every spring but never have thought to get it.

Also, the newspaper -- just put down layers of it? No popping holes in it or anything?

Personally I'd make sure the newspaper uses vegetable based ink. I think most do now so that shouldn't be a problem.

I'd just put down 5-6 layers and not poke holes. Good point about the ink, Cyndi.

So I was going to start some seedlings this year and was wondering if I should go ahead and buy the peat pellets... saw some for a good price at walmart and was thinking of starting them that way... has anyone had good luck with these? the ones I found were in the little plastic greenhouse too...

I just checked, our newspaper is printed with vegetable ink. Thanks for the heads up, Cyndi. Also, thanks for the tip Ruth! It will save me quite a bit of $$ on the gardening fabric.

hello everyone! I am kinda new at the gardening thing but I had a question. Can I use potting soil to start my tomatoe seeds in the house!

Peat pellets are fine.

Potting soil is good for starting tomato plants indoors.

rdw, I love the peat pellets in the greenhouse! I don't have grow lights or anything, so the greenhouse lid helps keep the heat in when I put the seedlings by the sunny window. They work really well, too, in watering, as they have a little tray underneath to hold the excess water so they aren't sitting in it. I'm a big fan!

Thanks Ruth, for the good ideas. My problem is that the trellis is really far from the planter (just worked out that way), so I need them to grow fairly tall before I can put them outdoors. So maybe I should try for mid-March?

I am going to pick some up today then!!! I also am going to buy a regular light like you would put in the closet or something then buy a grow light to replace the bulb... DM said thats what she did last year for about 9 bucks! Much cheaper than trying to buy a "grow lamp"...

I will definitely buy the one with the greenhouse then! Walmart had the one that will hold 72 plants for 6 bucks! pellets included!

Rikki - Brian and I picked up two cheap light fixtures that clip onto something and put grow lights bulbs in them. We got them at Home Depot and we've been using them for his science experiment. By the way, candles really DO affect the growth of mint plants

I took advantage of this past week's mild weather to clean up a little in the flower beds, and I discovered little green shoots starting to poke up. They're the crocus and early mini-daffodils, but to me, that says Spring!