[Red_Devil 232]

OK I understand. My first attempt at gardening was last year and it was raised, like in sq. ft. gardening. Do you use a barrier to isolate the beds from the ground they are on? I never thought of using cinder blocks. I have stacks of them and they would be much more comfortable to sit on as you say.

How big of an area are you gardening?

I have a lot of questions for everyone, being the newbie to gardening that I am.

[Palladin]

Last year I decided to buy two jumbo packs of Burpee seeds—one annuals and one herbs—and just throw them on a pile of dirt left over from hardscaping, just to disguise it.

Well, I got the best garden ever. Towering cosmos, oodles of marigolds, knockout zinnias, etc. The herbs were just as pretty—blue borage and purple basil; lavender chives and golden nasturtium.

The seed packets were five bucks apiece at K-Mart. Complete with layout designs and plant markers. Great for beginners.

This plot, at the back of my property, was prettier than the fussy formal gardens up front.

[Squantos]

We have 4 beds that are about six foot wide by 100 feet long......I filled the beds with just sand manure and peat and compost over time. We don’t soak the beds, we have drip irrigation and watch the plants .......more equals bugs and such and less equals slow growing bad looking plants. Each garden is different.

I did have a faucet plumbed into each bed so a timer on or little rainbird drippers comes off that. As well consider your regions freeze and be able to drain your irrigation drippers or faucets in the fall to prevent bursting in extreme cold.

Takes some time for the first one but worth decades of easy use later.

Don’t line the beds as that will allow drainage is ya water too much.