Okielady, My best advice is to quit talking about what you're planning to do. You'll never convince a dyed in the wool Row Garderner that SFG works except by showing him or her (and even then they won't believe it).

I learned quickly to just shut up, do what I wanted to do, and enjoy the fruits and veggies of my own labors. Next year you'll be sipping iced tea while they are rototilling up their garden spaces and working long, hot hours in the sun pulling weeds. They'll be so busy working in their gardens that they won't have time to tell you "Oh no, you can't do that!"... and you'll be so relaxed, you won't care what they say. :)

I'm lucky to have a neighbor who never gives advise and loves my garden. She can't wait for it to grow so she can make zucchini relish, pickles and canned tomatoes for ME! She doesn't garden, but loves to cook. She has also volunteered her side of the fence for my spare plants.

Now, if the neighbor on the other side would just replace or repair his falling down fence :-(

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I think Lasagna and SFG are a great combo. Wish I learned both much earlier in life.

When I first build the sfg, my 75 year old Dad was constantly "helping". He really doubted the effectiveness of this new method, and soon realized it was the real deal. Although I really appreciate his stories and input, I rarely take any of his gardening advice. He's one of the worst gardeners I know! Ha! The comraderie is priceless, though.

EG

So, what exactly is the lasagna method?

okie,
It can work. That's what I did too. I don't strictly use SFG, but close enough.

Most of my neighbors don't garden. They watched me last year with some curiousity, but never said too much. I actually got a little helpful advice about planting times and hail danger, as it was our first year here.

Check out the link below for info and pics of my garden last year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Building the raised beds (starts at the bottom)

My parents and my uncle are traditional row gardeners, but they find the SFG method very interesting. I guess I'm lucky that they haven't told me what I can and can't do. Or maybe they have, but I'm too hard headed to listen. My brother started a row garden this year, and this is my first year to do a SFG. He doesn't know it yet, but we're in a competition to see which of our gardens does better. Of course, he's pretty competitive too, so maybe he does know... :)

Rachel

Here is a link that might be useful: LookMaNoWeeds

I also do the combo lasagna/sfg, can't imagine another way in my area. I have a couple of folks who tell me how I'm doing it all wrong, but I tend to just ignore them and do it my own way. When I was at a pastor's wives conference, I heard a fantastic response to these kinds of helpful folks, you say "You may be right." Then you drop the subject. After all, they may be right. Or, they may be wrong. All that really matters is that you have acknowledged their concerns while making your own judgements. And, after all, gardening is about enjoying yourself, don't let other people take that away from you.

I too heard all kinds of grief over it. Maybe that's why Mel spends half the book convincing the reader.

Most of the issues was with Mel's Mix, aka seed starting mix. I must say, the experience last year has quieted the critics somewhat.

Good luck silencing your own critics.

It struck me how much this sounds like the same problems you have when you have babies, the worst I used to find was the person say "huhu!" but now my babies are 4 I really see the comparisons, you plant the seed in its nice safe container, making sure all the right level of nutrients are there (watching you diet ect) the real fear in that first phase that it will all come to nothing, constantly checking that everything is normal, reading "what to expect whe you are expecting" becomes the Garden Web and in my case "The Royal Horticultural Society encyclopaedia of Gardening" (only book I have at moment, saving the pennies for Mel's book). then this thing apears baring no resembalence to what you expect to see (first cotyledons/first scan) then slowly slowly it starts to become more recognisable, (birth) then the further worry when do I start to do this, what should I be expecting at this stage and then the total terror of them going it alone! you start in baby steps, harding off, then first full day at kindergarden/in the garden, you know you have to let go and they should be fine, but you worry, are they warm enough? are they too hot?, should I have given them a different fertiliser? have they had a drink, worry! worry! worry! and all the time well meaning friends and family are saying, shouldn't he be wearing a coat/under cover ahhhhh! I feel your pain, that said I managed to kill off 2 of my tomatoes last night, so I am doing better at the child rearing!

I like the first comment, I say enjoy that glass of iced tea and add a sprig of mint from your herb garden and smill while they till their rows.

I feel really luck. I grew up in the city with a small yard,(very happy to have that much) 2/3 for swings and kids to play and about 1/3 for small gardens fit in where they could. My grandfather and uncle where the main gardeners, I loved being a helper. I realize now that we were doing a sort of SFG without it being invented yet. We did not have room for long rows, things went in where they fit and since some of the garden beds were only a couple of feet deep and we were trying to fit alot into a small space usually in blocks. My uncle always had a compost bin going and had dug out a path down the center of the largest garden and used salvaged wood to hold the raised soil. When it came time for me to build my own garden and I found SFG it made perfect sense to me. When I started showing my family the book they thought it was nice for me but did not have any need to change what they were doing becaused they were already doing 95% of it and it was working well for them. The biggest change I made was to grow tomatoes pruned and trained up a string instead of caged or stake. And when I started telling friends they borrowed my book until they could get their own and then started their own gardens, some alot nicer than mine.

Good gardening, Mary

Thanks for all the advice! You guys are great. I knew you'd understand my dilemma. I like the response, "You may be right." I don't want to completely discount their experience, but I am going at this a completely different route. I'll be excited to see how it all turns out.

homertherat: lasagna gardening is a method of building up the beds by *layering* compost materials, much like lasagna. There is a book out by the title Lasagna Gardening where I have gathered most of my information.

carolynp: I would very much like to hear more about your gardens, since you're already doing what I am planning to, if you don't mind sharing more info.