I don’t know what first attracted me to gardening. My family never had one when I was a kid. We always went to the grocery store for vegetables. Actually, I don’t remember eating too many fresh vegetables growing up—our vegetables came out of cans. Now that I think back on it, I have no clue why I started my first garden. It was about 1990 and I had just bought my first house. I lived in the desert in California, which wasn’t exactly the best gardening spot. Whatever the reason, I got it in my head that I wanted to grow a garden.

For my first attempt at gardening, I followed the Square Foot Gardening method. I had a small yard and had bought and read the book on “Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew. I must admit that I was not very good at it to begin with, but kept at it. When I moved to North Carolina in 1993, I had a big yard and went with a traditional row garden, but I always wanted to go back and try the “Square Foot” method again.

They say all things come back again, and now that I have a small yard in Charlotte, I have decided to try the “Square Foot Garden” method again. So I dusted off the old book off my shelf and got busy. Here is the beginning of my new garden. There were actually some railroad ties lying in the back of my yard that I used to create the outline. I always wanted to do a raised bed too, so this seemed to be fate. Hopefully, the next picture I post will be of a thriving garden.