A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion New Members Novice Gardener here...

Hi everyone....just wanted to introduce myself. I've been growing veggies for a couple of years now. This year will be my 3rd season, but I'm not very good at it and haven't had much success yet. So I'm kind of like a first time gardener I guess. Point is, I've been having a hard time figuring out why things are going wrong when they do. Most forums/topics I have found when I try to google specific problems, the threads are several years old. So found this forum and seems to have current, active members so thought I would join up.

Anyway, I believe I live in zone 9? (Not sure if that's an A or B...I live north of Houston, TX.) Hopefully will find some people here who have mastered this region. I also love sharing pics and seeing pics of what others are doing, so hopefully there are others here that enjoy the same. Despite my mediocre results to date, I'm still pretty enthusiastic about gardening.

Welcome, Cheesy. You may just find help for whatever ails your gardens here.
I don't do many vegetables in my zone 9 garden. But I do many flowers. And it is beautiful! But I keep telling everyone I have killed as many plants as I have successfully grown.
So much of gardening is trial and error and learning. Even the pros are constantly learning.

Thanks, I love flowers too. Quite a few years ago I had pretty good luck w/ hibiscus and roses in pots when I lived in an apartment. Now I'm into trying to grow things that I can eat. What kind of flowers do you grow?

I grow as many flowers as I can find that the critters don't want to eat.
And critters are the only reason that I do not grow more food plants. They enjoy them before I can.
Here the biggest pest is the ground squirrels. And we get gophers and some deer also. I live snug up to national forest land and they are prolific.

Oh yeah, my big problem here is birds. Every time I have a tomato that is starting to ripen, if I don't catch it in time, some bird will have come along and shredded a hole into the side of it. Plus they like to steal "building materials" as in coco liners in my hanging baskets. I guess that stuff makes good nesting material.

Leave easier nesting material out for the birds. Bits of yarn, cut up old sweaters and cotton rags for them. If they have completely ruined one of your coco mats, put that out for them in shreds. They will head for the easiest stuff to gather. And it is fun to see bits of pink yarn threaded though nests later.
Birds do a lot of good for gardens in pest control. Some bird netting tossed over the tomato plants might save some of your fruit.

Oh that's a good idea. I'll go do that now. Thanks!