PNW help needed

[Sodapop]

I am new to the PNW and for the first time I have enough space for the garden of my dreams.

Problem is that I have no idea when to start anything here I would love some advise on what does well in this area, where to get seeds . starts and WHEN to get things going.

I have a large sunroom and can start seedlings there and have herbs in planters for year round use.

I have a 30x30 space for veggies - I have not tilled the soil yet, but have plenty of hot composted horse manure to add when I do.

A second bed for perrenial herbs - I think I want to get these as larger transplants to make it easy

A large bed for sunflowers and winter squash / pumpkins

Several beds for strawberries and blueberries

I am open to all ideas and can use all the help I can get. At our home in Oregon I used all larger starts from the nursery and was very lucky with great production.

[Kisal]

No message.

[cynthia_h]

I'd suggest getting your hands on a copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book ASAP. The Sunset Climate Zones were developed to help gardeners in the western United States and Canada deal with the varied terrain and climate zones we have vs. states with a single landform.

Sunset will tell you what conditions the plant needs, and elsewhere--in the description of your Sunset Climate Zone--when certain conditions prevail. One of the tasks of a beginning gardener (and I went through this) is to learn the correspondence between the plants *you* want to grow and your Sunset zone.

But you can get hands-on help most of the time from local, independently-owned garden supply store staff. They live for people like us! They know the Sunset book inside out and backwards and can steer you to varieties of both transplants and seeds which have a better chance of success where you live.

I got seeds last year from Seed Savers Exchange, and a few from Baker Creek. Both organizations--one a non-profit, the other a for-profit business--gave excellent delivery times and quality of seeds. My potato starts from SSE yielded 18 pounds of potatoes from 2.5 lb of starts my first-ever time growing potatoes. We weren't as ecstatic as we had hoped to be, but we were pleased. We also bought started plants from two local independently owned garden-supply stores (names on available on request to Bay Area gardeners; just pm me).

Make friends with the owner(s) of such a place close to your home. They'll give you more advice than you could have believed, and almost all of it will turn out to be correct. I had to go to Home Depot once last year to purchase a big bag of vermiculite, and it took three people to tell me where the vermiculite was. Not one of them knew what it was for. It was just another widget, I guess...

[smokensqueal]

There's a book by Mel Bartolomew Called Square Foot Gardening. (Your local library should be able to get a copy if you don't want to buy it.) I found it very helpful even if you don't plan on doing thing exactly his way. I grew up row gardening/farming my entire life and found this book to give me a great new view on gardening and some good ideas. Being really only my second year of gardening I'm excited about using some of his techniques. It also answers some of your questions on when to start what.