beginner trying to start a garden in zone 9

My only gardening experiance in the past was when I was young and living in Ala. My parents had a garden and I assisted with a lot of it. The soil and weather is a lot differant here and I don't remember some of the steps we did. I've grown flowers and other ornamental plants and some herbs recently.

I am currently removing the grass from a 16x42 foot area (rough estimate, probably a little larger). When I am done I will rent a tiller for final preps. The soil in that area of the yard is pretty good, one end is sandy from when a pool was there. I am composting whatever I can find at the moment, which happens to be kitchen scraps, leaves, elephant ears, and now the grass. I have 4 wire cylinders and the grass is in a pile. I have composting experiance from when we first moved in. We had no grass in the yard so I composted leaves and stuff and transplanted cuttings. Now the grass grows like crazy in the summer! There is a lot of live oak and pine here so I imagine my compost will be acidic. I scored some sweetgum leaves from the neighbors yard the other day, I think they will compost better. I have about 10 bags of leaves to add to my grass and kitchen scrap piles as needed. My cylinders are currently full but they will reduce in a few weeks at which time I will empty and turn them, then fill up my bins. I should have a couple empty ones so I can fill those up with my grass and leaves that are in piles. I think I need to add something to the compost when I first turn it. I don't have any animal manure so I thought some kind of fertilizer high in nitrogen?

I want to grow tomatoes, beans of some sort, squash, green peppers, collards and other greens, onions and potatoes. I will change to other things if it turns out they will grow better. I should have the ground dug up and prepped and the fence up in a week or two at most.

I'm not sure what else I should do to the soil before I plant. My compost isn't going to be ready for a few months so I guess I should add some store bought stuff for now. What should I add?

I also am unsure how to plan the area. I think I will need a bedding area for the tomatoes and squash, and rows for the onions potatoes and beans. Or maybe the tomatoes would be easier to manage in a row? I was thinking about planting pole beans so they would grow up the sides of the fence. Is this a good idea? I know I would need to take into account how the sun shines. I guess it would be easier to just plant rows of bush beans but I'm afraid of getting unindated with a ripe crop. I guess I should space my plantings but how far apart?

I have searched and cannot find a planting guide for my zone. I can find charts with vegatables and what months to plant them in but it doesn't give the zones. It's very hot here in the summer, winters not so bad, so I imagine I can grow something all year long. That's what my mom and dad did, but I can't remember what was planted when. I know we did spinich in the winter, and I think kale and swiss chard. We planted lettuce, it must have been in the winter but I'm not sure. We had rabbits as well and used the droppings for the garden. It was a very large garden planted in red clay but it was very productive. This soil is much easier to work.

Can anyone give me tips on gardening in this zone? My neighbors son had great luck this past summer but he's the type to do something once then quit so he's not a lot of help. Also, when I was young my dad went to the feed and seed and got bags of seed for regional vegatables. They don't have "feed and seeds" around here so I guess I am stuck with lowes or home depot.

Any tips or help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. I will post pics of my plot once it is prepared. The plot does not get full sun all day long but it's the sunniest spot in my yard and it's so hot here a little shade probably isn't a bad thing.

Go to some of the small towns in Chatham or Wayne county and you will find feed and seeds. There is an Economy Feed and Seed at 646 W.West Bay street in Savannah. There are several lawn and garden centers in the area Including Hester and Zipperer. The Chatham county agent will have a planting guide for the area. In general cool weather crops are either overwintered or planted in January-February. Hot weather crops April- May

Start here:

http://www.ugaextension.com/chatham/anr/index.html

If you are a joiner you can get involved with the Master Gardeners program. If not, seek their advise as I'm sure they will love to help you. Who knows, one of your neighbors may be a Master Gardener or is studying to become one.

Happy Gardening

Jerry

Howdy margo,
Please check this link and see if there's sompin' u can use. Les
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B577.htm

Thanks for the replies! I was wondering about hester and zipper. I'm planning on going there on my day off to see what's there. I may also go to effingham co., I have passed some places there that might be helpful.

I would hate to go to all this work and have the garden not do well. I actually kind of hate it here but it seems like I am stuck here so I may as well make the best of it. My dream was to move to NC near the ashville area where I could have a larger garden and some animals, like we used to when I was younger. Since that's out of the question now I have decided to rethink how I could make it better here, to keep my sanity. My neighbor had a couple trees cut down that was shading my yard making it better for a garden - I hope. I was also thinking about getting a couple of bantys but that might be pushing it. :)

You might try the Kitchen Garden Almanac category posted at HarvestToTable.com. There is a planting almanac posted each month for the "South" -- also check out their Northern Hemisphere postings which are broken down by zone.

Here's a link: http://harvesttotable.com/

Wow! There is a lot of info at that almanac page!!

Thanks all for posting links.