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[bsod.phantom]

Hello.  Thank you in advance for the help.

v31.25
I can't seem to grow above ground crops -- I'm in a split biome, according to the embark screen F1 is Mountain and F2 is Temperate Conifer Forest (I copied and abandoned the fortress to view this from the reclaim screen).  Does this mean the whole map is a mountain biome and therefore I can't grow above ground plants, even though there are above ground plants present on sections of the map?  Per the wiki:

Above ground crops farming is impossible in Ocean and Mountain biomes, even if the farm is built on mud.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.31:Farming

If it's the case that the mountain biome is dominant or whatever, if it was F2 and the forest was F1 would it still be dominant simply because it's mountain, or is whatever the F1 biome the dominant biome?

I'm a pretty noobish player and I've never actually build above ground farm plots before so I don't know if I'm doing something wrong.

I have no problem building and harvesting the below ground plots, but when I try to build an above ground plot where natural plants were previously growing and that has been flooded using the pond fill method, build plot gives this message:
No mud/soil for farm
Mud is left by water

It shows the same message if I try to build the farm over the muddied/watered tile or the furrowed sandy loam.

Looking at it shows:
Muddy Dense fescue grass
Water 1/7
A dusting of mud

If I channel out the above tile for my below ground farm and expose to light, as expected the tile becomes
Muddy dolomite
A dusting of mud
Outside Light Above Ground

Once that happens, the build plot command gives
No mud/soil for farm
Mud is left by water

If I build a plot on the flooded dug stone still with the roof I have options to plant below ground plants.  But then when I channel out above it when I try to manage the plot I suddenly get
No seeds available For this location

I definitely have above ground seeds, both gathered and purchased.

Thanks!

[GoldenShadow]

You can only build surface farms on grass. Not muddy stone. That means soil layer. Mountains don't have a soil layer.

[Garath]

you could probably pull it off on the forest part of your embark.

[Jelle]

You'll only be able to plant in the forest biome, so any area where plants and trees are already growing. Importent is that your farm plot mustn't have a single tile in the mauntain biome area or it won't work afaik.

[slothen]

also you don't need to worry about above ground irrigation.  Find soil -> instant farm.

[greycat]

If it's the case that the mountain biome is dominant or whatever, if it was F2 and the forest was F1 would it still be dominant simply because it's mountain, or is whatever the F1 biome the dominant biome?

F1 and F2 are the function keys you can press during the pre-embark screen, to see which tiles are covered by which biome.  If F1 was the mountain biome, then pressing F1 would make all the mountain biome tiles flash.  (In the case of mountain vs. forest, you also have a different character symbol, but sometimes you'll have multiple biomes with the same symbol, so the function keys are the only way to see the boundaries.)

This gives you a general indication of which parts of your post-embark fortress are covered by which biome.  It's not precise, but simply knowing something like "the entire eastern half is mountain, and also a bit of the north-central part" may help guide you.

[Mushroo]

Build your plot in the same place you wild-harvested the plants.

[Garath]

If there are trees growing you can farm there.

[talysman]

If you try to build a farm plot in a Light/Outside area with mud or soil and it says

No mud/soil for farm
Mud is left by water

... build it anyway. It will work. I always get that message when creating underground "above ground" farms, but after you build the plot, you get above ground plants listed when trying to plant seeds. And soon, you're flooded with rope reed.

[nightwhips]

If you try to build a farm plot in a Light/Outside area with mud or soil and it says

No mud/soil for farm
Mud is left by water

... build it anyway. It will work. I always get that message when creating underground "above ground" farms, but after you build the plot, you get above ground plants listed when trying to plant seeds. And soon, you're flooded with rope reed.

This. It SAYS a thing that suggests you can't build, but as long as you're on soil it's no problem.

[bsod.phantom]

Thank you for the assistance!  I think I have it figured out.  What confused me is that there is grass all over the mountain biome.  I had assumed if grass would grow then a farm could grow.  I'm posting the below information for the next person who is confused...

I had not tried to build a plot when it gave the message
No mud/soil for farm
Mud is left by water
But encouraged by the comments above, when I build a plot on the surface within the obvious forest biome (ie, there are trees and shrubs all around), despite this message it works without irrigation (as stated above), and even when I dug one z level down (it was still sandy loam) it also worked without irrigation.

Several z levels down on flooded stone (Magnetite) with exposure to light (look indicates Outside Light Above Ground) it also worked, provided I did this in the forest biome.

However, scattered all over my forest biome are tiles of dolomite and dolomite Pebbles, even right next to shrubs and trees.  These are like floor tiles.  If I try to build a plot on one the message displayed is
Needs soil or mud <---- this is in red
No mud/soil for farm
Mud is left by water
Pressing enter does not build the plot.  Even with irrigation a plot cannot be built, and if I dig out below them and flood that stone I get the same message, even if there is 1/7 water currently on the tile. 

There is a pretty strong line of where the trees and shrubs end and if I try to build a farm plot on the grass past that I get the No seeds available for this location message.  It seems that the forest biome does not really extend into the mountain biome, but the mountain biome extends into the forest biome via the dolomite and dolomite Pebbles floor tiles.

Thanks again!