Gardening

The garden itself is about 45' wide and 16' deep. I use metal raised beds, and have 11 of them in my garden space. I have various pots and planters as well (like a small fig in a crock, some large pots with artichokes). I have a retaining wall at the back of the garden and a fence above that wall, so I have lots of vertical space to grow stuff too. I cram stuff in my raised beds. They're all on an irrigation system. I keep chickens and have a steady supply of stuff for the compost bins. I top off my beds each year with finished compost from my bins.

Our place is on a half acre, half of that is wooded, and the other half is roughly split with 1/3 for the footprint of the house and 2/3 for the perennial beds/backyard/garden. I have lots of areas outside of the garden that I plant stuff in, but in general, I garden on a fairly small space.

I keep a calendar of when I need to start various seeds based on my last frost date. Until my greenhouse is in place (hopefully next year!), I start seeds inside using rolling shelving units, heat mats and simple shop lights. By the time mid-May rolls around, the house is pretty much bursting with tomato and pepper plants as well as lots and lots of flower starts. I start my tomatoes and peppers mid-February. I'm growing a few more asparagus starts next year, and will start those in mid-January.