There's a lot of conflicting and confusing about companion planting out there; when I was first putting together a plan I drove myself nuts trying to accommodate and incorporate everything, and then found out there's not a lot of scientific information supporting most of these practices anyway. It IS true that you should plant basil between/around your tomatoes--they yield about 20% more that way, though no one knows exactly why. The only thing I definitely would avoid doing is interplanting legumes (peas, beans) with fruit and root veggies. Legumes 'fix' (leach) nitrogen into the soil, and too much nitrogen can have negative effects on those plants. Instead, plant them with greens and lettuces, which feed on nitrogen. Some other plants, like fennel, are considered alleopathic and should be a little distance away from everything else because they can inhibit other plants' growth. Assuming you're in the northern hemisphere, put your tallest plants on the north edge and as you move south get shorter. This will ensure that your plants get the most sunlight possible. Traditional planting instructions (what you will see on the seed package) will advise you to grow vining crops in hills, with lots of distance between hills (winter squash, cucumbers, etc). This is not a very efficient use of space, especially if you only have a 16'x20' area. Instead, find some cattle paneling or create a trellis with stakes and netting. This will allow you to guide the plants to grow vertically, saving space and making harvesting much easier. They should be relatively tall (at least 4') so they would do well on the back row with the tomatoes. You could grow your tomatoes the same way, if they are indeterminate - they are vines and will grow fine up netting instead of in cages. Finally, you could use a space-saving method like square-foot gardening. You don't need to spend the money to build raised beds; simply mark off a 4'x whatever area and fill it with compost/topsoil so that it is a few inches off the ground. You may also wish to add coir or peat for roughage and water retention. Natural erosion will occur - you will have to shore up the sides sometimes, and add extra compost periodically (you would have to do this anyway, eventually). You may want to save up for beds in the future. Plan for 2-3 feet between beds in each direction. Make sure that the dimensions of the area are no more than 4' one way, so that you NEVER step on the bed and compress the soil. You will be able to reach in from the sides and harvest easily at this distance. The dimensions the other way can be any size - 4', 8', 10', etc. If your bed is longer than it is wide (say 4'x8') make sure the 8' goes east-west for the most sunlight. This method of gardening (as long as you never step on the soil in the beds--super important!) will allow you to plant many crops much more closely together. I've included a link that describes how to space plants under the SFG method. Here is a link that might be useful: My Square Foot Garden: Plant Spacing

Get some good fill dirt to put around the base of your house do it so that its higher next to your house and levels off away from the house . This keeps rainwater running down and away of your foundation. You can usually buy fill dirt from new construction sites for not very much . Mostly its going to just take a shovel and hard work. Also make sure you have gutters on the house with the downspouts going out far enought that it puts the rain away from your house . . We have had to do this to the last two house we have bought. Its not that bad and it pays off big time. There are also French Drains that you can put in your yard but that can be expensive and requires a lot more work. Good luck

rainyevening, Some of the fastest growing trees tend to get large. So you may want to keep them fairly far apart (10 meters?). You don't need may large trees to fill a yard. Plan for mature size, or you may be removing them later. Maples tend to have shallow roots and consume all the moisture, which prevents anything from growing under them. Not good if you want a shade garden. I have had several water problems. Putting in some drain tile (buried hose 10 to 15 cm in diameter, not sure of the standard metric sizes) along that edge of the house and having it drain off farther down hill may help. If your house has gutters with downspouts, getting that water away from the house may help. Moving much dirt may take a backhoe (pay someone to do it). I had at least 3 different backhoes in my yard, 15 years ago for various water related reasons. Plants are rated by hardiness zones, based on minimum winter temperatures for your area. You may be in zone 5. Conifers are great. You probably want winter sun to be able to warm the house a little to cut heating costs. So I may suggest to put deciduous trees (no leaves in winter) on the south side of the house. There are some deciduous Conifers. Dawn Redwood is one, and mine is fast growing (over 1 meter a year). It is still a young tree, maybe 5 meters tall. It will get to be a large tree. I like ginkgo trees as well, and they seem to have few problems. Do not rule out smaller understory trees, that grow under the "protection" of a larger tree. I have put wire cages around my trees to prevent small woodland critters from eating off the bark and killing the trees. I plan to remove them after 5 years or so. There is a lot to think about. I wish you luck and gardening fun!

I sure do feel for you, Susan. Flowers are such a source of joy and to see them killed by that noxious weed must be very painful. I'm lately battling morning glory that must have been started by a bird dropping seed, as there are none around me. (I wrote about this earlier, so sorry for the repeat.) So far, it's in one bed that used to contain a spa and deck that we removed, and that now has three blueberry bushes and some green beans; if need be, I don't mind taking out the blueberries to get this weed gone! (The beans will be finished soon.) I am using a vinegar/salt/Dawn mixture that I read about, but I've had to reapply several times and I see they're green again. :( If applied when the weather is hot, they dry and fry immediately.....but in a week they're back again. I know I'm poisoning the soil and intend to replace the soil, if necessary. My patch is manageable so far, but we shall see if continuous sprayings will eradicate. Do you think your kids might be able to help you rent goats? Or would the weed spring back as soon as they leave? I'm sorry you're having to deal with this!