Re. whether the walls are do-able, you need better advice than I can give you. I think your first task -- before designing the terraces and aisles -- should be to figure out what you want to plant and how much space you'll need for it, including the space taken up by the walls and aisles. Plot it out on graph paper. I suspect most of the 40' x 40' -- maybe all of it -- will be needed for the trees, grapes, and berries, and you'll need a second garden somewhere else. Of course some of that will depend on what kinds of fruit you're planting, and whether the different varieties are self-pollinating or not. I have (young) dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees planted in rows; the dwarfs are planted 10' apart, the semis 15' apart. The rows are 20' apart. I thought for a while that I should have put the rows closer together, but at this point I've begun pruning the oldest trees to be short and wide (I'm barely 5' tall, and I don't do well on ladders), and I'm afraid I should have put the individual trees farther apart.... If you do figure out a way to build your terraces, the grapes and berries will lend themselves well to that layout. I'm not sure about the trees, though. Maybe you should do a sideways elevation plan -- a cross-section showing the different levels and what's planted there; draw the height and shape of the trees and berry bushes. How will the 6' wide terraces work with 10' wide fruit trees? Will the terracing cause any difficulty when you're harvesting from the trees, or pruning the trees? My five oldest apples, planted by the Previous Owners, are on a slope (the area under the downhill halves of each tree is almost as steep as your slope), and I definitely wouldn't want to deal with terracing when pruning or harvesting. I'd back up to get a better view of a branch that might need to be pruned ... and fall backwards over the uphill terrace wall. I'd look up at the top of the tree, get dizzy, lose my balance ... and fall off onto the next lower terrace. You won't need to till under the trees, and hopefully runoff won't be a problem there. So you might want to forgo altogether the idea of terracing under the trees. This is pretty basic, but just as a reminder: when you're planning what to plant where, be sure to take into consideration the sun exposure, the height of the trees, bushes, and vines, and the shadow cast by the barn.

I didn't realize you were talking about using chelated iron. I was talking about fertilizer, specifically Nitrogen fetilizer, since that seemed to be more in keeping with the thread topic. There's really no granulated iron that would help me, since my soil is very alkaline. I either use a foliar spray for a short lived effect or I use soil sulfur for long lived effects. For iron uptake, a couple of months is a short term fix. Long term effects would be achieved by changing the soil pH and taking actions that will last years. Chelated iron as a foliar spray seems to be an expensive way to go, though. If you're spraying it on the leaves, any water soluble iron should work, since it is absorbed directly and doesn't need to be in a form that can be taken in by the roots.

We did something similar - just dug a hole between the plants (NOT in a planting hole) for each day's accumulated veggie trimmings and covered. Very quick, easy, and no problems. Over the 3 years we lived there the soil went from heavy clay to beautiful, dark, rich soil. I credit the worms, they make short work of those trimmings. I've heard people say critters will dig them up but that never happened, in fact our dog would walk between the strawberries and pick and eat them. She never dug at all. How well your garden will grow until those scraps decompose or are used by the worms depends on how good the soil is now. It's not a really fast way to enrich the soil altho if you chop or blend the scraps they will break down faster. Start collecting coffee grounds, they are a valuable addition. IMO a composter is not necessary to make compost, 4 pallets, a ring of wire fencing, or a pile works as well. Do you have access to free compost from the city?

Tomatoes hate to be overwatered. You'll do more damage over watering than underwatering often. Water them like the rain: a big drenching and then nothing for several days until they're almost drying out, and then drench them again. The problem isn't usually too much water in one watering -- it's watering them too frequently. So go ahead and give them a good drink, but then back off for a few days. Always avoid getting the leaves wet as this can spread disease. How much? How often? That depends on too many variables to have a fixed schedule: your soil, heat, humidity, mulch type, amount of rain... I water as little as the plants need to stay healthy looking. You can dig a hole near your bed and see if the soil is drying out, but avoid damaging the roots. As the tomatoes begin to blush and ripen, back off on the watering -- it'll help concentrate the flavors and avoid splitting. Consistent, proper watering makes a world of difference. Too much, too little and you'll have problems. My first year growing tomatoes I was beset by Blossom End Rot. After I figured out the watering that largely went away. Good luck! >I have the fertilizer schedule down, but get confused on the >watering schedule. I have raised beds, use "t" tape. Do you >water every day? How long? Also, what does it mean when >people say water an inch of water deep? thanks