I agree that your first priority needs to be to get rid of the grass. If it runs, you don't want it. Period. You will also need to do some kind of edging around the outside perimeter of the fence that will prevent grass from coming back in. Absolutely don't till until you are certain the grass is dead. If you do it this fall, you won't need to worry about any serious residual effects of Roundup by next spring. Although the fence would be an ideal place to trellis vegetables, the disadvantage is that you will not have a place to stand when harvesting. You would either need to make your perimeter beds narrow enough to reach across, or move them three feet inside the fence and erect trellises. I don't know what I think about the trees in the center of the garden. You will simply need to track the sun and think about how much shade trees would cast on your beds once the trees are full grown. It's true that in the south most veggies appreciate some afternoon shade (mine does). That would mean plant your trees to the west of your beds, but again, you don't want that shade to hit them before about two o'clock in the afternoon. I have two dwarf apples in the Northwest and Southwest corners of my garden. They are only two years old, but I believe their shade will be welcome. Thanks glib, for the note about their roots and raised beds. I am glad to know that. There are plenty of sites on the internet that will advise you on how much food to expect from a certain number of plants, but the truth is, you won't know for sure, until you have a couple of years under your belt. I can tell you that rather than growing lots and lots of one kind of food at once, I grow smaller amounts throughout the entire year (under floating row covers in the winter). My goal is to have plenty of fresh food for the table, and anything extra is canned or frozen. This works very well and I never have to face a bushel of anything at one time. If you can find a company that sells a high quality "organic mix", that will likely be just fine for filling your beds. If you really want to hedge your bet, ask them for a sample of it now (about a cup full) and have it tested by your Agricultural extension office. In our town, that costs $5 and gives you a wealth of good information about what is in that soil. Regardless of what you use, you will want to start a compost pile and plan to add compost (and probably some fertilizer too) to each bed each year. As it happens, my brother raises bees. Here is a link to his blog. He knows his stuff and there are lots of pictures. I'm jealous. My hubby draws the line at bees and chickens. :) Good luck to you! Post some pictures later and let us see your results! Here is a link that might be useful: The Door Garden

Asparagus is easy to grow, if you have patience. We have grown asparagus for years, and wouldn't trade the ability to go out, cut some spears, steam them lightly and then enjoy for anything in the world! You need a dedicated bed, because an asparagus planting can last for a decade or more. Make sure the soil is rich and as weed-free as you can manage, because an established asparagus bed is difficult to weed. In early spring fertilize the entire bed, dig trenches about 6" deep, and place your crowns (wherever you get them will give you planting instructions, but we place ours about 12" apart), cover the crowns with 2 or 3" of dirt, wait until they start to sprout, and then cover with the remaining dirt. We fertilize in the spring when the sprouts just begin to appear, again in May or June after the spring harvest, and again in August in anticipation of the fall harvest (in Texas an established bed will give two harvests a year). Asparagus comes in one, two, or three year-old crowns. I suggest one or two year crowns, since they transplant better. The first year--no harvest. Second year if things are going well, a very light spring harvest. Third year, gourmet time! When the fronds turn brown in the fall or early winter, cut them down to the ground and remove them, mulch, and fantasize about next spring's asparagus!

Hi fairfieldcircle! Thank you for your reply and for looking at my pictures:) The idea for the espalier courtyard came as an epiphany. I had been considering how to screen my front yard from the busy street so that my family could enjoy the space. There were so many things to consider: costs, building codes, light penetration, air movement, etc I was interested in putting a couple fruit trees in my little garden too. One day I was reading about espalier and realized that a Belgium Fence set back several feet from the public sidewalk could be the perfect solution for all considerations. The herb garden in the resulting courtyard helps the apples too by attracting beneficial insects. Since the herb garden is used for recreation, food production and is attractive to pollinators; I do not use any chemical insecticides on the trees, preferring to build up the beneficial insect population. My husband and I did the project without professional help. The posts were installed and strung with plastic encased wire cable. The trees planted and headed. Two main branches were allowed to grow unhindered for the first season. The bamboo canes were installed in situ. I tied them at 45 degrees to the wires. After the bamboo diamond framework was finished, I tied the trees to the bamboo in the autumn. The bamboo and trees are all tied with plant Velcro! I have to renew it from time to time and also loosen and retie the branches to avoid deforming them. Eventually, the bamboo will come down and the trees will be secured directly to the wire cable. The biggest nuisance at the moment is the winter-hungry rabbits!! I wish I had taken them better into consideration before heading the trees so low. If I had to do it over again, I would head the trees at 3 feet so that I could wrap them more effectively. Later this month, I plan to prepare and spray a dormant application fungicide/bactericide mixture of copper and lime called Bordeaux. Bordeaux is not organic, but is approved for use in organic gardening. The lime and copper form a persistent coating that sticks to the bark through rainy weather. Spring in my area is wet and cool, which favors fungal diseases. Bordeaux is CAUSTIC and one must wear protective equipment while preparing and applying it. There are other things that can be used, I prefer Bordeaux because it persists in the rain. This month I will begin preparing plastic zip-type baggies to put on the tiny apples in June. Bagging apples is tedious but is an effective barrier against codling moth and apple maggot flies. Bagging allows me to produce quality fruit without using noxious insecticides. In preparation for bagging, as soon as the blossom petals fall, I spray horticultural oil weekly on the trees to reduce the number of Plum/Apple Curculio until the apples are ready for bagging. For more info on bagging apples, check out the GW Fruit and Orchards Forum. Mid-Summer (End of July/August) chores include pruning to encourage fruit spur formation. Mid-Summer some of the early dessert apples are ready to eat!! Autumn, tree trunks need to be wrapped before winter to prevent girdling by mice and rabbits. The mice are sneaky and tunnel under the snow, so the wrapping has to be secured into the soil/buried under stones. Winter, whenever is snows appreciably, I use the snow thrower and also shovel between the trees to discourage the mice and rabbits. At present there is an 12 to 18-inch gully in the snow around the trees, which also makes the pests more visible to passing hawks. Unfortunately, the pests prefer to visit a night:/ Owls, where are you? Future project: I need to replace the irrigation system. Ugh! I originally installed weeping hoses and have discovered that they arent the best for my purpose. Fortunately, there was sufficient rain last summer so that I only needed a little supplementation. So, what do you think? OK, it is a lot of work, but I mostly enjoy it. Sounds like I know what Im doing, I suppose? I never had a book that gave step-by-step instruction for this project. I still do lots of research. There have been and continue to be occasional tears and tense moments. Let me know if you are looking for particular information and I will assist if I can. Regards, PoseyPlanter

well.... right now we have a 40X60 veggie garden but we decided at the beginning of this year to make ONE more move (we have moved 4 times in the past 4 years) ARRRGGGGG!!!! So this spring I made a promise to myself to ONLY plant what I ABSOLUTELY cannot live without ....... since last year I got crazy and planted so much it felt like it took from sun up till sun down just to harvest it all!!! But so far I have 12 5 color swiss chard, 117 toms (8 different verities), 8 snow peas, 8 sugar snap peas, 6 collards, 6 spinach, 47 red onions (just regular bunching but I gave my mom some candy red ones that I got from dixondale this spring to try out), 6 edamime soy beans, 20 broccoli, 5 cauliflower, a package of mixed salad greens and 40 carrot plants (if my luck is anything this year like it was last year with carrots I MIIIIIGHT get half of a finger carrot worth from 40 planted) and 15 red potatoes. AND ITS ONLY SPRING!!!!!!!! I havent even gotten to my summer stuff yet. But I just cant turn down the chance to try something else. I even planted sugar snap peas, dill, sunflowers, arugula and lettuce for my chickens around their fence so they can enjoy some veggies all summer too. Ummmm not like I dont already give them all the cantaloupe and watermelon all summer long that the deer bust open. Spoiled Little Ladies! Hehehe but I just love how they follow me around clucking at me, asking what else i have for them. I would list all of the specific varieties but I dont have them in front of me at the moment. Oh, and thats the veggies..... i just got done making 4 new small beds with orange variegated and yellow cannas in them yesterday, planning on more beds later this week. My mom loves flower gardens and specimen trees so everytime she comes out to my house I feel like a failure that my gardens are bare and dont quite look like hers. Hehehe she felt sorry for me and came over with a very nice bouquet of her gorgeous spring daffodils to display on my kitchen table. She even dug up some tiger lilies for me to plant, I think that was her way of saying I need to add some flowers hahahaha. Ok I think I have officially crossed the line of just rambling so I will stop here! ~Danni Girl