All things evolve, and often take unexpected paths. Our gardens evolve with us as we grow older, learn new things, suffer through our mistakes, and adjust our lives to follow new priorities. My own garden has gone through several evolutions, the first of which was driven by the purchase of a good power tiller. There was no longer a direct correlation between the size of my garden, and the ache in my back - so it got larger. It was suddenly easy to grow more kinds of vegetables, and multiple varieties. With the luxury of space, I did more trials, and began experimenting to find optimal plant spacing. Somewhere/somewhen after purchasing the tiller, because I really wanted to grow corn & squash in meaningful quantities, it occurred to me that the size of my garden was not restricted to the size of my yard. There is always unused land somewhere, and if you are willing to negotiate, you can often work out an arrangement that is mutually beneficial. I've gardened on OPP (other people's property) for over 25 years... on a military base during my Service days, on a utility easement, behind a former employer, and now on a friend's property. All of those sites had water provided, often with power and/or lights as well. While my gardens were large, they were strictly monoculture. All tomatoes went together in one place, all beans in adjacent rows, etc. I bought new seed each year, and purchased whatever plants were for sale at the local nursery. Had a lot of bad years, especially for insects & disease, and just assumed that was a natural consequence of gardening organically. Then while taking a Master Gardener course, I was introduced to the Seed Savers Exchange, and to the concept (revolutionary to me at the time) of saving my own seed. Embracing that philosophy has had a profound influence on how I garden... not just what I grow, but how, and why. I had to learn a lot more about botany, and learn to think in terms of species. When growing plants for seed, you can't plant different varieties of a species in close proximity; too much risk of crossing. So the tomatoes were spread out, as were the beans and peas; and squashes were limited to one per species. The end result was the dispersal of different species throughout the garden - and the end of monoculture. Even sweet corn was broken up into 2-3 smaller blocks, as opposed to one very large one. I had always allowed a few flowers in the garden, but began using them to fill in places where germination was poor, or where I had removed a plant for disease or signs of crossing. It occurred to me that bees might rather feed on flowers than on bean or tomato blossoms, so I spread them between different varieties to reduce crossing. When I came across Dr. Jeff McCormack's recommendations on the use of barrier crops, I further refined the process. A lot of flowers volunteer in the garden now; I try to make room for them when I can, and let them re-seed within reason. A little chaos - or natural order? - can be a good thing. This elaborate planting scheme had unintended benefits. Insects and disease were not the problem they once were (other than the thrice-cursed SVB). The one drawback: the garden now required planning. :-( When I go out to plant, I need to take the "blueprint" with me. Also unintended was the effect that saving heirloom beans would have on my garden - it forced me to go vertical. So many great heirloom beans are pole varieties, especially for shellies. Once I had found an efficient trellising system, I found that I liked the method... and now trellis anything which will climb. I'll choose pole over bush, and indeterminate over determinate, nearly every time. I found trellises to be good windbreaks, to protect the heat lovers (like okra) in the center of the garden. With over 400 feet of trellis, the garden looks like a maze when everything is full grown. In recent years, as the primary focus of my gardening has shifted to preservation, the garden has undergone one more change. There aren't many commercial varieties left in it, other than a few stand-out favorites like Fortex bean, Green Arrow pea, and King of the Garden lima. Most vegetables are grown on a rotation; I might grow 10 tomatoes each year, just not the same 10. When I retire, I'll probably turn the garden into a farm for a few years, growing seed crops, and introducing heirlooms to the local farmers market. If, that is, I don't find myself growing food out of necessity. 'Night all.

Wow! That is ambitious, have you gardened before? Even if you have perfected the raised bed gardening technique it could take 10 plus hours a week of maintenance to keep this garden up. The 8X8 garden will require you to walk on the soil this is not a good thing. Can you break it up into 4 beds of 4X4 or 2 beds of 4X8? How big are your kids? Four foot wide beds can be a bit much for children so 3X8 might be even better for them to learn. As for DH, if he is also a gardener and needs convincing, let him have a patch there he does his "traditional" gardening. Then compare notes as as you go. You know improving the soil even if it ain't yours is not a bad thing,, especially if you are getting all the produce. At least your doing something good for the enviroment. Do you have a compost bins set up too? Your going to be producing a lot of material that can be composted. This is a very ambitious plan, and if it is new to you, you may want to scale back, so you can get experience with the new method. I'm all for switching over, but you might get overwhelmed with all the problems that might come up. Unless you have the time. If you do the 3 Sisters (C/B/S) don't skip the any of the 3 sisters, they each have their roles. You can grow them in a organized fashion or use the Native American traditional method of mounds. A caveat to this method is that the beans don't fix that much nitrogen the 1st year, it is a cumulative thing over a couple years. Although you can compensate the 1st year with compost and nitrogen rich fertilizer. I did the SFG adaptation of it and it worked great last year. What kind of pests do you have in the garden? Do you have a cat &/or dog to chase off the varmits? Good luck with this garden, I wish I had the space to build such a beautiful garden by my house. Post some before & after pictures. CloneZero

Looks great. I'd really recommend a trellis arrangement instead of tomato cages. I used cages for years, I've used a trellis for one year, and will probably never go back to cages again. The nylon mesh material Mel recommends is very sturdy and allows you to grow your tomatoes further up while having them interfere less with the plants near them. 1) I put mine wherever I can fit them in, on the other hand I don't have such a big bed, so I guess I would try for a central location, or several squares in different places if I had that much space to work with. If you are worried about them being overshadowed, the big marigolds (1 per square foot) really are big, and tall, plants. 2)I would think the pepper would be fine. I am moving the peppers to the front (well the second row of squares back from the front) of my garden this year after they were overshadowed by my bush beans last year and didn't produce any peppers. 3) Never underestimate the space-hunger of the squash. Bush squash are BIG. Plant short-term crops like radishes around the edges of the squash area in spring, but expect that area to disappear rapidly. 4) Spreading out the plants (a square here, a square there) sure does make the garden prettier, and means that if there is a "problem" for one type of plant it may not wipe out your crop completely.

After a few years with my beds and the SFG method, I now only put in determinate tomatoes, and small container style squashes/cucs. For my big plants (Zukes, Cukes, big indeterminate tomatoes, etc) I find other/better places in my yard. You can grow these in your SFG but just be prepared for lots of maintenance, trimming, pruning, staking, caging, twining and generally a lot of fussing over your plants so they don't crowd out your other squares. Good luck!