I bought the HGTV Home and Landscape Design thingy, which is how I got the 3d rendering. Wish I could take credit for it myself! I know this is hard to believe for anyone who never lived in TX, but trust me when I say there is NO shade from much of anything in the summer. There is a little tiny strip, maybe 6" wide, right along the side of the house, and that is it. Following traditional wisdom, I should have run the garden crosswise in the yard, so as to avoid the shade from the trellises, but come June and the rest of summer, the plants are going to appreciate that shade. As will I, while I'm out there roasting in the heat!

EDIT: apparently the boxes I "drew" out aren't going to work, and I can't get to photobucket from work, so I'll try my best to decribe. First 4'x4' box: 1st 9x9 squares will be 2 zuchinni plants like suggested with carrots and lettuce as the border Top right - garlic 2nd row, all the way to the right - more carrots 3rd row, all the way to right - eggplant (staked) Bottom row (left to right) - pole beans, pole beans, bush beans, eggplant (there will be a trellis here on the north end of the bed) *eggplant squares will be bordered with marigolds Second 4'x4' bed: 1st row (left to right) - strawberries, strawberries (bordered with thyme), lettuce, lettuce 2nd row (L to R) - strawberries, strawberries, spinach, spinach 3rd row (L to R) - peas (bordered with marigolds), peas, cucumber, cucumber (bordered with dill) TRELLIS RUNNING BETWEEN THIRD AND FOURTH ROWS 4th row (L to R) - peas (border = marigold), peas, cucumber, cucumber (border = dill) Last box 3'x6'long: 1st row and second row (L to R) - broccoli (two squares checkboard), cabbage (two quares checkboard), cauliflower (two sqaures checkboard) - east side by broccoli is bordered by dill, west side by cauliflower is bordered by rosemary, and the south border by broccoli/cabbage/cauliflower is oregano 3rd row (L to R) - sweet onion, yellow onion, brussle sprouts, brussel sprouts, red onion, and garlic Potatoes - I picked a few "bulbs" up at Lowes...decided I'd try them in an old plastic trash can we have lying around Strawberries - also thought I'd try these in a bucket hanging by our deck...see which ones do the best. Watermelon and pumpkin - going to try to grow along the back of our house. For some reason, things grow like crazy there without touching them (threw in some dying tomatoe plants and herbs there and they turned right around and flourished - who knows) - set up trellis along the brick and see what happens. Zuchinni - our neighbors grow enough that I don't want to take up a 9 sq ft section in our garden, but I did buy the seeds. Figured I'd plant them in two large galvanized tubs we have or two large plastic tubs we have (probably 25-30 gallons in size) and set up a trellis for them on the side of the barn. They'll be on the east side of it. If it works fine, if not, no biggie. My only two things I have left to find a spot for are the basil and cilantro (even though I know it probably won't grow well). I also need to figure out what spots will need to be planted twice (like lettuce), but as long as I can, I plan to plant the same crop again. Hoping this is a little better at least. WDYT?

Thanks for all the great suggestions! This weekend I'll pull out the things that are probably too stunted to salvage and add compost and cottonseed meal to fertilize the bed. Since I've been using bagged "organic compost" and decomposted cow manure from Lowe's, I'll try a different compost this time for some variety. Will then replant with things that stand a chance of tolerating our impending summer heat, and see what happens. shebear: Hope you're right about that clay soil; sometimes it seems more suited for making bowls and pots than for growing plants! But, I will say it's an order of magnitude better this year than last year. Have already had more tomatoes this year than all of last season!

An 8 x 3 bed of pink eye purple hull peas (PEPH) should be plenty for a family of 6. But I would caution you about planting 9 per square. It also depends on the variety of PEPH peas you are growing. I grow Top Pick PEPH and they are very bushy and you could not grow 9 per square. But they do have some varieties that are more vining or running which may be able to fit 9 per square but I would not do it. They attract aphids and you have to be able to see the plant in order to try to combat the aphids. Here is a 4 x 8 bed of PEPH Top Pick peas. Although I do square foot gardening I do not follow the spacing rules on all plants. This is a 4 x 8 bed. I planted 4 rows about a foot apart and the individual plants are 4 to 6 inches apart so that is about 2 to 3 plants per square. Look at the base of the plants, there is no way you could get 9 per square foot with this variety.