Don't worry. If you run out of room, just pull out the under-performing plants and forge ahead. One zuke is more than enough for a family of four for fresh eating and it'll start producing long before it gets huge. You can always succession plant -- so when the one zuke gets bigger and production starts to taper off, the replacement is getting big enough to flower. There's also a climbing zuke that likes growing in containers, but I haven't tried it. When I lived in California and had a small patio, I gardened square foot style. Most everything grew with precision and exactly as the books and web sites say. In Alabama? I think there's steroids in the dirt. I get monsters here. I experimented with small melon plants last year, and Minnesota Midget really does live up to the description but all the melons ripened at once and then the plant died. I got 5 4-5" melons off a tiny little plant with a couple of 4' vines, though. This year I am trying a reportedly smaller zuke plant (cocozelle) and smaller winter squash varieties. I have lots of room but the BF doesn't eat many veggies and I need smaller portions!

If you build your beds on top of your existing soil, with landscape fabric covering the ground, the weeds should be less of an issue. Then build your mix on top of that. That's what I did, but added 3 inches of gravel over the fabric for better drainage and weed control. I'm lucky here that we've got a regional composter that uses no less than 5 types of plants for compost and thousands of different source plants, so it's as diverse as you can get. And I can get it in bulk from several sources and if I need more than 5 yards, they'll deliver. So I agree, it's much easier in the long run to replace or build over your existing soil. Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden in progress...

I amend my garden soil with as much organic matter as I can, I add some peat and vermiculite but no where close to 1/3 of the mix. I also add lime and fertilizer (from the recipe in the book). My gardens are not all raised beds. I follow most of the principles from the original book. I have fairly small (18 x 22 ft) fenced in garden space. I use most of the sq ft spacing but I don't put down any markers. I don't walk or lean on the soil, I mulch, I compost (and never have as much as I would like). I companion plant, interplant, succession plant and try to rotate crops. I grow tomatoes using the trench method, 1 sq ft spacing, pruned to 1 main stem and trained up a string. I also use some intensive plant spacing, do some container gardening and have built a layered (lasagna) bed. I read lots of garden books and use lots of bits and pieces as needed. Good gardening, Mary

I learned the hard way that top soil is not a good option. It does not hold water! I use some local soil (from the yard) and add peat moss, soil amendments, as well as compost. I think they quit producing vermiculite. Something about vermiculite dust causing serious respiratory problems. Peat is good for water retention, for making soil friable.