I just saw another picture with potatoes in tires, but the way they were set up, there would be plenty of space for planting pumpkins around them. Maybe the warmth from the tires would help my pumpkins ripen faster :) Also, any ideas to keep the deer out of the corn? I can fence one side with the cattle panels and grow some beans on them...maybe string some wire around the other sides? I don't want to fence in the whole garden. Has this worked for anyone?

Rhubarb is a perennial, so you have to wait a bit for it. Celeriac is a hard to germinate as celery and needs a *long* cool season we just don't get. You might try it in the fall. Sweet peas... the ornamental? Or you want sugar snap or snow peas? They grow great here but don't delay getting them in the ground. It's a smidgen late to plant them. If you are looking for spring edibles, you might try salad turnips (like Hakeuri). Kohlrabi is another cool season unusual veggie -- it's quite good, but it doesn't really have enough time in the spring -- it does well in the fall, though. Also salsify and parsnips and rutabaga, although the last three I hate with a passion!

I am located in the Melbourne area. (beachside/Indialantic) Wow... that's quite a read. I'm probably not too inclined to do a lot of soil mixing, especially where composting is concerned. (I just don't have the space to mix OR store) This would be one of the main reasons that I lean more towards a hydro/organic approach, using soilless media. Watering is no problem. I have time to water, or I am quite adept at automating. The local hydro store can get me coco cubes and all the coco specific nutrients. I have (low/no cost)access to cloth pots from a local nursery. The climate here is my big limitation. I am not opposed to trying anything, so long as it's within my means, objectives, and criteria. I have a very large screened in area that has a west facing shaded overhang that the screen cage attaches to. It can be utilized to provide a good mix of sun/shade by simply sliding the containers forward or backward into/out of the sunny zone. Or I can expose the containers to full sun, minus the 15-20% loss from the screen. Anyway, I've been looking at all sorts of pots, from cloth to "airpots". (which I certainly can't find locally) I like the idea of containers that encourage "air pruning" of roots, rather than containers which become root bound and run roots in a circle around the pot. But if something works better, I'm all ears. I'm going to be raising indeterminate tomatoes, as I have hydroponically. I assume that i can use the same pruning and staking methods? Specifically, I trim back to one main stem, and pull of all suckers. Basically, I just have one long vine, with just 3-4 sets of leaves (side shoots) on the end. Anyway, thanks for your reply. Can't wait to jump deep into this topic.

Well I said I wasn't going to bring home as much this year, and I didn't. In the past it's taken me weeks to get it all done! Good luck with your foundation bed. That will be really nice! We did ours the first year we were in the house, and it made such a big difference. Still waiting for all the stuff we planted to reach a good size. What kind of shrubs are you going with on the redo?