I agree with much of what's been said previously. My Garden is 16 by forty feet. i have 8 3.5x16 foot 'beds' (just places where i don't walk on the soil). I like 3.5 foot beds because I can reach more than halfway in from either side which is convenient. 4 or 5 foot beds seemed too wide, especially for my wife and kids who will be helping. my paths are only 15 inches wide but that is because i want to use as much space as i can for growing. if i had a bigger garden i think i would keep my beds the same width but increase my path space. i also try to pay attention to crop rotation. i have arranged my crops so that no bed will have the same family of plants more often than every four years. so my tomatoes are four beds away from my potatoes (both are nightshades). i think it is also worthwhile to consider the order of your crop rotation so that light feeders follow heavy feeders which follow legumes. but with plenty of compost and a bit of fertilizer this may not be so important since i am fairly new to gardening all of this is hearsay and theory from my dad and from the reading that i have done. but so far so good. jon

Looking great -- again :). And I was very interested to (finally) read your account of the garden "dynamics" (somehow missed it when you first posted it.) Some brainstorming (which may have nothing to do with reality, but here goes): You said you save your own seed (and that you're relatively new at this) so just wanted to mention -- you didn't save squash seed that was just left out in the open to be pollinated, did you? Just a thought (they always hybridize and usually turn out crummy -- best to use store bought seed). Really like your idea about a kid's section -- yet I'll add that I've been able to garden with my grand kids, ages 2 and 3, just with plenty of guidance. They're great at planting large seeds like peas, or root crops like onion sets, gently placing starts into holes, watering. And about the fact that folks don't pick and eat the food -- would a simple sign that says something along the lines of "Like what you see? Wish you could have some? Come work with us Saturday at 9, and take home the bounty!" And/or a sheet with a recipe on it -- used to do that for a CSA. Thanks for the update and pics! And so glad to hear you're off to a great start.

I'd go over the whole thing with a garden fork down to the full length of the blade (about 9 inches). The roots of the cover crop should penetrate deeper and help aerate the soil.

I used a pad of 17" X 23" 1/4" grid paper to lay out my garden. I divided my yard into 6 garden rooms so I only had to layout & design one room at a time. I can layout one garden room on each sheet of paper with a scale of 1/4" on paper=1 ft. in the garden which seems to work really well. I have a 1/4 acre corner lot in town with about 125-130 roses. I like the idea of garden rooms because you divide your total yard into smaller sections which have several benefits: 1--Since I'm not a professional designer, I find it easier to design one small room at a time rather than the entire garden. I do have a general idea what I want as a final result for the entire yard but working with one smaller section (garden room) at a time is much easier to plan a design. 2--Because I'm doing most of the work myself, breaking the total yard into smaller "garden rooms" divides the work up into manageable segments, usually one room a year. 3--It also helps spread the financial cost out over several years so I don't break my budget. 4--By designing by garden rooms, you can have different styles of gardens in different areas which makes your yard more interesting.