Ready to Grow Your Own?

I didn't catch this post in time to see the webcast, but I'm excited to get some links. I'm in the process of starting my own food garden. I havn't been too successful in the past with growing things, but now that my kids are a little older and I have more time on my hands I'm giving it another try. I'm using the "Square Foot" gardening technique and so far I seem to be doing pretty good. I planted a variety of garlics, onions and root vegetables and herbs. Everything seems to be thriving. I'm also reading books on "French Intensive" and "biointensive" garden techniques and am applying companion planting techniques to hopefully keep pests to a minimum. My teenage son seems quite interested in what is going on, at this point he isn't willing to help with anything other than suggestions on what to grow. He looked at the recipe for minestrone soup and salsa and said I should make sure to plant all those veggies and we should try to make our own pickles next summer too.

We had our fist garden this past year.  I would say it was a half-way success.  Meaning half the stuff we tried grew.  We also started a worm farm so this year we will have good fertilizer to use on it.

i have wanted to keep a garden for more than half of my life. however, with a recent move to snowy montana, i find that my dream is becoming farther and farther out of reach. there are many deer where i live; consequently, my parents don't want me to garden in the backyard as these gigantic rats will consumer everything. i have been wondering, however, how feasible growing veggies (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, spinach, and lettuce, to name the most desired) in containers indoors is. any suggestions?

The top 5 things I plan on growing are tomatos, cucumbers, peppers of every sort, onions, and potatoes. I have a large backyard and was able to put in 11 4'x4' raised beds. I have 5 planted already with onions, garlic, potatoes, lettuce, chard, broccoli, lettuce, celery and a few herbs, we got a frost and my basil didn't survive, but everything else is doing well. Last weekend I planted 4 fruit trees. I got the type that have 4 or 5 variets on the same root stock. So I have 4 varieties of apples, 4 varieties of asian pears, 4 varieties or plouts and 5 varities of stone fruit. I already have a pomagranate which produced 100 #'s of fruit this year.

I have the advantage of knowing we plan on living here forever, so I don't have to worry about resale value with my landscaping, plus I know I'll be around long enough to reap the benefit of my work. My mother taught me to can and make jellies growing up, so I'm hoping to produce enough to make pasta sauce for the year.

We are still waiting for winter to hit where I live, it looks like it may just pass us by this year. I have about another month before 6 packs of veggies will be in all the nurseries. I can't wait to plant the rest of the boxes. Everything I've put into the ground so far is doing well, except the basil that froze and one square of carrots the dogs walked on. The hard part for me is not to over do it, I'm already eyeing other areas for more boxes.