Main Objective: A Year-Round Food Producing Yard (Garden)

Our main objective is to create a space that will produce an ample supply of produce 12 months a year. What vegetables are desirable throughout the year - what do we want grow during the winter months in our greenhouse (tomatoes) and what do we want to grow enough of during the summer months (zucchini) to store for use in December?

As my spouse mentioned this evening... we need to really consider the reality of our project - get away from the romanticism of owning and operating a personal greenhouse. For example, is there a more productive way of producing more fresh veg in our smallish backyard than erecting a full-fledged greenhouse? Dick Raymond and his book Dick Raymond's Gardening Year has come up several times during our conversation... Dick has shown that there are several ways in which to start plants without the use of a greenhouse and he goes on to show the novice gardener how to put vegetables away or store them for use during the off season. Actually, Dick talks about "hothouses" for what appears to be seedlings placed in their own containers covered by plastic... I stumbled upon Dick's "plant bank" section on page 74 that demonstrates how to create your own mini greenhouse. The idea here is that one can lengthen the growing season by enclosing (in the original garden spot) the tender vegetables on the spot without the hassle of moving produce in and out of a full-sized greenhouse.

If you have the time, I recommend reading this book. Dick Raymond's Gardening Year: A full year--month by month, step by step--guide to everything to grow in a vegetable garden by America's foremost gardener.