[Sequoyah101]

We don’t try to live off of our garden but in season and with a little local farmer’s market produce that is what we mostly end up eating. The garden is now about 40 x 60. I’ve had much larger and used the Extension Service planting guide but it turns out to be enough to feed an army or keep us canning and freezing through mid-July if we plant according to the time guide. This year it was too wet and cool so we ended up planting late and all of it on just about one day, never a really good plan.

I’m wondering how many square feet of raised beds you use? I am thinking of about 250 square feet 16” high using concrete blocks. My arrangement would be a total of 64” wide with 48” useful and 16’ long consisting of four beds plus a concrete block compost pit that I can reach with the tractor.

I too have pine trees but not so old and am concerned about acidity which I fight beneath them.

Not all zone 7s are equal of course. It only speaks to the temperatures. We get plenty of rain through the year most times but it is in groups of bunches in the growing season.

[Qiviut]

I have:

2 beds that are 4' x 8' (wood - 10" deep)
2 beds that are 4' x 10' (wood - 10" deep)
4 beds that are 3' x 6' (galvanized metal - 12" deep)

The wooden beds are my main 'veggie' beds. Year before last, the galvanized beds were majorly on sale at Northern Tool ($20 off/bed) & I was looking for beds to use for flowers, without having to use the veggie beds. The galvanized beds are also outside of my fencing, so anything growing in them is subject to deer, crows, skunks digging, old dog next door digging, etc. This year, I have my zinnias (2 beds) & herbs in the galvanized beds. I am going to put some fall plants in the 4th bed - small enough I should be able to protect it (sunflower bed plastic mesh will be coming off from around it soon - can use it on the galvanized bed).

The sunflower bed is 4' x 10 (wood) - that's all we use it for - my dad loves sunflowers. I could fence it & use it for veggies, but it's in the yard & closer to the woods & the squirrels are bold enough to go there (just tore up the one volunteer sunflower that was growing) - my veggie garden is in a field & the squirrels don't venture out that far in the open (we have hawks - quite a few!).

For fencing, some years ago I took PVC pipe (10' length), pvc 'corners' & made fencing using some plastic 'wire'/mesh that my brother found on a place he'd just bought. I use zip ties to attach it to the pipe. One pipe, cut in half made top/bottom & I got 3 sides out of another pipe. So far, shockingly, it has kept the deer out - although they could easily jump the fence, they are jumping into a very contained space & they don't like that. It definitely keeps the crows, rabbits, skunks & old dog out! The zip ties need replacing at least yearly - the heat/cold makes them brittle & I do not pay for the more expensive UV resistant ones. I get bags of them at Harbor Freight fairly cheap. Replacement is 'staggered' so I usually have about 4 per panel to replace at a time - sometimes I just add another if I see one that looks like it might break in the near future.

Veggie beds, fencing, round tomato cages with row fabric for sun shades. This was before galvanized beds added:

Galvanized beds - first year last year using them: