We are going through the process of planting a garden for grown-ups this year. In years past, I have planted a chaotic garden where I allow every volunteer that sprouts to remain in place. We end up with quite a bit to eat, but have had problems with fungus, insects, and various worm-like creatures eating their way through everything.
This year, my husband widened the garden to enable his restored 1940's era rototiller to fit between rows. The garden has four 44-foot long rows. He also purchased a pallet of aged chicken manure and spread it on the garden. I was hoping to burn off any residual fungus in from last year. I am working from Square Foot Gardening and A Householder's Guide to the Universe to figure out how much to plant and where.
We bought our seeds and strawberry starts from Territorial Seed. Why? Well, because the company is fairly local (as is the autheor of the Householder book). It is difficult to really know when to plant in Portland, Oregon. We have heavy, wet soil and often misleading periods of warmth.
Other factors we have already contended with: the dog (she loves the chicken manure), squirrels (I think they ate the lettuce and dig up seeds) and birds (same as squirrels).
The hypothesis for our big project is that by actually weeding and properly spacing out the plants this year, we will have a higher yield and less problems with garden pests. Unknowns: we had some stink bugs show up last year, the weather is colder and wetter than usual and our work schedules might interfere with all of the obligatory weeding.
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