This is my 2010 garden. I place it here because my wife said she said it was really nice this year and I should show it off. So, here it is.
I try to make use of the limited space by using square-foot gardening techniques and lots of planters. I built wooden planters of 4'x1′ and 4'x3′, with all but one of them being 6″ deep. The one that isn't is about 10-12″ deep. These were made with 2×4's which isn't ideal but was less expensive than the alternatives at the time I made them (3 years ago). I may replace them next spring with better built boxes.
I actually have room for plants in the lawn area in the back, but leave this space open for the dogs to play in. That plus the big cement terrace is just so ugly without the planters. The front doesn't get nearly as much light because it is north facing, so we have few plants in the front year.
The herb planter did much better this year. In the wooden veggie planters I had much better luck with the Thai Basil and added Vietnamese Coriander. I also grew an avocado tree from seed and, right at the end of the season, had a couple of peach pits and/or avocado seeds sprout in the same planter (don't know which yet – gotta let 'em grow a bit to find out). Growing both the avocado and peach trees in planters allow me to keep them small and bring them in over the winter.
All of the non-veggie planters (except the big wooden ones) and the herb plants have been moved into the basement for over-wintering. I made more room in the basement and updated the lighting after learning how the plants would respond to the lights after the first two years of overwintering. So I should have a better garden in the basement this year allowing me to start with a much nicer garden next spring.
