because that's all my arthritis would allow me to do. I gardened it intensively with a lot of companion planting and heavy organic fertilizing (neighbors with composted horse stall litter) and I always got enough out of it to dry, can, and freeze to get through the winter with very little else bought at the store.

You can get an amazing amount of food out of the smallest plots and without hiring somebody to come by with a Roto Tiller every year because it's just too much to dig by yourself. You'll be limited in some ways, I couldn't grow corn in that little plot, but if you work within the space instead of against it, you'll have your larder stuffed by September.

We live on solid limestone rock. In Texas, that is good, you don't have foundation problems. For gardening, it is bad. We had to dig out all the rock to build the flower beds around our house, then bring in top soil to fill the beds.

For our garden we built raised beds. The year we built them, I told my son my mother's day present would be for him to get me some rotted manure. So we drove about 40 miles to a stable, that had just cleaned out their stalls and were giving away the old manure. They had a backhoe and loaded the bed of his pickup, it was a bad load, we were too heavy in the back, but we drove slow and got it home and filled the beds. I'd had a load of top soil delivered already so we mixed that and some peat and it made a great growing medium. I gardened year round for a long time. Quit, because of the water restrictions because of the drought and the high water bills we get in Dallas.

One thing I really liked was the miniature romain lettuce, it matured in the late fall and winter here in North Texas and was outstanding. Also, the French tomato Donna, a good producer. The hands down best tomato as far as taste goes was the Brandywine, but they are iffy in Texas, sometimes it gets hot too early here, they like a longer growing season. One year I grew those little yellow pitty-pat squash with the green ends, I'd bought them at Whole foods and really liked them, so wanted to try to grow them. My plants were loaded with blooms and were setting the little squash, when we got high temperatures and dry winds. Those little squash dried right up and shriveled on the vine. I was so sad, I never gave them another try. Now we go to the Farmers Market. Figure for two people it is cheaper, but I sure miss gardening.

Mulching cuts down on the need for watering a lot.

A gift from my twin grandaughters that started as a 4 inch plant. It is now staked and over 4 feet tall with a dozen green tomatoes so far. I love checking on it every day and seeing the results I get from just watering it and giving it food once a week. The girls are amazed by how it's grown. Fun!

I've had big gardens before but I'm really digging my little one and it's.... eccentric. Lots of herbs, lettuce, squash, lots of tomatoes, thai peppers, banana peppers, kale, spinach. some in pots, most in beds happily mingling with perennial flowers and herbs.

as much or more than the veggies. That's what summer is to me.