I got my book! Organic Gardening for Dummies! discuss....

I'm a slightly experienced to beginning gardener. (This is my second year with vegetables.) The Gardener's Bible explains what vegetables are compatible. Both books are helpful with regard to how to start plants from seed.

I have very little space for a vegetable garden. That is because we have a small lot and many trees -- avocado, fig, apricot and then some shade trees. We also have a pretty large paved area (we live near downtown L.A.) so I do a lot of container vegetable gardening including lettuce, spinach and arugula as well as a little parsley and basil. My lettuce and arugula plants are already bolting from the heat.

With some help from a handy son-in-law, I constructed a "raised bed" on one area of the cement. It is about 4 feet by 4 feet enclosed with pieces of wood maybe 8 inches high. I put a black cloth in the bottom to keep the weeds out and some plastic around the sides to protect the wood from water just a little. Then I dumped in potting soil, my own compost concoction, dirt from the yard and some manure mix. My lettuce, arugula, chives, and assorted greens just don't stop. The arugula bolts a lot, but I just pick off the tops and it grows more than ever. We eat a lot of salad, so I have to buy some lettuce, but generally, each evening, at least half our salad is from our own garden. The fresh taste is really worth the trouble. I can't claim that it is entirely organic, but I do not use pesticides.

So far this year I have 5 tomato plants (including two cherry tomatoes in pots) with many, many tiny tomatoes already making themselves known. My favorite is my oldest. It just popped up out of my compost fairly late in the summer. I have no idea yet just what kind of tomatoes, if any, I will get from it. Somehow, it survived the winter or at least what we call winter here in Southern California. I don't suppose it will produce much, but I don't have the heart to get rid of it. I figure if it wanted to live that badly, I should just let it grow.

They're just the best. I always plant mine in pots since I don't really have a sunny spot for a garden.

my lot is very sloped but big, however, i have both morning and afternoon shade from big neighbor trees.
I am hoping i can have some lettuce and tomato plants and herbs
I am picking the spot in my backyard where the sun hits it the most thruout the day
Other than buying fertilizer from farm co-ops locally, I don't know how else I'll get them to grow.
it's wonderful hearing how you can taste the difference in your own lettuce vs. storebought

when i lived in nashville, (i live in the same zone as nashville-what that is i don't know), i had a friend who worked as a security guard and
he told me the story of how good his garden tasted because he used "chicken dookey"
I have always wondered where that came from

you make raised-beds sound easy
i have some avacado pits in a basket on my table but i don't think i'm in the right zone for them

thanks for the info.
by the way, what do you mean when you say your plants are bolting?