One of the biggest attractions of our land what that it was based on the Fletcher Farm Road in Vermontville. I was told that historically the land was a large garden and was clear out to Route 3. Our forest is a young forest so this reinforced this belief.
Imagine my surprise when we dug into the soil and discovered that our soil is very heavy in clay. This caused us to stop and think about what our gardens would require to thrive. We had plenty of space, sun, water. But perhaps subpar soil. We decided to do raised beds and augmented with topsoil (yes, I understand now that I have no idea what I purchased.) manure and whatever else it seemed to need. We did well for 10 plus years and then found that our beds were not producing as well.
This was also the point that I was retiring and it was getting harder to till everything. We opted to move to 3 foot high beds, 36 x 24 inches. We have two. These have truly been trial and error. We haven't had to worry about soil as we buy container soil but I didn't know a lot about fertilizers. This Summer I participated in Seed to Supper program and learned so much. I utilized 5 gallon pails for tomatoes, peppers, zuccini and tomatillios. I also learned the benefits of providing fertalizer. It was the most successful year I have ever had.
I did have some watering issues. With the 5 gallon pails I found I could move them to optimize light and water resources.
As a systems thinker, I am evaluating the garden so I can understand what would benefit from modification next year. I need to review my source of seeds and evaluate this also. It is so exciting to dream about next year.