So when my wife and I met our house a couple years ago we loved it... my wife was trying to keep a serious expression while talking to the realtor... daughter and I were running around shouting "We're HOME!". The one killer - no room for my garden!

...or so some would think. We live in Frisco and it's a typical Frisco lot... big house on a postage stamp. The backyard would not work, big pool back there and a lot of patio plus a little grass for the dogs to bomb... so, no room for a garden.

Well, wait now... there was a little room between our driveway and the neighbor's fence. Hmmmmm..... Three years later, here's my answer to the no room issue:




Now it is not ideal - I'd like to have more sun available but on the other hand it is more protected. I put a gate on one end of the house and the little garden fence you can see on the other.
The soil was - c***, and not the good kind. Builders sand and bricks beneath a layer of sod. I raised it by a foot one one side, closer to two on the other, leveled it, pulled out the bricks and trash and dumped in a load of Living Earth Technologies soil (manure, greensand, shale etc) plus a LOT of compost. In year one I only did a third of it while covering the rest with a ton of hardwood mulch that I let break down.

Anyway, as you can see from the pictures, despite the lack of "sufficient" sun, room, etcetera I produce a lot of tomatoes, peppers, herbs, squash, eggplant and other organic goodies. It's enough that I send out emails to the neighbors telling them to PLEASE come get what I can't eat.

So - if, according to the 'rules' you don't have the space and sun to do a garden by the book I just wanted to suggest to you that there is such a thing as ideal space but never let that stop you. Good soil and a lot of hard work can make just about any plot sufficient for a veggie garden!

Another "edible estate" in the making! I also have gardens along either side of my driveway. Not because there is no sun in the back, there is, but I have dogs back there and they're kind of hard on the garden. And the front yard is also where I've planted tomatoes and cantaloupe. Each year I push more of it into edible plantings.

http://www.fritzhaeg.com/garden/initiatives/edibleestates/austin.html

Great Job and thanks for the pictures! Earlier this week, I decided to foodscape my front beds--I just think winter greens are so pretty. I've been taking pictures and hope to put them up next week (too busy now).

Those aren't my photos, that's a guy from Austin who has been making a big push to have more people
put in gardens instead of turf.

I regularly have neighbors who will ask for cuttings from one of the herbs out there. Since most of it is so
plentiful that its practically wild, I've told them to just come cut it when they need it. I do see strangers
walking past every so often stop and break off a rosemary twig from the plant down at the street. That's
fine! (It's nice to know they notice it!)

LOL - wife and I laugh when we catch the two legged rabbits walking down the alley with veggies and herbs. Makes me happy to see others enjoy it because let's face it, I can't really eat 27000 tabasco peppers by myself.

...and what an easy way to get someone interested in organics when they discover that the tomatoes are tangier, the basil is zestier and the jalapenos will burn the fire out of you. Folks who are used to grocery store produce flip when they find out how veggies should taste.