Backyard Garden Layout

SUN: You must have 6-8 hours of sun. There is no negotiating. If you plant in shade you will be disappointed. So for shade people, get the chain saw out or you can only grow mint and maybe some lettuce! Find the sunniest spot in the yard.
How Much? You don’t need that much. I went a little over board because I want to produce locally grown food for my brothers and sisters and parents families as well. When I go, I go all out.

SPACE:
I only have a 1300 square feet of fenced in garden.
I incorporated raised beds to increase my yield per square foot (more on that in Raised Beds)
I did a mixture of North to South beds and East to West Beds. (It is recommended to run beds north to south placing tall crops such as corn and okra on the southern end to avoid shading!)

1. I decided to build 2 (24x4) + 2 (3x18) Raised Beds
2. I also did 2 24 ft. by 4 ft. rows of ’traditional Beds’ for corn, Squash and beans (these plants either like a deep root system or are sprawling vegies. These beds are mounded rather than raised by a structure: Cantaloupe, Pumpkins, and watermelon will also be in this type bed
3. I Left an area for perennial fruits: Blueberries, Raspberries, Muscadine, Blackberries