The Planning of a New Garden

I am back in the Midwest for now and again have the opportunity to have a fair sized garden.  I have estimated the size of the back yard to be about 400 square feet.  Since I have no desire to turn this yard into a mud pit, I am going to try to just turn over the beds and leave the lawn in between the beds for a pathway.  I do have to take into consideration that this yard has large trees and tall houses that block the sun, so I need to make sure I keep the beds within the area that receives the most sunlight throughout the day.  I am still debating on making sixteen beds each about three by five feet, or making four long rows three feet wide and twenty to thirty feet long. 

This is the future garden area that has been undergoing some renovations.  The cute chair and rose arbor don't belong to me so they won't be staying.  Along the back fence is a badly overgrown grape vine that I am putting off pruning because it is going to be a chore.  The back left corner holds a large pile of branches from trimming back the overgrown bushes in that area.  The tree trunk on the left is from an old apricot tree.  It used to fruit and flower every year when my grandmother lived here, but the trunk is badly damaged and rotten and the tree is most likely dead and will also be removed. 

 

There are other areas of the yard that I am considering to use as garden space as well.  I would like to plant some raspberry bushes, but I still need to figure out where they might be the happiest.  There are nice sunny spots on all sides of the house.  I would also like to find a home for a few asparagus plants and a strawberry patch, maybe even another fruit tree or two.  This yard has a great foundation for producing a lot of food in a relatively small space when you consider the few established plants already here. 

 

 

 There is already a pear tree on the property too, but what is growing is from left over suckers from a much older tree that was cut down years ago.  Since then, There has been some pruning, but it's been spotty, so the tree has a lot of odd branches and competing shoots.  I will just have to brush up on good pruning techniques and see if I can help this young tree become something easy to harvest from.