DEG stands for “Dan’s Experimental Garden” .

I have five raised beds for a total of 64 square feet (6 square meters) of growing space. The garden is perched on a hill at about 800 feet above San Francisco Bay (zone 10a, Sunset zone 17). Most people in this area can grow year around, but unfortunately there are trees all around and a large house to the south of my garden; so this limits the growing season to eight months: March through October. From November through February there are less than two hours of sun a day.

I consider myself a novice vegetable gardener. My first growing season was in the Fall of 2007. All I know is from books. I started with Mel Bartholomew’s “Square Foot Gardening”. That is why all of my raised beds are 4×4 feet or smaller. I have since found much better references. The best are “Golden Gate Gardening” by Pam Pierce, “The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible” by Edward C. Smith, and “How to Grow more Vegetables” by John Jeavons. Pierce’s book is particularly good because it addresses the unique conditions of the San Francisco Bay area.

The crops that I’ve had the most success with (so far) are snap peas, broccoli, garlic, parsley, and zucchini.