As a child I helped my mother tending to the family garden. My dad had a good dozen tomato cages and my mother grew beans, peas, and other vegetables. I count my time back then more as memory than experience. However, in the last several years I have made up some years by gaining a lot of knowledge from this site, the web in general, and a lot of practical hands-on knowledge.

I currently live in a townhouse, so my yard is limited, so I try to make pretty good use of it. I have five raised beds that are double dug to the extreme (hence my handle name). They are about 12" above ground and 24" underground, so they pack a big punch by offering deep roots and stellar drainage. My county features red clay, so I feel my digging habit isn’t overkill.

My other back yard areas include a stone wall flower box, a trellis for my Kiwi, and underneath the trellis, a long rectangle raised bed. Additionally, I have a good variety of containers I use on my patio.

A couple years ago, I read Eliot Coleman’s The Winter Harvest Handbook and started gardening year round. During the winter months, I have one cold frame top, which drops over top a raised bed box of my choosing.

In my front yard, I have a large raised flower bed, which now serves as my fruit garden, where I have blueberry bushes and strawberry plants.