An Introduction

Okay, so I'm not quite a 'virgin' gardener.  I have a had a garden before.  As a Master's student at Ohio University in Athens, I had a small plot in an organic garden belonging to the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology.  It was about a five minute drive from my house, and I was somewhat successful with the garden; tons of zucchini, a few melons, some tomatoes.  But most of what I planted was disastrous.  My eggplant was devoured by flea beetles before they could even put on a new leaf, my cucumbers yellowed before they even ripened, and my beans never really became beans.  Long story short, not a productive garden, mostly becuase I didn't put the energy needed into it. 

I'm also not really a novice when it comes to plants.  I've got a Master's degree in plant biology and am currently working on a PhD, studying how plants adapt to stressful environments.  However, my reserach is NOT related at all to gardening, horticulture, etc., contrary to what many people think.  If I had a nickel for everytime someone asked me "Why is my plant dying?" or "What is this plant?".  Show me a plant, and I guarantee I will be able to give you some theories of why it grows where it does and how it does, but I will not be able to tell you it's name.  Maybe a wide group name, i.e. that's an oak, but nothing specific.

But I digress.  The point is I have never had a home garden grown with the intention of replacing store-bought vegetables commonly consumed in my household.  So that's my goal, with a garden that is quite small, maybe 6'x 4' (don't have the exact dimensions, it's raining out and don't really want to go measure, but you get the idea) and household that equals 2 adult members.

And..... go.