Space. People seem to think to have a worthwhile garden they need to plow up their whole back yard. Nowadays many people have big houses and tiny yards, so there’s not enough room. Others may have big houses and big yards, but lots of trees, so there’s limited sunlight. I suggest a new approach—using raised beds and planting much smaller gardens.

Time. Who has time for a garden? Many parents have two or three jobs, kids have to be chauffeured all across town to ballet and soccer practice, and few have time to be out in the garden digging, tilling and pulling weeds. The advantage of raised beds is that they can be built on top of existing lawns and don’t disturb the soil. This means thousands of dormant weed seeds will never see sunlight and won’t sprout. If a gardener uses weedless potting mix or a combination of compost and sand (75/25%), their weeding worries are over. A properly prepared raised bed vegetable garden means your only work is planting seeds and watering!

Knowledge. Many people don’t have a clue where to start. Your first issue is sunlight. You need a spot in your yard that gets at least six hours of sun a day. Here’s a trick, take a digital picture of the one or two possible locations early in the morning, and then set an oven timer as a reminder to take another picture every hour. If you don’t have enough sun, you might consider a joint project with a neighbor, friend or relative or look into community gardening.

How do you make small gardens productive? Raised beds allow deeper, more fertile soil, so crops can be planted more closely together. By avoiding space-hogging crops like corn, okra, pumpkins and watermelons, and selecting those that offer a more valuable and ongoing harvest, the home gardener can have a very productive garden in much less space. Two beds measuring 3 feet by 9 feet can provide an excellent harvest for a family of four, especially if a trellis system is used for climbing crops like peas, beans and cucumbers.

Act Now. The time to start planting is February 15. In this area, spring weather is usually very short-lived. We seem to go from 40° one day to 85° a month later. If planted too late, many cool season crops, including peas and lettuce, will become productive just as the hot weather sets in. They’ll burn up before you know it. Because a raised bed will warm up faster in the spring and the soil doesn’t need tilling, gardeners can plant up to two weeks earlier.