As a kid I grew up on an acreage with a large (acre-plus) garden, and selling vegetables out of our garage all summer. We fertilized with horse manure. We didn't fuss with things. We planted, hoed, weeded and harvested -- no cages, raised beds, staking, fences, fertilizing, insectisides, row covers, mulching, plastic. Nothing. Our tomatoes turned brown, but who cared, when we had 800 of them? The only varmint problem we had was raccoons eating our sweet corn.

Now that I own the place, I have plenty of land, so I have taken the same approach, although I have problems with rabbits, so I fence in more and more areas every year. I already own the land, so why spend money when I can just plant more?

Part of the answer is varmints. I am at the point where I spend far more time putting up chicken wire fences and cages, and keeping them tidy, than I do planting. This year I will be looking at fencing in 8,000 square feet of garden, broken up into individual areas so that I don't risk the entire garden with one breach of a fence. I don't like where this is going.

I want to stay organic, and I am not going to spend the time and money on building 20 raised beds, but I am otherwise looking for a smaller, more productive garden, and one that is maybe more pleasing to the eye for my neighbors. I would also like to weight the work into June, since that is when I have the most free time. I will invest in reusable materials. The idea here is to avoid chemicals. I'm not a bigot about them; it just feels good to me.

For example: I don't like tomato cages, but this year I will experiment with cages and mulching, but I would love a way to avoid cultivating all the time to keep the weeds down between the rows. This past year I just used the mower.

I could go on and on.

Ideas, sources, encouragement, and criticism are all appreciated.