Gardening tips: I'm actually using containers for gardening. I have galvanized buckets with holes drilled in the bottom, half whisky barrels with holes drilled in the bottoms; and various large planters. I will also be using 6 small plastic child-sized pools. The ground here is so poor at this time. I use potting MIX not soil. the buckets and barrels are set up on blocks to allow for better drainage and air flow.

Plant spinach with strawberries. Strawberries benifit from a few borage plants  which attract honeybees. Marigolds are also good planted among the strawberries. Plant lettuce as a strawberry border. Mulch well with chopped alfalfa hay. They do well planted in an orchard area...I'm thinking of planting the strawberries in the barrels with my fig trees.

Plant a few (2-3) icicle radishes with Squash and cucumbers for pest control. Corn, squash and cucumbers and beans are good companion plants. Corn protects cucumbers against wilt virus. Plant the corn in the center first. 2 weeks later plant pole beans. Two weeks after that, squash. I make 2 sections for corn. The second grouping has corn, bush beans and cucumber. Planting the cucumber last provides it some shade. Look up a three sisters garden for additional information. Make sure to plant marigolds close to this grouping.  Beans like strawberries, but dislike onions. If you decide to do a third planting of corn, place pumpkins at the base. Keep potatoes at the other end of the garden!

Keep tomatoes apart from all members of the cabbage family. Do not plant near corn or potatoes. Water from the bottom and water deep. Plant tomatoes with Chives, onions, and carrots. Planting basil with tomatoes helps overcome both insects and disease.  Planting bee balm with tomatoes enhances both growth and flavor. Always plant tomatoes in the same spot each year. Collards can be interspersed with tomatoes and their taste is improved by freezing. Tomatoes also protect roses from blackspot!  Should your tomatoes get attacked by green horn worms, don't be too quick to spay... WATCH FIRST for tiny parasitic wasps that build cocoons over them...these wasps will do the natural pest control for you. Dry cayenne pepper may be sprinkled on caterpillars that attack tomatoes.

Use fresh catnip to help control black ants.

Marigolds should be planted all throughout the garden as a natural pest repellant.

Plant vetch with turnips! (I don't know what vetch is, lol) Vetch attracts lady bugs and ladybugs eat aphids. Rutabagas grow well with turnips. A naturally occuring chemical compound in turnips is deadly to aphids, spidermites, houseflies, german cockroaches, and bean beatles.

Vetch is a legume. it's considered a green manure crop when planted in the fall and enriches the soil with nitrogen and humus.

Plant watermelon with potatoes; they need a lot of sun.

Plant broccoli with dill, camomile, sage, peppermint and rosemary. It may also be grouped with potatoes, beets and onions. Do not plant with tomatoes, pole beans or strawberries. Placing oregano near broccoli will repel the cabbage butterfly.

Grow celery near cauliflower. Keep it away from tomatoes and strawberries.

Okra can be planted with sweet bell peppers and eggplant. Mulch well as the season advances. Basil also does well with sweet bell peppers.

Scatter your onions plants throughout the garden keeping them away from peas and beans.

Do not pull dandelions. The roots attract earthworms.

Wild strawberries are an indicator of soil acidity.

MULCH: can be almost anything that prevents moisture loss from the soil. I will never again allow my husband to bag up leaves and take them off for trash! OY! Mulch adds nutrients! Use chopped bark, coffee grounds, corncobs, grass clippings, hay, leaves, manure, peanut hulls, peat moss, pine needles, poultry litter, sawdust...

I'll have to look into the whys behind it, but my mom-in-law would use banana peels, and hair from the hair brush as extra additions to her rose garden... she had the most gorgeous roses we ever saw.

Some resource books for you:

Gardening by the Inch - how to turn small spaces into great gardens. (Rodale)

Carrots love Tomatoes and Roses love Garlic by Louise Riotte

Garden Pest Problem solver (Rodale)

LLewllyn's 2007 Herbal Almanac

Ruth Stout's No Work Gardening