I planted a small herb & vegetable garden this spring before I ran into The Survival Podcast. I didn't take the time to do much to the soil and I only have 2 years of mulch on top of the crappy soil the builder left behind. Some of the hardier plants took off (lemongrass, rosemary, sage, fennel), but a combination of poor soil and a rough summer killed or stunted the rest (tomatoes, peppers).
We do not want to have a farm, but a garden producing some (eventually most) of the plants we eat. So my herbs/veggies are mixed in with ornamentals. We have a banana plant, a red canna, variegated ginger, and a few other grasses/plants to fill out the "look nice" quotient.
I've started preparing and amending the soil in the locations where I'm going to create space for my edibles. I also want to invest a little money in some information from people like Marjorie Wildcraft at Backyard Food Production. She comes highly recommended by Jack Spirko. I also am creating my main veggie bed as a hugelkultur beds. This concept buries wood beneath the beds to provide a sponge for water and a source of nutrients to decompose. Implementing this should help my more water-hungry plants (and even those that aren't) flourish through a hot dry Mississippi summer. Additionally, I am building a PVC greenhouse or some mini row covers to get the garden started earlier, dapple the sun a bit during the summer, and extend my growing season next fall.
Please feel free to leave a comment/link to your favorite plant or plants. I'm still toying with what to put in my new beds and could use your help. +1 for "pretty" plants that will automatically be wife-approved.
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