Our property is approximately one-third of an acre, located in Orange County, NY, north of New York City and near the Hudson River.
The backyard is fenced in because deer are everywhere. You can try to grow anything, but once the deer discover a new buffet in the area, whatever you’re growing will be gone in a single night. They’ll come in and devour everything—they have such healthy appetites!
I grow everything in raised beds because they offer better organization and greater control over the soil. Each bed is surrounded by netting to keep rabbits and other small animals from eating the vegetables. The netting is stapled to 2×2-inch poles positioned at each corner, which sometimes double as a trellis for pole beans.
I follow the philosophy of ‘deep mulching,’ a practice first introduced by Ruth Stout.
Here is my 4×4-foot herb bed, which showcases the deep mulching method. 
Yes, I did plant mint in that tiny bed, and by the following year, I had mint growing everywhere. It’s essential to tightly control your mint plants.
More content soon.