I spoke with a woman today and as we talked, the conversation turned toward gardening. She lamented about how she used to have a large vegetable garden, but it became too much – consuming her life all summer long, so she seeded it out, feeling defeated. Now, she “only” has some containers.

This story is one that is often told. Ambitious, new gardeners set out to tackle their backyard, much the same way that their farming kin did years before them, planting an abundance of crops in big long rows.  By mid summer they are drowning in a sea of weeds and work that they had not planned for, not to mention more vegetables than they know what to do with.