Question
Hi, I am from Australia.  We have sold our city house and am moving to a
smaller city near sydney called wollongong.  We want to buy a house from
which we want to put up solar panels, water tanks etc.  We also want to make
an organic garden to provide our vegetables etc.  How much space do we
need to provide for two adults and accommodate tanks etc.  Just and idea as
we cant sell and buy again once we have made the decision.  Thank you. Vicki

Answer
We used our GreenzBox (see our website for information about it at: http://www.avant-gardening.com) plans are on our website, which is a shade cloth covered 4 x 8 raised bed box for greens (lettuce, chard, kale, spinach, cilantro, etc) and had more food than we could begin to eat.  We were giving it away.  For carrots and beets, another raised bed the same size would probably be more than enough space for two, and if you don't have gophers or digging pests you would not need to lay wire on the bottom of the beds to keep them out.  If you want cabbages, broccoli, and squashes, another 4 x 8 space would probably suffice.  For the two of us we have about that much room, and it is more than we can eat.

On our website, read about soil building before you start.   90% of a good garden is in the preparation of the soil.  If you mulch well, you will save lots of water, keep the roots cool, and a balanced soil will prevent insect attacks, for the most part.  Inter-cropping, intensive planting, and companion planting will also help control insects, provide shade, and save water at the same time.  There is a lot of information on our website that will be helpful to you.