Grouping your plants
Grouping plants together not only maximizes space, it's a symbiotic relationship between neighboring plants.  You can grow bell peppers within inches of corn for example.  The bell peppers do not get very tall and keep the ground closest to the corn roots shaded which retains moisture.  During the hotter days, the corn provides shade for the more sensitive conditions the bell peppers require.  You are also reducing the amount of weeding since they do not get as much free access to the sunlight.

Using plants together to ward away pests
Planting garlic around your outdoor social areas significantly reduces the amount of mosquito's that will pester you throughout the summer.  Planting marigolds also wards off pests that invade your garden. 

Herbs are easily grown in most places
People spend a great deal of money on dried herbs, if they only knew how easy it is, more so, how inexpensive, everybody would grow their own year round.  Using for example, the small $8.00 herb/flower box shown adding soil and seeds, you could grow $200 worth within a typical year easily.

Hay bale gardening
This is a great way to garden, creating high end substrate that you can grow amazing vegetables from without breaking the bank for expensive soil. Straw is recommended most of the time if you read online, but there is benifit from using hay itself since it has a nutrient rich composition already built in. The catch here is to make sure the seeds inside do not germinate. This is achieved easy enough but takes a little planning ahead to make this process happen, but not too much along time consuming aspects.

The process is simple, just follow a few easy steps and you will have amazing crops and not go in debt in the process. Place a bale of hay in your growing area, put a 2-3 inch layer of compost on top of it and on top of that, a light layer of soil that is saturated with plant food, "Mirical Grow" is one brand, and keep it moist, watering it as needed. The compost and plant food do what is called burning the soil, in this case, it's burning the hay seeds by creating a high heat composting environment within the hay bale. You will want to keep it watered for a couple of weeks and can technically grow right into the bale, but it can be broken down to fill your raised garden bed.

Keep in mind, your first year, the substrate will be nitrogen rich, this is optimal for leafy vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, herbs, yet can be mixed into regular soil for the rest and have a well enhanced crop.

More to come soon!