How Big of a Garden?

Our first year moving to the country, I wanted a vegetable and herb garden.  We didn't actually get moved into the house until late May.  I made a quick raised bed garden that was only about 8'x10' and I used the cinder blocks we brought from the house in Sachse.  We bought plants, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe and a couple of pepper plants.  It was really too late for the watermelons, but the tomatoes, cucumbers and cantaloupe did well.  I want to be able to can enough to supplement our groceries about 8 months of the year and eventually not have to buy fruit and vegetables from the grocery store.

This year, trying to figure out how much garden space we need...and what I want to plant.  I actually have to large garden plots that are about 65'x25' and two smaller ones about 30'x30'.  How did I come up with that?  Well, I want some separation of vining plants, tomatoes and peppers, corn and beans, fruits and herbs.  I expanded my original garden and planted tomatoes and peppers in it....so far.  The other smaller plot I am planting blueberries, strawberries, herbs and onions/garlic.  I got both corn to eat and corn for feeding the chickens, and sunflowers...and will plant green beans with those.  Then cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkins, and squash in the other.  We will see how that goes.  

I actually had dug one of the 30'x30' plots...broke my pitchfork trying to turn the dirt over.  It is the only spot I have cleaned all the rocks out of.  I still need to rake and clean the others.  I picked up a lot of rocks out of them already...but have not raked them yet.

I am late doing all this, but my neighbor said they would till for me...and didn't.  Then my husband traded another neighbor, computer work for tilling...that is how I got the other three plots.  I let them sit too long and he came and tilled again.  We had a late freeze and my plant starts were on the porch and all died.  So I am planting some plants I bought, and trying to plant from seed on the ones I know will grow quickly.

We have not had much rain the past few weeks and we have very sandy soil.  I will have to water a lot if it doesn't rain.  We have planted fruit trees, peaches, apples, pears and plums.  Because of the late freezes we will get no apples or plums.  But I also planted blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries.  So, I figure if I plant enough of a variety, we will have something in the way of fruit.  I want to get pecan trees too.