So I've been gardening for exactly one summer now, and I

File: 8+ft+x+4+ft+Composite+Raised+Garden.jpg (53KB, 490x490px) Image search: [Google]

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So I've been gardening for exactly one summer now, and I need advice. I started without really reading anything, and haven't really read anything yet, so if there's a good resource I'm missing out on, let me know.

I started with one of those jiffy greenhouse kits and the associated light. I would plant 2-3 or more in each peat pellet, let them sprout, and then transfer ~ 3 pellets of the same kind of plant into a degradable pot with potting soil. I kept that under the light and let the plants grow out, cutting any dying plants. By they end I was usually left with 2-3 healthy plants per pot. I then planted the pots into my garden, which is essentially two square meters of garden soil and topsoil mixed and put inside these plastic walls, so the garden was raised (essentially pic related for how the walled garden structure was, only mine has different plants). I would water them occasionally and just let them do their ting.

My harvest of cayenne peppers, cucumbers, okra, sage, basil, and several other plants has been exceptional, by any standard (not that I have experienced frame of reference). The plants are growing healthily and there are lots of vegetables in my house now, enough for my family of five to all have enough.

What steps in my process from germination to harvest are unnecessary? What can I do to improve my time efficiency? Honestly the whole jiffy greenhouse thing is messy and takes a while.