1. Sungold indeterminate tomatoes
2. Ornamental millet
3. King Tut grass
4. Dinnerplate dahlias
5. Amaranth
6. Rainbow Swiss chard
7. Lemon basil
8. Cobra garden tool for weeding.
It will make you more successful with weeding, digging and planting!
9. Elephant ear to try: King of the Nile, West Indian kale
10. Edible flowers.
Plant some nasturiums or calendulas, (pot marigolds) or Scarlet runner bean flowers. Then add to your salads. These are super-fun for kids to eat.
11. Build and plant a raised bed for your kids, a garden within your garden.
Kids love to be involved and dig in the dirt. Build their self-esteem and foster independence as they create and grow and harvest. This is something Mel’s Green Garden can do for you, too!
12. CHEMICAL FREE for 2012.
Buy grass seed with the money you would have spent on chemicals. Plant and grow instead of spraying and killing.
Mel's Green Garden 
Any suggestions for utilizing space in a backyard that is shared with a high energy dog? (Digging is an anticipated issue).
Thorny Roses… Just kidding. We have a black lab, Harry, and when he was a puppy someone told me I wouldn’t be able to have a garden anymore, me + no garden=impossible. I did try a border of shrub roses, it really didn’t work. He loved digging up my lilies and I can remember a game of chase, me and Harry when he snagged a dinner plate dahlia at its peak, it became a game, like with kids negative attention is better then no attention. For a while I would walk him on the leash, but when you have a fenced in backyard it is so nice to let them run around. He settled down quite a bit with age and he keeps the rabbits from devouring everything, so he does help! We are getting chickens this spring, hoping they don’t eat everything!!!
Grandma O. never had luck with her garden not fenced in as she said chickens ruined it.I wish I were 20 yrs. younger so I could take advantage of all your great hints. Love, G’ma