I plant herbs here and there, some work pretty well as 'bug deterrents' - garlic w/tomatoes, but I don't go crazy. I have an herb section for perennials, one big sage plant, a couple of rosemary, a couple thyme, some chives (they get divided every year, give some away and replant the rest). 1 Oregano. I usually sow a few dill seeds (from the spice store) in with the tomatoes and beans.
I like this seed company and whatever chinese cabbage she's got is ok by me
Renee's seeds Chinese cabbage isn't really a 'head' like we're used to, the leaves are more open. Still tastes great and it grows fast. Try it. Napa cabbage is similar, but the pak choi/bok choy stuff is great for a gardener.
Let's say you're growing in rows - once a week or so, go out and sow 8 feet of lettuce, 2 feet of onions, 8 feet of spinach. Keep doing this all spring. After 35 days or so you're out there harvesting the ripe 8 feet of lettuce - enough for a few days of salad but not so much you have to give a ton away. And repeat until it gets hot. Start doing the same thing in the august, there's a lot of stuff that grows well in autumn if we'll plant it while we're eating tomatoes out the wahoo.
My grandma taught me to grow a few 'salad tomatoes' and a ton of 'canning tomatoes', she liked to can tomato juice as well as plain tomatoes. I don't can stuff, so I just grow the salad tomatoes these days. 6 or so is a lot for me.
The Dona and Carmello are indeterminant, but you can pinch them back if you don't like them tall. I use a 'cage' and a rebar stake, + a sapling that just lets them grow up. The fruit is mostly low.
Go out at night to hunt slugs w/a flashlight. Kids love this, as long as they don't squick out from SLUGS! Teach 'em to use chop sticks if they're squicky. I was raised dropping slugs in a coffee can of coal oil, but you can salt 'em or stomp 'em or eat them if you're so inclined, I suppose.
Green sand is a way to get
potassium IIRC into the ground. I'm not all nutso about organic gardening, but I do think a lot of the organic fertilizers stay in one spot longer than the 'chemical' 20/20/20 that I otherwise use. Organics improve the soil's condition instead of just giving us a quick fix. You want that good black loam that comes from lots of compost/peat. Make it easy for the plant to do well and you wind up looking like you know what you're doing. My ozark granny could grow potatoes on a rock, literally.
Get that book.
ETA: For tomatoes, after fixing the soil early on I just use Miracle Grow for tomatoes (in water). If you've got chicken, cattle or horses, half-fill a bucket w/poop and fill it the rest of the way w/water. Dip that water out and use a little on your best tomato plants a few times each week. That 'compost tea' is good stuff.