J.B.
I am an organic farmer, so I can help you out here....
A note on varieties: look for seed companies and nurseries that cater to northern growers. Johnny's Selected Seeds, High Mowing, Fedco are all good. They all have websites. I think they all sell berry plants as well.
1. Strawberries come back year after year. It is a good idea to replace the plants every 4 years to keep up a good yield. There are 2 types: everbaring that bare less at a time, but over a longer time period, and June-baring that tend to produce a lot in a small time frame.
2. Blueberries take several years to have fruit. Assuming you buy a plant in a one gallon pot, you will only get a few handfuls for the first few years, but it is worth the wair. Blueberries are one of the best foods out there! Blueberries need a lot of water.
3, Most raspberries produce on second year wood, meaning that the canes that shoot up this year will produce next year. Each winter you will have to cut out the canes that produced that summer. Kind of a pain and they need trellising, also a pain. There are varieties (fall bearring) that grow shorter and produce on first year wood. Not need to trellis and you just cut the whole patch down each winter. Easy!
4.Garlic should be planted in late september. Music is my favorite variety. Cloves are big and easy to peel. Plant each CLOVE 5 inches apart with the pointy side UP. Just poke them down with your finger about and inch or so. Garlic needs a lot of fertility. Fertilize when you plant it, then throw some more on in April. It is ready to harvest in late July when the leaves start to brown. Don't let the tops die all the way. As it starts browning pull one up to see if it is as big as you'd like.
5. Potatoes are easy. Buy organic potatoes to plant. Conventional ones are sometimes treated with sprout inhibitors and won't grow, Dig a furrow and drop in potatoes with at least 2 good eyes (the place where they sprout) 10 inches apart, then cover. When the greens grow several inches above the soil, hill the plants with more soil until the greens are almost totally covered. Do this 2-3 times during the summer. New potatoes are ready a few weeks after they flower. The rest can be harvested in the late summer/ early fall. Yellow Finns are the best and most versitile.
6. Books: The Square foot Gardener is good, esp if you don't have much space. Eliot Coleman's " The New Organic Grower" is also good. Just google organic gardening books for northern growers. And just pick the brains of other gardeners. They love to share. Just look at me. I've never met you and I've rambled on this much!
7. Composting can be a pain in the .... but it is worth it. One of the best "rat-free" ways is to build a few worm boxes-about the size of a foot locker. Get a bunch of red wigglers to star your box. You can be filling one, while the other one gets "processed" by the worms. Rats and other critters can't get in them. Just don't add meat. You'll be amazed at how much less garbage you generate. You can even throw your paper waste in, if there isn't curbside recycling in your area.
Additional note: I don't know if you grow peas, but kids LOVE raw shell peas (and snaps) esp. if they can pick them and shell them on the spot. Cherry tomatoes are also great, esp Sungold (the sweetest ever). Red peppers can be tricky, but if you grow a small pimento type, they are more likely to ripen. Nelson carrots are the best-short season and very sweet.
Have fun!!!!