Gardening 2010

I’ve mentioned several times that we’ve been getting ready for the garden season. Brian spent some time with my brother, David, and built 4 raised beds for our garden. They turned out fabulous. Last Saturday, they finished it all up by laying pavers along the paths, and putting a border around the garden to enclose it all.
Caleb and I then spent late Saturday afternoon and evening getting everything plated. We ended up planting the following: big beef tomato, cherry tomato, yellow bell pepper, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, giant marconi peppers, squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, strawberries, cabbage, sweet potatoes, romaine lettuce, and yellow onions. These were all planted from transplants we bought at the garden centers. We then planted carrots, English peas, green beans, and snap peas from seeds. So, we’ll see how it all grows.
We’re hoping that we’ll get better produce using the raised beds. We filled them up with our soil, manure, peat moss, top soil, mushroom compost, and garden potting soil. Next year, we’ll just have to add another layer of compost I think.
Here’s how it looked on 4/3/10:

This is the view of the raised beds when I stand at the swingset and look towards our neighbor’s side fence. This is the view from the back of our house looking towards our back fence. (Brian has to add a few more pavers to the path that you see). This is the northeast bed. It has the cherry tomato, big beef tomato, giant marconi pepper, red pepper, yellow pepper, green pepper, and squash plants. I also added in a few onions and romaine lettuce.This is the southeast bed. It has squash, zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower. This is the northwest bed. It has strawberries, 45-day cabbage, romaine lettuce, sweet potatoes, and yellow onions. This is the southwest bed. It has carrots on the far right, English peas, green beans, and snap peas on the far left.

Do you have any experience or tips for raised bed gardening? Mine aren’t as neat as I’d like them to be because I wasn’t sure how close I could put the plants. I know that you can put them closer because you don’t have to leave walking space. However, I wasn’t sure “how close”. So, once I see how it all grows this year, maybe next year’s will be neater.
Did you plant a garden this year? If so, what did you plant? We’re hoping to add some fruit trees to our backyard at some point. Caleb wants a few, so we need to oblige I think. Besides, we’d love to save some $$$ by growing our own food if we can. Too bad we can’t have animals…chickens would surely help the grocery bill.