How Does Your Garden Grow?

This year I am trying out my very first veggie garden!!  Matt built me a raised bed and we had Emu topsoil delivered.  I read a bit and looked up some info on the web and then went to town!!  I mapped out my rows and bought my seeds, but when it came time to plant I got a little excited.  I dug trenches and sprinkled LOTS of seeds.  I'm learning this year and having lots of fun.  The kids and I wander around out there after work and water and weed and watch our plants grow!

STATS:

Size: 5' x 16'

Dirt: Just under 3 yards Emu Vegetable garden blend

First crop planted: 5/24/11

First crop: Peas, radishes, green onions, carrots, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, zucchini, cucumber, beets

Additional sugar snap peas planted 6/11/11

Pest control: Slug bait/killer around the garden, marigolds planted in the garden among the veggies

Les got us some great cedar planks from a guy.  Les always knows a guy and I LOVE the perks.

I'm so impressed how quickly Matt was able to put this thing together.  Very handy.

Ready for dirt!!  We put down chicken wire to keep out the moles or groundhogs or whatever is digging around in our lawn.  The cardboard is to help keep weeds out. 

3 yards of dirt is a LOT.  Luckily the delivery truck was able to back down and dump about half of the dirt where we needed it and the rest of the pile was pretty close. 

My garden helpers.

Dirt in the bed.  More levelling to be done.

Starting to sprout!!  I was shocked that things actually grew.  I realized that I maybe should have slowed down a little to space out my seeds.  I had about 500 radishes growing in one 5 foot row.  Some serious thinning was necessary.

Thinned out doesn't look quite as impressive, but I'm hoping the plants will have a better chance.

The peas are looking the strongest.

The radishes have gone yellow since the thinning.  I'm worried that I disturbed the roots too much by thinning the dense row.

I have high hopes for the zucchini.  Two hills with lots of well spaced seeds seems promising.  Plus, there's so much you can do with zucchini!

This is the remaining dirt that didn't fit.  The plan is to plan herbs and tomatoes on the deck.  Someday...