Starting a Vegetable Garden

This will be our second year with a vegetable garden. Last year, I tried to research and prepare, and I finally read somewhere, "Stop thinking about it, dig a bunch of holes, and see what grows."  So we did.  We wanted to start small, but were surprised when the garden center would not sell us one zucchini plant, but required that we take three.  The same with the cucumbers.  We were able to unload one of each on my in-laws.  Then we planted one of each in their alotted spots, and the remaining two in a shadier spot, with no soil prep, no compost.  It'll be an experiment, we said.  And, wouldn't you know, they grew!  Not as well as those in the sunnier spot with nice compost and soil, but they grew.  We had plenty of cucumbers and zucchini all summer.

This is what our 2010 garden looked like:

cucumber	tomatoes	peppers	basil
zucchini	zucchini	parsley	thyme
	cucumber	oregano	sage

Crowded.  We are going in a little bit more prepared for 2011.  We have the experience of knowing that we can grow things, and that we could probably do a better job, but if we don't, we're still likely to get some reward.  I've purchased the Vegetable Gardener's Bible, which has already lived up to its name.  Edward C. Smith (I hope he doesn't mind if I call him Ed, because I do) is our fearless leader.  We do what he says.

Ed is a big proponent of raised beds.  He says we don't necessarily need to build frames around them.  We should dig about a foot deep, and then mound more dirt on top, about 8 inches, so the roots will have a plenty of room to grow down.  With mounds (or raised beds), you can supposedly grow more in a smaller amount of space, with narrow spaces for walking between wide rows of plants.   This is our plan, using that advice: 

		Butternut squash
Leeks		Cucumber		Zucchini
Spinach		Garlic		Tomatoes
Arugula				Peppers
Beets		Shallots		Eggplant?
				Basil
Potatoes		Carrots		Parsley
				Dill

We are doubling our garden in size, which means we have to start digging soon.  We are in zone 6a in coastal Massachusetts, and our last frost date is around May 15. Ed says we could start planting seeds for things like beets, arugula and spinach as early as this weekend, which is 3-4 weeks before last frost.  That's not going to happen, though, because we've got to paint one of the bedrooms this weekend before the floor guy comes next week.  More on that later.