Vegetable Garden Plan 2017- Looking Ok?

[VickyChaiTea]

Hi! I'm new here and relatively new to gardening. I first started in 2014 with tomatoes, peppers, and peas. Got lazy the next year and didn't do much but then went crazy last year and expanded, built a raised bed, and tried a lot of stuff! I learned a lot. Unfortunately I lost a lot to pests (groundhogs and bugs).

My mom, bless her, sent me these two packages FULL of seeds for Christmas. 32 varieties of veggies and 12 herbs... all heirloom, no hybrids! Really cool but oh my gosh I just don't have that much space. (this was after she sent me 6 different kinds of sunflowers to grow!) What I currently have set up is a 4x4 raised bed (full sun), a 7.5x7.5 bed (partial shade) and a 1.5x13.5 bed that runs along the house (partial shade). I'll include pictures so you can see what I mean. I've been making it work, I had lots of success with peppers and tomatoes and I would have with greens if bugs/the groundhog hadn't eaten them all.
What I plan on doing is digging out the 7.5' bed all along the length of the house to make a 13.5x7.5 bed! This will give me enough space to grow almost all of the veggies she sent me.

However, almost all of these are completely new to me and I'm flying by the seat of my pants. So I did a lot of reading and planned the garden based on what tolerates shade and what needs full sun, as well as taking into consideration the fact that the 7.5x7.5 bed gets a lot of water from the gutter. We MAY also add a few more raised beds in another part o the yard (full sun) but that would be a lot of work and a bit of money. So we'll see.

Anyway, onto pictures and my plans! (all pictures from last year) This was the 7.5x7.5 before.

And after!


The bed along the house.

The raised bed.


And now, my plans. I am aware I'm crowding the sunflowers but I really have no other place to try them!


For those interested: the list of seeds she sent me. The only ones I couldn't include were Brussels sprouts, corn, okra, pumpkin, and jumbo pink banana squash (I'm going to try the butternut though I know it needs space...). Many of the herbs will go into pots.
Bean- Tendergreen Bean
Beet- Detroit Dark Red
Bell Pepper- California Wonder
Broccoli- Waltham
Brussels Sprouts- Catskill
Cabbage- Golden Acre
Cantaloupe- Naies Best Jumbo
Carrot- Scarlet Nantes
Cauliflower- Snowball Y
Celery- Tall utah Improved
Corn- Golden Bantam
Cucumber- Marketmare
Eggplant- Black Beauty
Kale- Premier Forage
Lettuce- Tom Thumb Butterhead
Lettuce- Darkleaf
Lettuce- Ruby Leaf
Lima Bean- Henderson
Okra- Clemson Spineless
Onion- Tokyo Long White Bunching
Pea- Sugar Daddy
Parsnips- Hollow Crown
Pumpkin- Sugar Pie
Radish- Cherry Huffle
Spinach- Noble Giant
Sunflower- Mammoth
Swiss Chard- Giant Fordhook
Tomato- Beefsteak
Turnip- Purple Top White Globe
Winter Squash- Waltham Butternut
Winter Squash- Jumbo Pink Banana
Zucchini- Black Beauty

Herbs:
Anise
Basil
Chives
Cilantro
Cumin
Dill
Oregano
Parsley Flat Leaf
Sage
Summer Savory
Sweet Marjoram
Thyme

Any and all suggestions, corrections, and input would be GREATLY appreciated, thanks in advace!

[bri80]

Looking pretty good! You're doing all the right things, researching, asking questions and experimenting. In my experience experimenting is the best way to learn! You'll see what works and what doesn't this year, based on your lifestyle, what you like to grow, and environmental conditions in your garden, and make improvements next year. A garden journal can be a great way to do this, so you can read what you figured out this year next year when planning your garden.

One thing I'd recommend is putting more of a barrier between your grass and your beds. Grass will aggressively invade your beds and attempt to choke out anything in its path. Maybe dig out the sod 2' or so away from the beds and mulch with wood chips, making sure to eliminate any grass/weeds that show up in the mulch zone before they spread.

[eackley]

Yes, I agree, you've done a great job with research and planning. You should also make space for flowers/plants that attract good bugs and repel bad bugs. I see you have Marigolds on one side. May I suggest Nasturtiums and Dill also? They attract good bugs that eat the bad ones. That way, your bug patrols will be shorter, as the good bugs will be allies.

[VickyChaiTea]

Thank you so much! Yes last year we had terrible grass problems, eventually I just gave up and let it grow near the end of the season. Making a border is a great idea.

I like nasturtiums! I didn't know those were good too. And Dill is nice, I can definitely do that too. Anything to deter bugs, plus it will look nice.

[VickyChaiTea]

Long time no post, but just in case anyone was wondering how it went, I am posting updates. So much progress and I learned a HUGE amount this year! Not everything did stellar and I learned a ton about caring for the different vegetables. It will be even better next year, I know it! (Pictures are in reverse order for some reason, sorry! And yes, I dug it all out by hand...)

[VickyChaiTea]

Also, a toad who has taken up residence in the bed.