My name is Carolyn. Me and my DH live in North-West Ohio (zone 5) and I started gardening for the first time this year. I have about 100 sq ft total, in 4 small plots.
I am growing 2 kinds of tomatoes, 3 kinds of peppers, 14 kinds of lettuce crops (bought mixed seeds), as well as mustard and chard.
For my lettuce patch, I sowed 4 sets of 3 rows, each 2 weeks apart. In the pic you can clearly see that the mustard has been nibbled on by slugs. I'm dealing with the slugs gradually but don't really care much because the mustard is soley for our pet rabbit and she doesn't mind.
[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2549186916_01c8a66374_o.jpg[/img]
Here's Chestnut (Chessie), the creature that inspired my lettuce patch in the first place:
[img]https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/2309676775_674952a52f.jpg[/img]
She likes the mustard, but her favorite is still dandelions.
I'm pretty proud of myself because my previous experience gardening includes growing 1 sunflower by accident, and one pitiful tomato plant that I rescued after it was thinned out of my dad's small patch.
I had to ammend our soil, which is heavy clay, with peat moss, manure, and fertilizer. I hand tilled it to about 12" with a pitch fork. "Tilling" means chipping out a shovel sized chunk of clay and then beating it to bits with my pitchfork over and over again. To till out 100 sq ft took me about a month working 2 hours/day 3-4 days/week. I never want to do that again! (That is, unless I decide I need more garden space next year

Anyway, see you around on the forum. I hope to have more updates as my plants grow. Thanks!
