This year, we built three raised beds (cinder blocks, one level high) behind the garage.
Soaker hose irrigation installed this year. (Also included the two blueberry bushes in the irrigation.)
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First bed (closest to house) contains chives and things grown from seed: lettuce (Black-Seeded Simpson), bunching onions, Swiss chard, radishes (red and white), zucchini. We'll eventually plant some okra seeds, too. (Next month?) There's also a piece of a bell pepper plant. (It was cut off from the main plant by a pest, and I tossed it aside, but in the crazily rainy week that followed, it appeared to have rooted. We'll see...)
Second bed contains a couple of tomatoes, bell peppers, squash (crookneck), dill (from seed), and a jalapeno.
Third bed is the "tomato bed". Nothin' but 'matoes, man. ;o) We're growing four types of tomatoes, this year: Homestead Heirloom (determinate), Beefsteak Heirloom (indeterminate), Early Girl 50-day hybrid (indeterminate), and Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes.
There are also two tomatoes planted in between the blueberry bushes.
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This year, we're not planning to plant vegetables in the holes of the cinder blocks, though we're filling them with soil (because if we don't, weeds will just grow right up through them and make a big mess). We had three marigolds volunteer in one of them, from last year, and I'm scattering a little seed in some of the others-- dwarf marigolds and moss rose (portulaca). The marigold is a pest deterrent; the moss rose is just pretty, and I had some extra seed... (I hope it won't do any harm... Can't see how it could. It's easy enough to pull out, in any case.)
Notes to self:
-- More marigolds would be nice.
-- Nasturtiums are good to plant with tomatoes. They improve the flavor (don't ask me how) and repel some pests.
-- Yarrow (achillea) is also supposed to be a good pest deterrent (like marigolds).
