Trial and error gardening

Remember that raised garden I was so excited about planting at the community center? The one that started out like this:

Here's what it looked like the other day:

There's a chance that I planted a few too many things in my 4x8-foot box. For starters, zucchini. My father-in-law told me not to plant zucchini. He said it would take over everything. The man is a master gardener. Why didn't I listen to him? 

So the other day, I uprooted the three zucchini plants and brought them home to the backyard. I'm not sure if they'll survive the transfer or not. I already had one good size zucchini and several smaller. Can you use the little zucchini? Or will it be bitter or tough or something else yucky?

My broccoli, sadly, had mostly gone to flower. I didn't know that could happen. That's the downside of having your garden somewhere other than your back yard. It's harder to keep an eye on it. We've had so much rain that I haven't stopped by as often as I should because I knew the garden was well watered. I was able to save about a head and a half of it.And then I pulled those plants, too. I'll re-plant more broccoli in the fall.

The cilantro has also flowered. So I'm thinking that's not any good either. I may be able to salvage and dry out some of the leaves at the base of the plant. And some of my tomato plants have these weird spiky things on them:

I have no idea what those are. 

I need to stake up the tomato plants and add some structure so the snow peas can climb. I'm hoping that the extra room in the garden will encourage the tomatoes and peppers to grow more. The basil is doing well and the sweet marjoram smells good, even though I have no idea what to do with it.

Next year, I'm going to be smarter about how I plant the garden. I'll plant fewer plants and plant them in waves so that there's always something ripe and ready. I'm getting a little impatient waiting for the tomatoes and peppers.Although, I have a feeling that once they come in, I'll have more than I know what to do with. 

In the meantime, I need to do something with that zucchini.

Not exactly a barn raising

Today we gathered at the community center where we belong to build and fill over 30 raised garden beds. (Well, everyone except Charlie. I didn't think getting manure-based compost in his cast would be a great idea.)

The good folks from Keep Indianapolis Beautiful were on hand to help guide us in how to put together the beds. I even did a little drilling -- until I stripped the screw and the drill bit. Then I re-assigned myself to soil (real gardeners don't call it dirt) duty.

Before the beds could be filled, post holes had to be dug so the containers could be set down flush with the ground.

Each bed took probably 4-6 wheelbarrows full of dirt. This was really hard work. I will admit to hiding in the bathroom for a few minutes (ok, myabe 10) just to give my aching back a break.

A little more than four hours after we started, all the containers were built. Thank goodness for some volunteers who will come on Thursday to finish setting the final ones in the ground and filling them with soil.

Then the real fun begins! We plan to grow tomatoes, peppers, broccoli (if what we've started inside makes it), lettuce, radishes and sunflowers. Oh, and Annie wants zucchini.

Will you garden this year? What do you plan to plant?