Garden Plans

Our back yard is completely sunny. The economy is bad and "green' is all the rage. I'm taking the huge timbers out from around the flower garden in front of the house. This all meaning--place to have a vegetable garden, reason to have a vegetable garden, and materials available to assemble a raised bed vegetable garden. So why not? It's always easy to get excited about a garden at this time of year. Everything in the catalogs looks fantastic. The ground is swelling up and things are starting to grow. You just naturally get in the mood. I do remember having vegetable gardens before though. They always started out with an excess of enthusiasm that waned considerably as the weeds started bolting in the hottest part of summer and then died completely at harvest/canning/freezing time just at the same time as returning to school after the summer break. I finally just started buying vegetables at the farmers' markets.
But now I've read Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life and Eric Slosser's Fast Food Nation. Of course, there's Martha Stewart setting an example, not to mention Michele Obama digging up the lawn at the White House. There you have it. Growing some of our own food seems like a good thing to do.
Mike has been helpful with the digging up of massive wood beams around my flower garden although I sense he thinks the idea of more garden patches at all, but especially for the purpose of growing (ick) vegetables, is just plain daft. He likes his large, flat, rectangular, plain old lawn just the way it is. (Have I mentioned we have a mixed marriage in so many ways?)
So I'm taking a piece of garden by the shed and expanding it a bit to accommodate a small veggetable patch surrounded by some annuals--planted in straight lines somehow. Tomatoes, lettuce, some green beans, and some herbs. Here's to fresh air, exercise, and fresh salad for lunch!