I'm thinking of putting a "lid" on the one box and using it as a coldframe for winter vegetables.

Might as well take advantage of global warming.

Regular beans do very well here in subtropical South Florida, so I'm going to try yardlong beans this spring and malanga. I also tried peas again this fall but the weather is just too warm, they are not particularly happy.

The shade from a new 6' privacy fence (unfortunately, necessary) so adversely affected the plants in the easternmost tier of the garden, I've had to come up with an alternate plan and started reworking the space late this fall. Instead of the standard, fenced rectangle, there will be two long raised beds with a walkway between. The bed along the fence will accomodate varieties (ornamental and vegetable) that can tolerate a bit of shade, while the other bed will be dedicated to the hard-core sunlovers. That bed needs to be widened by about a foot, which I'd expected to do in spring, but with this incredibly mild weather, I might be able to get it started much earlier.

I'm still undecided as to whether to break a walkway through the middle of the sunny bed - with limited space, I need to keep as much in production as possible, so will probably try it out this coming season as is.

The challenge will be designing the beds so they are productive, but attractive year 'round.

gardenstate, I'm in the same position. I have a 5 ft. wall on one side of the garden which throws about seven feet of shade in the winter because of the low angle of the sun. Things grow there, but very slowly.

The sunny part of my garden is bisected by a path, and I'm thinking of digging it up this spring to connect the two beds. Like you, I really need every inch of sun I can get. I'm planning on using the Dark Side for lettuce in the summer, because then the whole garden just broils.

Well, my back and neck are pretty whacked by a wreck a month ago, but we have found a strong young man who will do pretty much anything for $10 per hr.
Sooo, I'm going to put in a couple new raised beds. One will be for climbers green beans, cucumbers etc with shade lovers such as lettuce etc planted underneath. I think the other will be a new tomato bed for a year or so, to let the origional tomato bed rest.
I also want to do an asparagus bed!
My Chiropractor is really glad we found this kid to do all the physical stuff. Now I just need to find someone to tackle some of the heavy duty housework!
Damn! I'm only 50 and feel like..........
Nancy

Ouch. I know all about back pain. So sorry for you. Mind if I borrow the ten-dollar-an-hour guy? I have a few jobs around here for him.

I solarized my tomato area last summer, because I had problems with wilt the year before, so it will be interesting if it makes any difference when I plant this year.

Asperagus seems like something you need a lot of room for. An elderly friend of mine told me it was quite invasive, and that she had a house once where it had invaded her sewer line! I think she must've been pulling my leg. Is it troublesome to keep in bounds?

nice to know I am not the only one who's garden has a "dark side" thanks to a fence and my neighbors trees.

Instead of dividing my garden in half, my main path splits the sunny (20 feet) from the shady (10 feet). I mainly use the shady side to grow sweet potatoes. I did build my last bed this year, don't have a handyman, so it took me 6 years to get all the beds done! Also rebuilt the main gate into my garden with some metal porch posts someone put on the curb. Once the grapes went dormant this winter, I moved them over. Hopefully the new gate will be sturdy enough to support Black Spanish, this grape is a heat lovin monster. I also have Flame, but it is not near as aggressive.

As for new, I am trying to root chayote from the grocery store to grow up the other side. I am also going to try some bush watermelon (3 foot vines) this year. I have heard various reports on flavor, so I am digging in compost and manure to build up the area where they will be planted. Of course, I am a bit dubious that any vine will stay that short in our heat, but I am willing to try it, just so I can squeeze in a few more melons.

Okra! I hated it as a kid, but I've rediscovered it and I'd love to have sweet little orka to pickle. It's quite a ways off, but in the meantime, I'm going to ditch the beets, carrots and kolrabi (which just are NOT growing after four months) and put in arugula, kale and chard for the "second" spring growing season which should begin around the beginning of March for me. Until then, like you, I'm just kinda bored... time to turn the compost, I guess.
hollymolecule

Manzomecorvus, I envy you. I've tried to grow honeydew mellons in the past, but they never got big enough. Last summer I grew one in a pot on the driveway, thinking the extra heat was what was misssing, but no dice. The fruit only got as big as a baseball.

I did get a fair helping of peas this week, which has refueled my interest in gardening. Hollymolecule, I'm going to wait until March too, to jumpstart my garden. But I'm tempted to run out and get some six packs of flowers, just to fill in the spaces.

hollymolecule I have NOT been successful with arugula!
My sister says it will just re-seed and go crazy! Not with me!
Any tips? Nancy

ninjabut-
I just mixed an extra pack of arugula seeds in with some leftover assorted greens and lettuces, raked up a little plot in the bed, and put a drip sprinkler/mister directly overhead. The only thing that came up were the arugula sprouts, and in a few weeks it was a patch so thick I couldn't keep up with it, and I let it go to seed cause it was really pretty. I wish I had a "trick" for you, but I think it was more dumb luck on my part!
I think I started the seeds in late Feb.- and they got some nice rain and cool temps before they really took off in the warmer March weather.
I've also noticed (for all greens) that fresh seeds really help...Good luck!

boondoggle-
I envy your peas! Like everything in my plot (except the oregano and the marigolds- go figure), the peas have seriously stalled, and our temps were so cold the last few nights that I'm afraid to even look at the garden... the water even froze in our pipes and we had no water in the house until the afternoon!
No fun to garden in California like this!
hollymolecule

It's cold here, too, but I must be in a little thermal pocket; so far everything has survived. I'm interested in trying lettuce again, once the weather warms up a little. Cooks Garden advertises a lettuce blend for cold weather. Has anyone tried their products? I'd be interested in knowing the results.

Last year we put in four 4'x8' raised beds to take the place of part of the garden. They were so successful that this year we are adding 6 more and abandoning the old garden spot. (Too close to the creek and nearly everything that could suffer from mildew did). I have planted onions for the first time ever (Contessa, Texas Sweet, ciopollini, torpedo, Bermuda) as well as leeks and some heirloom hardnecked garlic. Easter Egg Radishes are new in our garden with greenery about an inch high now.

That cold weather lettuce blend sounds like something I'd like to try, too. Along with that some of the odd coloured carrots.

Becky

Well, I wish I had re-read this post before I just added the other Mistakes one, because it seems I'm duplicating. As far a something new, I was thinking of painting the block wall on the southeast side of my garden. It's kind of low-key now, but also a bit of an eyesore. It's got that 1960's pink-ish cement stain on it, along with chalking from the neighbor's sprinklers and a lot of soot.

Has anyone started work on their new project?

I am growing Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomatoes for the first time. Can't wait!

I am adding new Salvias and Zinnias.

I am growing 2 new gourd varieties - Bushel Basket & Apple.

I am growing new varieties of hollyhocks.
The ones I planted last year will bloom this year as will the Queen Anne's Lace.

On my "Wish List" - I would like to plant some blueberry bushes on the north side and some thornless Blackberries along the southside. I love the flavour of my native Dewberries (Oklahoma blackberries) on the east side - they can't be beat for flavour and hardiness, but the thorns are eating my lunch! Dude!

As for asparagus, I have a bed of Martha Washington Asparagus along the north boundary fence line of my potager. They spread clump-like but not fast at all. I have sandy dry soil that I have to constantly ammend. Perhaps in wet, boggy soil or where water drains they could become a pest. I don't know. Birds eat most of the seeds that grow on them, so very few every make it to the ground to grow and those that do, drop down in the bed so no problem for me. Under them I grow Cardinal Strawberries that make huge, sweet berries. They are mutally beneficial to one another. Basil is also another good companion plant with Asparaagus, so I flank my beds with Basil.

I grew my asparagus from seed. Took three years to get them to production size, but what was I eating in the meantime? I get yummy spears in Spring and again in the Fall at the same time the strawberries come into production. In the summer, it makes a beautiful 5ft. tall green fern-like hedge row at the back of my potager. Just lovely. In late summer they produce colorful little red seeds. Few actually sprout and grow that reach the soil. Birds eat them in late summer. Then the foliage turns into golden with those red seeds for lovely Fall color and interest. What's not to like?

New - Every year, behind the asparagus on the outside of the fence, I plant tall sunflowers, but every year mice, voles, crows, and other critters get the seeds. Darn! So, this year, I am starting my sunflowers in peat pellets (I love those things) and then set them out along the fencerow in April. That'll fix 'em! I am determined to have my sunflowers back there, by heck!

New - Penstemon and Lychnis
I need more low-maintenance, drought tollerant plants.

New - I bought 2 climbing roses yesterday. It's called, "America". The medium Salmon colour with slight tinges of bronze or brown just lept out and grabbed me. Supposed to be intensely fragrant and a continual bloomer. My kind of rose! Would also be gorgeous growing in with a pale pink rose, or a medium yellow even. Does anyone know how big and heavy the canes on these get and what kind of arch I will need to support them? They look like they might be HUGE things, like New Dawn. Zooks!
They will end up growing elsewhere, if so. (See LINK below)

New - Does anyone on here grow the Lace Vine? I have seeds but am a bit leery of it. Is it seedy and invasive like morning glory or wild clematis? Is its vegetation heavy or light? Would like to hear your experience with it.

~ Annie
A born and bred So. Calif country girl living in the Oklahoma hills! Yihaa! Ain't life in'erestin'?

Here is a link that might be useful: America - a climbing rose

Annie, I envy you because it seems like you have a ton of space to in which to experiment. I love So. Cal, but it's exasperating to have a postage-stamp sized plot in which to garden. Most of our not-so-big yard is reserved for my one-dog destruction machine, and food crops are not an option wherever she roams. I have considered putting some low-chill blueberries along my back fence, but I know she'd destroy them.

Since we have similar soil, I suppose I could tuck some asperagus in a corner without fear of its taking over my potager. I have my strawberries interspersed with onions, on the recommendation of some list somewhere on companion planting. But it seems a bit awkward, because they tie up space I'd rather be using for some sort of annual crop.

Incidentally, I'm reading a book about the English language called "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson, and he claims that the word asparagus is a corruption of its original name, "Sparrow Grass". Interesting.