Sharks in shallow: A garden is hard work...

So I've done a bit of work since I last showed you pictures of my garden! When my grandmother and every other gardening person told me that a garden is hard work, I said (to myself) "garden schmarden".

Right. As in they were right.

Luckily for me, my garden plot is only about 12 ft.x 15 ft. or so, so I don't have this mondo area of land to till, fertilize, and well, garden. That being said, a garden, no matter what size, is HARD work!

There is also a degree of planning involved--you can't just plant whatever you want and expect it to grow. I was supposed to do a soil test to see what nutrients were lacking in my soil (i.e. Phosphorus, Potassium, and Nitrogen)...that takes about two weeks since you have to send it off to the Agriculture Center in Raleigh. I didn't have two weeks, so I just bought Blood Meal, a Nitrogen-rich compound fertilizer because, basically, all plants could use a teensy bit more N. This Blood Meal is also said to repel deer because apparently is smells like a massacre to them.

So after fertilizing I had to section my garden off to make raised beds which allows for better drainage, not to mention it looks so much better than planting it on the flat ground. I divided my garden up into two large sections with several beds in each section.
Section # 1:
Bed #:

Onions (red), Beets (sugar)
Carrots, Spinach, Collard Greens
Herbs: Lavender, Echinacea, Rosemary, Lemon Thyme, Purple Sage

Section # 2:

Bed #:

Tomatoes (various types)
Green beans
Okra
Something else...but I forgot

Section # 1 can be planted now (except for the herbs) which will be planted in mid-April after the last frost date. Section # 2 will be planted in late April to mid-May. I haven't quite designed my layout for Section # 2, but I do have the design in mind...so I just have to get out there and finish it!