Your first step should be to check out your county extension service website and a take a visit to the library--there's no substitute for good old fashioned reading!
You may not need or want raised beds--your extension service can tell you what kind of soil you have. If you do decide to go with raised beds, you just remove the sod (or cover it with several sheets of newspaper or cardboard) and mix in compost and additional topsoil.
The extension service will also tell you what you can expect to do well in your area, as well as when to plant it.

I briefly perused the website, and it has a pretty big omission for seed starting--no grow light! No amount of sun coming through a window will be enough for your seedlings.

You have a lot of company here, there are several people trying to do the same thing. Let me introduce you to Larry...

Here is a link that might be useful: New gardener

Great, I got a copy ofThe Backyard Homestead which covers all of the basics that I'm trying to learn here. I also got in touch with the County Extension Service (I've never even heard of this before), and they told me how I can go about getting my soil tested. Luckily it's not frozen solid right now. I think that I probably need the raised beds though because our yard is very wet (we border a marshland). I learned yesterday that too much moisture is not good for the roots. I'm really concerned about the drainage because parts of our lawn are typically flooded for most of the year, despite the fact that we have two drainage ditches. There are some high spots that don't flood, but I'm assuming the soil is probably still pretty wet. I learned that raised beds are typically good for drainage, so I'm thinking that maybe the raised beds on a high spot might be my best bet.

By removing soil from your drainage ditches and using it to fill your raised beds, you will be improving the drainage. A separate test of that soil will tell you if it can be used for vegetable culture. If your water table is that high, you will certainly need raised beds, perhaps as high as 2', if the flooding occurs during the growing season.

That's a great idea! We were planning on digging them out more this year anyway. The water table is high, but we do have some high spots on the yard that don't flood. I'm assuming that the soil in those high spots is probably still very saturated though. When you do make raised beds, does the soil that they're built on (the soil under the beds) matter at that point? Thanks for your help!

backyard homestead, great book. pick up the garden primer, and maybe new square foot gardening.

soil under didnt matter too much for my beds, however, i didnt have that much saturation. does the water in the yard drain fairly quick? how high are you thinking of building the beds? been my experience that alot of plants only need 6-8 inches of soil for rooting.

Our yard rarely ever fully drains, actually. Last summer was very dry here, and peoples lawns started turning brown, but parts of our yard were still too soggy to walk on. I was thinking that I might make them about 10 inches high, but kinda wondering if I could get away with 8 inches. I'm going to have to make some sort of a fence too, to keep the deer out.

wowser. yeah. good thing about raised beds, theyre a little easier to work in too. haha

was perusing some other publications, and figured id post it here, its pretty old, pretty broad, but still has some pretty good info especially to those starting out their own little home stead. its called "the have more plan" i found it on some wacked out survivalist forum, but its likely somewhere else on the internet.

When I first started gardening, my beds had wooden borders, and were as much as 12" high. I did not garden in areas with standing water - despite my clay soil, the topography allows for some drainage - but my water table is high. In building my garden, I discovered a stone-lined hand-dug well, which as far as I can discover was built sometime around 1790. The stones were surprisingly intact except for at the very top, where I suspect a larger slab protected the well. The water level in that well is almost never more than 16" from the surface, and it is my primary source of irrigation, now fitted with a solar-powered pump that fills an above ground cistern that I can use to gravity feed my crops. My beds are now without any physical borders, just amended soil mounded 2" to 4" high, a form Eliot Coleman refers to as sunken paths. Because of years of work, they are highly absorbent and water retentive, and cover crops, deep rooted crops, and a very active earthworm population I have good drainage where once the hard-packed clay prevented that.
Two thoughts that come to mind for your situation. One would be the construction of a small but deep water body to consolidate all of your water in one place. Many rural areas have programs to help property owners design and build ponds for irrigation and fire control. More elaborate systems can be used for fishing, swimming, and even geothermal applications.
Secondly, it may be to your advantage to just bite the bullet and construct really raised beds, as high as is comfortable to work from a standing position. This will go furthest in eliminating the serious problems that flooding and drainage issues can cause.

i was thinking something similar, a way to maybe effectively dry out certain areas by creating a lower area, then put in a rain garden or small pond.

I totally agree with what you're saying. I actually had the thought of putting in a pond last year. Really, I was just looking at the huge puddle of water/mushy grass and thinking that we might as well try to work WITH the water, being that our attempts to drain it have been unsuccessful so far. Not to mention, we can't mow it, and it just looks like a huge grassy mess all the time. The only concern I really have is the fact that we have some power lines running through the back of the property. But, I'm going to look into this and see what the regulations are and what not.

As far as the beds go, I can't say that I would mind tall beds, I'm just a little hesitant about the cost. Any idea how I could do that in an affordable way?

I'm going to try to get a photo of the yard up on here. It's so hard to talk about things like this without something to look at.

Thanks for all the help so far! I wish I could contribute to other peoples questions in exchange, but unfortunately I'd be of no help what so ever.

Okay, I managed to get outside really quick before the sun set and take a panorama of the backyard. Sorry the quality is so terrible!

{{gwi:20953}}

I wish I had your computer skills!

Based on this, I would build gardens in both of the areas you delineate. I would incorporate a French drain running parallel to the back of the house, sloping down towards the position of the photographer, then turning to join the drainage trench under the power lines. The existing trench runs close to the apple trees, further excavation there will likely compromise their root systems. If you expand that trench, you should prune those trees even more than they would ordinarily need. The existing tree near the flooding zone looks like a young maple, it will likely also benefit from heavy pruning, but is a big benefit for absorbing water in the summer. When you build your deck, you don't need or want any fertile soil below it, so excavate the topsoil from that area and move it to where it will provide some benefit. That could be the beginning of your raised beds.

2 things would help in this discussion based on this photo. What is the orientation - in other words in what direction is the utility pole in relation to the wall of the house? And what use do you get from your yard - do kids run around, do you play croquet, or is it mostly a place to mow the lawn?

lol, Thanks...Photoshop :)

I looked into French drains, I think that could possibly work. Do you know if you can plant grass on top of a French drain? At the moment we're not getting any use from the yard, but we are "outdoorsy" people and if we could we would play lawn games on it. We have a baby, and he'll be a kid running around on it soon enough. The utility pole is to the east, and the house is to the west. The position of the photographer is somewhat south-west, and the apple trees are more or less to the north. I know it's kind of hard to see that on the photo, being that it's a panorama (it's actually about 10 photos pieced together).

On a different note, I'm starting to feel completely overwhelmed just trying to figure out my seed-starting shopping list. I made a rough list of the foods that we eat, just for a starting place. On it is Tomatoes, onions, garlic, potatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, strawberries, cantelope, pumpkin, carrots, celery, peppers and broccoli. I'm not sure if this would be considered a good amount to start with, too many, or what really.

I started doing research on tomato plants, and I feel like I have a good general overview to start with, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how many to plant. They're really just going to be for jarring sauce. We probably eat about 6 gallons of sauce per year. The information that I'm finding varies so much that I can't figure out how many plants I would want.

my neighbors all have grass on top of their french drains, however, when its dry and hot, it browns out in a cool little L shape

as far as raised beds, i revert to age old saying. you can a lot now or a lot later. seriously, free wood from contruction sites would work, but youd have to plan to replace periodically. Cement blocks or bricks would be fairly cheap and and durable. depends on your level of "expensive". your expensive may be custom cut marble.

on a potential level, if i had that yard, id definitely look into a minimum of rain garden, and for raised beds id go with those landscaping blocks and shape other than rectangles or squares. perennials and such scattered around. a lot of options, again depends on you

I've never even heard of a rain garden before (I'm really new to gardening and landscaping), but I did a quick Google search, and that looks like it could be part of the solution here. I'm starting to envision some sort of a garden or garden/pond combination where the water is naturally pooling, and a French drain taking care of the less soggy grass in the center of the yard. This area is already forming a natural stream and running into the drainage ditch. We do have a couple of random soggy spots around the yard too, I'm wondering what kind of large bushy plants I can consider that might drink up that water.

I think that as far as the raised beds go, I realized that if we build our deck first thing this spring, I can use scrap wood from that. I don't want to invest too much money into the garden right now, just in case I find that I don't enjoy it (I don't think that's going to be the case though). Luckily we're having a mild winter, so we can get started early. Last year, we had some snow in May, ugh.

For your list of veggies, broccoli, pumpkin, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes, onions, tomatoes are good candidates for you to start with. Carrots maybe, too. Canteloupe is difficult where you are, so maybe a project for after you get your feet wet so to speak, and celery, while sort of anatural for your swampy place, is also supposed to be difficult.

You can buy plants of the tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, onions, lettuce, and sometimes cucumbers, so you don't need to try starting those from seed if you don't wish to. Good luck!

Thanks! I'll take your advice and skip the canteloupe, carrots and celery this year. I was trying to figure out a few things to eliminate anyway, just to keep things manageable so I don't get discouraged if some things don't grow too well.

I want to try starting the seeds and see how that goes, see if I like it and what not. It's good to know that I can buy them if that doesn't go according to plan though :)

Thanks for the help! I'm finally getting somewhere on my "to buy" list!

I am helping my daughter start her first garden. This is how I would do it if I were first time. I'd go to Lowe's or Walmart and get two of those raised bed kits. Put some good bagged soil/compost/peat moss mix in. And I'd start with seedlings mostly, of stuff that is real easy. Like tomatoes, cukes, peppers, and easy to sprout stuff like green beans. Only plant what you really like to eat. It is not a cheap way to start, and it is small, but what I see most beginners do is start way to big and go out of control, plant stuff they don't even like, and try to grow stuff that even old pros have struggles with (squash vine borer for example).

Arki- I would NOT go to WM and get bagged soil/compost! WAY expensive to fill any decent sized raised bed! I can get a yard or more from the dump/ compost place for $18! This would cost tons of $ buying it by the bag!
I also wouldn't buy a pre-made kit for a raised bed garden! They cost $70++++++! You can find used lumber (redwood) for cheap and the hardware for just a few bucks at the hardware store! Don't forget to put small wire underneath!
For a first garden it is a good idea to buy starts and learn when to plant them, then eventually learn when to start seeds, then when and how to save them.
Good luck and have fun! Nancy

agree about the soil you could use bales of peat moss(like 5-6$ a for 2 or 4 cuft), compost from the nursery for like 15$ a yard.

donnamabob, you mentioned left over wood for the beds. i like where your heads at regarding re-use, however, are you using treated decking for the deck? i may get flamed for it, but id recommend looking around/reading about treated lumber. they say its safe, but they also said the same thing about asbestos once.

does anyone grow celery? that stuffs like 99.899999% water isnt it? seems like a lot of work for water. it even tastes like water.
i would absolutely grow carrots. i tried kaleidoscope mixed colors this year, and am really digging the dark red carrots. man are they tasty.

the thing about your yard, if you put in beds that are nice, and you get into gardening, youre money forever. if you decide you dont like it, put some butterfly bushes and mexican petunias and call it a butterfly garden. the lowest maintenance butterfly garden ever. im just saying

I just had a friend buy topsoil at Walmart and it was mostly sand. It's not like the topsoil, we expect it to be. Cukes start really easily from seeds. Try not to bury the seeds too deeply. The seed packs tell you how deep and how far apart to plant them. I try to do this right the first time instead of overseeding and then thinning. I, like alot of gardeners find it hard to thin, because one you pull a seedling it will die. Keep your gardens well weeded because the weeds harbor bugs. Always check the under sides of your plant leaves for bugs and destroy them by rubbing them out,gently. We don't use chemicals on our veggies.

OK, some more comments, and some comments on comments.

First of all, from the list of veggies you supplied, it looks like you're a good traditional home cook. Most of what you list are easy in your area, but melons are not. There are some shorter season cooler climate varieties, but flavor is often disappointing. Try them in 3 years, when you have some experience under your belt.

Lettuce, broccoli, and onions will do fine for you, but you should buy a few plants in the beginning and some seed for each. Plants will get you started earlier, but you will want to plant onions a few times during the growing season, broccoli every month, and lettuce every week. This gives you a continuous harvest, and not too much of anything all at one time. Next year you will include planting some crops for canning and freezing and of course tomato sauce, but this year potatoes and carrots and onions and garlic are what you should grow to enjoy in the winter - if they don't get eaten before then.

Garlic may be an issue. Most growers in this climate start garlic in late fall, to harvest in summer. You can plant it in the spring, but it will be a later crop and you will get smaller yields, and the time for curing it will be limited, so it may not store as well. If during the planning process you are getting short of space, wait till October to buy and plant garlic. In late summer, you may find some locally-raised garlic at a farmers market. This will be adapted to your climate, and may be a good source for your seed garlic. Once you plant garlic, you should always keep some of it to plant the next season, because it readily adapts to the soil it grows in, and will get better every year.

Onions must be carefully considered before buying, because they are also dependent on climate and season. You need to get the right variety for your uses as well, some don't store as well as others, and some are hot or mild. Remember too that they are reasonably inexpensive - if a large part of your motivation is economic, it is important to grow the crops that you would otherwise spend the most money on.

Potatoes are fairly easy and very satisfying to harvest, but are also a relatively inexpensive food to buy. It is best to grow a good number of varieties, because you will be surprised at how different they can taste and their different cooking qualities. Potatoes grown for French fries aren't as good for mashing, and the small oily varieties are the best for roasting and baked potatoes are another, so it takes some planning. Almost all potatoes store well, which makes it worthwhile to have a large late crop and a few small crops to harvest through the summer.

Carrots are sometimes difficult for new gardeners - hard to germinate at first, and hard to plant at the right thickness, and unlikely to be properly thinned. They are also sensitive to soil type, which can affect sweetness and size. They cannot be transplanted. There are lots of good strategies that can make this easier, starting with the soil that you build your beds with, but we'll deal with that later.

Celery is often tricky for growers, because a big issue is water, and second is fertility. it is not fond of transplanting. It would likely do well with your high water table, but your soil may not yet be ready, so give some thought to this, Celery root has better flavor, is easier to grow, and stores well, so that's one alternative. There is also a European plant known as cutting celery, which has a great celery flavor, looks like parsley, and is simple to grow, but harder to find. There's also lovage, which is similar to celery, if celery only had 1 stalk and grew 7 feet high. The leaves and seeds are used like celery's, the stalk can be cooked and pureed, but it is otherwise very fibrous. It can be used whole to add flavor to soups, but shouldn't be left in large pieces.

You should buy tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers as plants. In your climate they need a good head start to give a reasonable crop. Get a few varieties of good indeterminate tomatoes for eating fresh. Indeterminate varities can keep groing and producing as long as the season permits, and the variety will give some for sandwich slices, some for salads, and some for cooking. If you want to make sauce, buy determinate paste tomatoes and use those. Determinate tomatoes are smaller plants, and ripen pretty much all at one time, so you do one harvest and can all at once. The paste tomatoes have less juice, so there's less cooking time and richer flavor. All of these plants want warm soil, so don't plan on putting them in the ground until April. Buy them a few weeks after you see them coming out at the nursery, and plan on transplanting the tomatoes into larger pots before they go in the ground. Cucumbers don't like to be transplanted, so look for healthy plants in large pots, a little later than the tomatoes. They want lots of water, even more than tomatoes. Peppers are the hardest of the three to grow well in northern climates. Hot peppers generally need less water, and stress makes hot peppers hotter. Italian varieties often do better in New England, both hot and sweet. Tomatoes and peppers will do well in pots too; one large pot of small hot peppers and a pot of cherry or plum tomatoes will be nice on your new deck.

Pumpkins are easy, but take a lot of space. A good way to grow pumpkins is to go somewhere away from the main garden with a 4' string and a stake. Put the stake in the ground, tie a loop in the string, and use it to mark out a few circles. Dig out the dirt in the circle about 4" deep and make a low mound in the center. There should be a flat space all the way around the outside bout 4" deep and wide, sloping gently to the middle. Plant 3 or 4 seeds at the top of each mound. Once they germinate, cut all but the two best looking ones, and if they are fertilized and watered and the bugs leave them alone, you'll have plenty of pumpkins in October.

Strawberries can be complicated, but they are a great crop. You have to choose the variety that suits your needs, and they should go in an area where they can stay in the same place for 3 or more years to get the best yield. There are some interesting raised bed methods for strawberries that would probably work well for you, the one that comes to mind is a series of concentric rings that are stacked inside each other. This eliminates some digging, improves drainage, and makes picking and propagating the plants easy.

Lets talk infrastructure. Your beds should be 8 to 12 inches high, built on the highest area. They should be bordered with 2" wood, not pressure treated. Recycled lumber is fine, but remove any nails or pound them flat. You will not find cheap redwood in New York, trust me, unless it's recycled, but you may find cedar, and if you're really lucky, black locust, but if you're buying wood, go to a decent lumberyard and get #3 2x10 softwood, and you will be fine for a few years. Don't worry about getting nice clear lumber, bows and knots and cracks are fine, and will save you a lot of money. Don't build frames wider than 4 feet. You will have to build paths in the bed if you do, and the most economical way to use framed raised beds is to only use them for growing things, and not for walking. Make the paths between the beds wide enough at least for a lawn mower. If your husband is going to work in the garden with you, the beds should not be wider than the combined length of both your arms, so you can reach the stuff in the middle easily. When you are on opposite sides of the bed, you should be just able to hold hands. If you are dedicated to a long-term garden, look for plastic composite decking boards. They will last many years, and are easy to re-build with somewhere else if you or the garden move. Masonry is the most permanent of all. Wire mesh at the bottom of the bed can be an advantage, 1/2 inch is fine. If you put down cardboard first, you won't have to dig up the grass.

If you are going to spend any money, spend it on the soil you use to fill the beds. Buy it by the yard and have it delivered. If you can get it while the ground is frozen the truck may be able to dump it close to where you need it. You should be starting a compost pile now. I would put it just behind the apple trees. Take a good strong leaf rake and really rake your lawn vigorously, and you will have a lot of material to add your kitchen scraps too, and the grass will grow better, too. Compost should be a major part of your planning, it is free fertility, one of the best ways to improve your soil, and saves trips to the dump. It's one of the few gardening activities you can enjoy all year, and for many people it really is enjoyable.

And gunnersm8 is right, a garden will increase your property values, feed you well for the least money, keep you healthy and tanned and satisfied with your creation, and make your backyard more beautiful and productive. As your son grows, a garden becomes a school. He'll learn geometry and basic math, ecology, biology, chemistry, history, English, and philosophy if it becomes a passion for him. Gardeners tend to be life-long learners, and are frequently very generous and optimistic, and view their world with gratitude and reverence. It's where we started.

Thanks so much for the comments! I haven't had time to really respond, and I'm probably not going to have any time until early next week. But I did get out to Home Depot to start figuring out what materials I want to use outside. I found some plans online for $10 raised beds that are made out of fence pickets, and sure enough, fence pickets are really cheap. I'm thinking that might be a good place to start. If I find I love this, I'll upgrade a few years later :) Anyway, like I said, I'll re-read these responses as soon as I get a few minutes (my in-laws are coming over for the weekend!). Just wanted to chime in and let you guys know that I didn't abandon the project or anything! I'm super committed, don't worry! Thanks again!!

Be cautious of bagged topsoil from big box stores! I got hold of some I could have paved the road with once it got wet & set-up. Took several years of cover crops, etc. before I could use the beds.

Do consider both lasagna gardening and straw bales first year, either in or where you plan your raised beds. It's a jumpstart on great soil. Best of luck in your new adventure!