My advice is to fertilize them once they get about and inch or two tall with fish emulsion (which happens to be one of the main ingredients in my husbands super duper stinky fool-proof deer repellant) but you will want to stop using that before you want to eat the lettuce.

Don't know if you planted bush beans or pole beans, but if the latter, you're going to want to trellis those, or maybe you already have. Cucumbers can go either way, I prefer to trellis.

Try straw around your plants once they start growing, and obviously right away once you plant your tomatoes, peppers & herbs. This will keep the weeds down and prevent the soil from drying out as much, so less watering. I also use wet newspapers under the straw.

As for a fence, I've never much cared what the neighbors think, I just appeal to my own high brow aesthetics, and it is hard for me to answer that not knowing your neighbors. But maybe some chicken wire neatly strung on thick dowels?

Thanks, I do have a trellis, up and waiting for the beans and cucumbers. I didn't know about the straw. I think next weekend will probably be a good weekend then for the fish emulsion, more planting and straw.

I'm assuming you didn't do a soil test or put anything like compost or other amendments in the beds? If not you probably need to add something, your food needs food. Do a search for your local extension service and you should be able to find the recommended amount of nutrients for your area. If not, call them, most are glad to help.

Wire may be the best bet since it is a small area. I'm using a motion sensor sprinkler with pretty good success on deer, I don't have a rabbit problem.

Just make sure that the transplants have water, but not over watered. If it's hot and sunny they need more, cool and cloudy, not so much.

My neighbor has his beds in boxes. He built a fence around his garden with five T posts that he wrapped with green garden fence roll. You might google how to drive fence posts and add the name dcarch. dcarch has a bunch of youtube ideas (see square tomato!). He is often in the cooking forum here.

Next year you might want to get to the store earlier and get small starter tomato and pepper plants and grow them up a little like you did with the other peppers. Since you are looking at those weeds, you may as well scrape them out with a trowl or scraper tool.

We use old dried up grass clippings as mulch in our garden. It's free if you have a mower with a catcher attachment. Also straw is quite prickly to touch. Try not to get water on the foliage of the plants (to prevent diseases) and try to water in the early morning for he same reason. We have chicken wire around our gardens and it's really not that noticable from a distance.

You don't have to work in them every night, by any means, once they're established. The garden will take most work at the beginning of the season.

Did you use soil from your property, or buy topsoil or something? Since it's the first time you're using this soil it is a good idea to have it tested for pH, N, P, and K. The store bought kits aren't accurate, best to send a soil sample to your county extension. Then you know what you're working with. If you have to add something to balance or boost the nutrients, keep in mind that it's better to feed the soil than the plants. This will make it better each year. Using plant food is kind of equivalent to you living on vitamins instead of food. There are a lot of ideas about what to feed the soil. There's a lot written about using rock powders to supply phosphorus and potassium (P,K). I like these, b/c it basically replicates the way nature builds soil: from breaking down rock into tiny particles. People often supply the soil with P with bone meal, bone char, rock phosphate. For K, greensand, or a mixture of wood ashes and kelp. Nitrogen is supplied by blood meal, fish meal, alfalfa meal... Compost may supply it too, depending on what it's made of. I never add N b/c my compost seems to supply enough.

If you don't make your own compost, you can buy it in bags. Add a couple of inches the first year, only a half or one inch yearly after that. You can put it on top of the soil now that the beds are already planted. In the future you take the compost and whatever nutrients you're using and kind of chop it in up and down with a rake or hoe. You want to mix it into the top few inches.

As others have said, use a trowel or get a hand weeder and scrape along just under the surface of the soil to cut the roots. Just a sweeping motion. Get them while they're small, it's easiest this way. After than, mulch will keep them down.

Mulch does a lot of things: it keeps the soil cool, keeps it from drying out, gives worms something to work, eventually breaks down and adds organic matter to your soil. You'll be amazed when you lift up a section of mulch and see the beautiful soil underneath.