That looks great especially the hoop house you built over it. It might still be too cold for pumpkins and cucumbers. Also, pumpkins (and cucumbers) are larger plants; a vine might sprawl over the edge of your box and make its way toward that tree. Once the seeds have sprouted you can begin watering less frequently, perhaps 1-2 times per week or when the soil begins to dry out a few inches below the surface. One of those string lined squares will fit something like 15-40 carrots. Look into square foot gardening for more suggestions (there is a forum here for SFG as well as a book with the same title).

Hi christyinco You have had answers that probably work in Florida and England, but not in dry, windy Colorado. Water daily, twice a day for small-seeded plants like lettuce and carrots. For the very small seeds, I like to put down a row cover, flat on the soil, and water over that. It keeps the seeds from washing out of the soil, and then it holds the moisture a bit longer. Using a sprinkler is fine, hand watering is a pain, and getting enough moisture into dry clay or limestone soil is hard with a bucket and cup. Many references say to put 1 inch of water on your garden a week. That works in the eastern third of the country, where there is water already in the soil. Don't bet on it in Colorado. Put at least 15 minutes of sprinkler water on your garden every day until the plants get up and established. Then you can switch to drip irrigation, if you want, and water every other day. Mulch, mulch, mulch! I use pine straw because I live at the edge of a forest. Nice stuff, it grabs and doesn't blow very much. But if I lived in an urban area without access to pine straw, I would use grass clippings, alfalfa hay, alfalfa pellets (like rabbit food), wheat straw, or purchased compost for mulch. You can find the hay, alfalfa pellets, and wheat straw at feed stores, and there should be one fairly near you even in big cities like Denver and Colorado Springs. When the summer rains start in July and August, keep watering your garden every other day unless you have standing water after a storm. Yes, natural rain is nice, but we really don't get enough of it even in the rainy season. My advice. Water more. It is really hard to overwater in the arid mountain west! Catherine (chronic under-waterer)

I made all three of the most common mistakes... The first was starting out too big (much larger than your plot - yours sounds like a nice size) & quickly getting so overwhelmed & disgusted that it was a couple years before I tried again. Second mistake was overwatering - I quickly learned to stick my finger deep into the soil & if it's completely dry it's time to water. Third mistake was not fertilizing. That's as bad as overfertilizing. It took a few years of trial & error, but I finally figured out that an inch of composted cow manure on each new crop is all I need for most things. I use fish emulsion & liquid seaweed if I need something extra, & am trying turkey compost on the heavy nitrogen feeders this year. One more piece of advice for you - if you ask five gardeners the same question you'll get six opinions, so try not to get overwhelmed by it all. Good luck! And don't ever forget that this is supposed to be fun. :)

Sorry no one answered in time (you've probably already bought your plants). There are actually quite a variety of plants you can grow, but to be safe maybe go with the quicker ripening tomato types (your local greenhouse should cater to varieties for your area). There are even melons, etc which are said to ripen in 90 days. Carrots, beets, radishes are safe bets, though even in cooler zones sometimes radishes don't do as good if you plant them late in the season (too warm). glen