Carol - I'm convinced my husband loves to do the heavy work! He certainly prefers that rather than me dragging him outside to look at which seeds have germinated early each morning! Granite - Funny dogs, they are lucky we love them so much. One puppy worked out how to climb onto the table yesterday. I looked out the window to see her DIGGING in my 2 day old basil planter box. Luckily I saw it in time and managed to rescue most. Unfortunately I was too late for the tomato plant :( No more plants on the table. Jolly - sorry for intruding on your post, just wanted to say hello!

I basically agree with all that has been said above. Here are a couple other things to consider. First, in the Deep South where I live, parsley is strictly a winter herb. It gets too hot for it here in the summer. Oklahoma gets really hot too, right? So, that might explain the parsley death. Second, did you dig the soil underneath your bed? Tomatoes and Peppers like a nice deeply dug bed, and your raised bed doesn't look more than six inches deep. This fall, you might try double digging your little bed and then sowing red clover in it. (If you don't know how, just say so. A lot of us can tell you how.) Allow the clover to grow all winter and then just as it begins to bloom in the spring, go out and turn it under with your spade. Two weeks later, you'll be amazed at the difference in your soil, and the clover roots will have put lots of nitrogen into it too. (This technique is called cover cropping. It's inexpensive, organic, and very effective. Try it.) Don't despair! I had rather similar results my first year with raised beds and I had MANY years of gardening experience. It just takes time to build your soil. If you do the fundamentals, you'll see a big improvement next year, and the next, and the next. It's a good idea to get a soil test since you started with bagged stuff. Look in your yellow pages for your county agriculture extension office. In my state, a soil test is $6.00. You will get a computer report that tells you how much Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, and more your soil has or needs. Why guess? In the meantime, it's a very good idea to go to your public library and check out a couple of basic books on vegetable gardening. Pay very close attention to the "boring" parts about soil preparation, compost, mulching, etc. There's no reason to learn everything the hard way! And if they have a book that is specific to Oklahoma, get that one! This is a big country and the differences in climate from one area to another can be crucial to your success. Here is a simple way to know when it's time to water. Stick your finger down into the soil to the middle knuckle. Then rub that finger together with your thumb. Feel moisture? Don't water. Check tomorrow. Feel dry or very nearly so? Time to water. Pay attention to how much time has passed since the last time and before long you'll get a good idea of how often you need to water. Oh, and if you have mushrooms growing in your soil, that's a pretty good sign that your moisture levels are high. But then, they may be only a little bit high and you just imported mushroom spores in with the straw. Keep an eye on things. Do the finger test. But don't panic.

1. Does the "early" plan mean early spring and the "late" plan mean late spring....If so see #3. 2. I believe you can fit way more than 4 garlic plants in one square (16 according to Mel's book). I only put 8 in my squares. 3. I'm not sure what part of the onion you plan on eating (bulb or greens) however, if you plan to have bulb onions, they probably won't be ready before you want to plant the broccoli. 4. Are you going to grow determinate or indeterminate tomatoes? Indeterminate might need more than one square to grow...unless you trim regularly. Good luck with your garden! Here is a link that might be useful: How my garden grows!

I'm on the north shore of suffolk county. Never had luck starting with seeds. I buy established seedlings from Hicks or other local nursereies. I've done herbs, potatoes and heirloom tomatoes. Good luck-remember the Indians cultivated this land for hundreds of years and Long Island was famous for its' potato crops.