Sounds like a good plan, but you may be over-ambitious in varieties per bed. Six varieties of tomatoes in a 4x8 bed? Each plant will easily occupy a 2x2 space, so you may just have one variety per bed. I'm not sure what the number of inches in parentheses after each item means. Surely not plant spacing!

For the beds near the fence, you might consider trellised beans, depending on where the sunlight is coming from. If you like eggplants, you might put in a few of those. I prefer oriental.

For the beds that are only 9-12 inches deep over dense clay, you'd better plan on doing a lot of mulching.

Corn?

You don't indicate which way is north? Or how much room between the beds? Between the beds and the fence?

You should consider posting your question in the squarefoot gardening forum also. (if you haven't)

Be careful with perennial herbs! Some of them can get quite huge and IMPOSSIBLE to pull out! I found this out the hard way when I planted a bunch of cute little 4" pots of herbs in a 3x3 bed and they quickly overwhelmed the bed and I didn't know what they were! Tried to yank everything out, but 10 years later I'm still getting some volunteers that won't go away! Basil is fine cause it will die off at first frost.

I put all the herbs in pots, but some are getting root bound and I've prepared a place for them to grow and sprawl all they want. RESEARCH! Nancy

Scary @Nancyjane_gardener! I'd really love to have some established herbs. I'm thinking of doing some large Rosemary and Sage on the south-side of the house which is a bit desert like.

@gumby_ct - from the direction of the picture, I am standing East, and directly forward is West and to left is South. The beds get between 8-10 hours of direct sunlight. I plan to plant taller plants in the back beds so that when the sun starts to set and the fence casts a shadow, they'll still be reaching and getting some more light. The beds are about 2 feet appart and currently have cardboard on the grass and multch over them.

I kind of wish I'd gone with cinderblocks as the wood is starting to warp. I didn't use supports or posts like I should have. I want to learn some nice ways to do all this so in our next house (hopefully with -flat land-) I can make something much more asthesticly pleasing. Probably sandy/gravel paths with irregular stone boarders. Eeee oh how I dream. I was just walking aroudn the Botanical Gardens today in Fort Worth. If I wasn't worried about my HOA I'd remove my entire backyard and turn it into winding garden paths. ;)

I had a raised garden in San Antonio. It required a lot more water and suffered from the heat. Here is an example of a raised garden made for hot, dry areas.

Oh that's pretty! The point is what? Releases heat in the center/cools?

You don't need to wait until another house to make a better raised bed garden. Once you know your mistakes or even if not mistakes, but you know what you want to do better, plan it out and add it to your list of garden to-dos. (I just re-read that you have some HOA but I would guess your next garden plans still fit into what they allow you to do).

Some varieties of squash get really large. Even just one plant can cover several tens of feet horizontally or vertically. Check the sizes on all your plants.

It also sounds like you might like reading about square foot gardening. It doesn't have to be implemented this year, since you already have your plans set out, but you can consider it for next time. It's also a lot of gardening info to digest so read it and get a grasp on it before changing at a whim.

There are alternatives to growing potatoes, though in a bed is OK too. It's not too late for starting them in your area.

Asparagus can pretty much remain in that bed forever, so consider that you'll probably never plant anything else there if you don't get rid of the asparagus.

For your extra beds as well as different places along your beds and yard, you may also want to have plants which attract pollinators, or plants which may help attract destructive bugs. For that, companion planting might be something to try also.

charlieborings heat resistant raised bed looks like it might be so because the rock wall probably provides more insulation than some boards. That will keep the deep soil in it close to the mean temperature, which in my parts, in high summer, is about 90F (yep, highs above 100, and lows in the high 70s). With less insulation the deep soil could get near the high temp, which would simply fry roots.

Of course, another strategy would be to line the bed with some real insulation. Maybe inch-thick foam, though not sure how long that would last in contact with soil.

Here is the plan and explanation: http://www.texascooppower.com/texas-stories/nature-outdoors/keyhole-gardening.

Oh, OK, so the main trick is the reservoir hole in the middle, and the slice out of the circle allows one to access that hole. Pretty slick. Thanks!

Now, it occurs to be that by keeping the soil continuously wet, the deep soil temp will be closer to the dew point, at least where the sun isn't shining on the side.

syntria-put in your notes for the next garden. More room between beds to get a wheelbarrow through AND be able to turn it to dump it! My paths are only about 2' wide and it is very difficult to maneuver the wheelbarrow to dump stuff (and you will be adding compost or more soil as your beds settle).

Not sure about the weed cloth. Some veges have deep roots!

Lastly (is that a word?) find out if you have gophers in your area. If so, you'll want to add hardware cloth before filling the new beds.

Have fun! Nancy

Your beds look good. You might consider growing bush beans if you plant them within the next couple of weeks. They do well in your area. You could plant purple hull peas in May. They are one of the few plants that tolerate the hot Texas summer. If is probably too late to plant potatoes. The hot weather will be here in less than 60 days.

Just remember that in Texas we really have 2 short growing seasons, spring and fall. Many people plant tomatoes in very early spring and plant another crop of transplants in July for a fall crop of tomatoes.

Bell peppers are a challenge but sweet banana peppers and hot peppers are easier to grow. Bell peppers tend to make early in summer and then just sit there until the fall when they will put on another crop.

Square foot gardening tends to put plants too close together for Texas gardens. As you may know tomatoes can get over 8 feet when put in cages. In raised beds you do plant things closer together but if you are not careful you can have a grown up "jungle" Plants need to have air circulation with the humidity that we have.

Eggplant,hot peppers,okra,corn,basil,armenian cucumbers,long beans,Lima beans and cowpeas will all do well for your summer heat. Amaranth,too.

The hot peppers may not fruit until it cools a little but will survive the summer and be ready to go.