The answer to "how big should I make my first garden" is almost always "smaller than you think you really want." I say this as a classic garden over-achiever! That being said, don't be daunted by what everyone is saying. You're not a new gardener, you're just a new vegetable gardener. You know part of what it will take, and you know what your soil is like. Yes, getting a new garden started is a lot of work (you probably already know this!). The first year is always the worst in that regard. Every time I've done it, however, I've always been struck after the fact that once I buckled down and did it, it didn't feel so bad, and it certainly was quite satisfying. Of the things you listed, the peas could probably go in now, or at least sometime soon. The rest should wait until mid May, or possibly late May. This gives you some time to get your beds in order, if the soil isn't still too wet. I'd echo everything that others have said about acquiring yourself some organic matter. It will be a huge boon, and it can take a bit of finagling to figure out how to get as much as you need as cheaply as you'd like to get it. Then, I'd suggest that you start working on prepping beds, but start small. Get one section dug up and amended and ready to go, and if it didn't feel like too much work and it's not planting time yet, tackle another section. Meanwhile, as others have said, spend some of your indoor time plotting out your garden on paper. Figure out what you can fit if what you have available is your just first section, or if you have two sections, etc. Meanwhile, even if it gets later than planting time, you can continue to prep additional sections over the course of the Summer, for use next year..or perhaps you could get a few fall crops in this year. Another round of peas, perhaps, or some spinach or lettuce. I'm taking the "do it in sections" approach in my garden this year, too. So far, I've expanded my garden to about half of the size I'd really like. However, that half is done and ready to plant (the cool season seeds went in last weekend), and I've still got more than a month before the warm season stuff needs to go in, so I haven't totally ruled out additional expansion yet...but if it doesn't happen, I have some space to plant and I know what I can fit in that space.

Hi!! You have mail. I forgot to ask if you could also include some of the fruit and some of the shrub seeds. Thanks much.

Hello I;m on the southern coast of Maine and I have already direct seeded outside spinach, lettuce, peas, radishes,parsips, and shallots. My spinach and lettuce is already up. And I will continue to seed directly those vegetables every two weeks until June so that I have a steady supply of them. They are cool weather crops. Next week I will start my potatoes. Of course, I am already harvesting my chives wich are full of good minerals. Other nature's way of giving us a head start on something green before the first spring crop comes in. My egptain onions come up even before the chives are ready for harvest. so that is to good things to have in your garden. Plus once planted they come back year after year and require no work. In early May I will set out seedlings, small plants, that I grew from seeds inside, under lights, or some I get at a nursery: cabbage, broccoli,cauliflower and I will also at te same time direct seed. carrots. swiss chard, and kale. I will continue to direct seed the carrots and swiis chard every two weeks through mid July so I have a nice on going supply. The last frost date for Maine is usually considered to be memorial weekend. Some people claim you can start planting warm weather crops after the full moon in May. Many people will plant mid may while watching carefully for frost alerts and cover up their crops with sheets or some sort of covering if one is predicted. Some people cover their crops with cut out milk bottles over individual plants to keep them warm during a potential frost. Usually sunflowers, pumpkins, winter and summer sqaushes, eggplants, green bell peppers, watermellon, corn and tomatoes are not planted until early June, they need warm soil, as well as warm weather to thrive. raised beds do warm up faster then the ground and you can put clear plastic over your beds for a few weeks to help the soil heat up. It all can be overwhelming at first. But every year you will learn and master something new. What a great project for the kids and you. I wish you a bountiful harvest. READ as much as you can. You will slowly start to soak in all the information and learn to apply it to your garden! Remember if you don't feed your soil, if your soil is NOT feed the nutrients it needs, your crops will not thrive. Good soil is the foundation for a bountiful harvest. So make sure you give your soil what it needs so your plants can grow .

Edging & paths: You might find you like the flexibility of no edging this year, see how you enjoy your space, and make changes in width of paths or size of beds for next year. Wider paths 3' or more are nice because once the plants are producing they tend to lean out into your path. Even if you won't use a wheelbarrow through them while harvesting you might carry a bucket or shovel & it might catch onto a plant if your path is narrow. A few years ago we built wooden raised beds & converted part of our garden space to the SFG intensive planting. The squares fill quickly even though we plant squashes, tomatoes, peppers, and perennial edibles (fruit trees, rhubarb, strawberry, raspberry, topsetting garlic, herbs, etc.) in our regular garden spaces not the wooden sided beds. The space greedy plants are rotated in a few pockets of open ground amongst the perennial edibles. I have permanent paths of wood chips or straw mulch that define space & keep weeds down. In fall as needed, I move path materials to beds for winter sheet mulching & put new stuff on paths. We've been gardening here for 20 years, so it wasn't all built one spring, but each year we add something. The soil building & renewing process is important to figure into your garden space. If you figure out how to compost in place on top of your beds it won't seem so difficult to make enough compost to keep it going. I'm a different gardener than when we 1st started, so I'm glad I didn't have defined beds to begin with because I not only grow different crops, but the way I grow them is entirely different. I tend to start too many garden projects in spring that take me all summer to catch up, so if you're done designing & want to be tending plants instead -- go for it! Remind yourself that the other part of gardening is resting in it!