Many kinds of thyme (perhaps all; I'm not an expert) will live through the winter in 7a. Some hardy rosemaries will as well (though I see some die-back here). I have planted both in the later summer, and had most of those survive the winter. I have also had good luck with lavender surviving the winter, though they were planted in the spring (and experienced some die-back). I have a mostly-perennial bed where I use very short mugo pines, heath (similar to heather), and some herbs as winter greenery. My favorite of the thymes is German winter thyme, though I also have plain German thyme. The former I bought at a plant sale, and the latter were from Bonnie's Plants (a major supplier to Big Box stores). GWT has much rounder leaves, is only a few inches tall, and is trying to take over the bed; GT has thinner leaves and is upright, reaching 8-10" here. Both have tiny, palest lavender-pink flowers. GWT is probably difficult to locate, though seeds are listed by these vendors: Johnny's Selected Seeds, Horizon Herbs, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Vesey's, and Seeds of Change. Unfortunately, there seems to be some confusion as to which type of thyme is which; some people feel GWT and GT are the same; some say that GWT is the same as English thyme. There are also evergreen ground-hugging creeping thymes, which flower in white, red, and lavender/pink. I have at least three types which stay green all year here.

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. :)

The weather is not right for beans, so scratch those from your list. The herbs are dormant, no surprise there. I can not make sense of tomatoes and melons, they both do well without much water. Perhaps the sub soil is much too compacted for melons. Concur that bitter cukes is a clear sign of underwatering. I think that if these are your typical temps in the summer, you should restrict yourself to melons and watermelons, peppers and eggplants, okra, sweet potato, and cowpeas. There are other hot weather vegetables, such as chayote or malabar spinach.

I agree with the sage and lovage. I am a little surprised at the lovage, since it is a very large plant for a raised bed. The sage plant does not need pruning, unless you want to for cosmetic reasons. If I were in your situation, I would consider starting new, with plants that I prefer for my tastes. The sage would transplant, should you choose to keep it. I like knowing where my plants came from. But do some research too on spread- if the one plant is a mint or lemon balm, it will overtake the entire bed with runner roots. Also consider water requirements- sage, thymes, oreganos like more drought conditions, while basils and mints like a lot more water. As far as raised bed care, search forums. I am not super familiar with them, but believe they need more of a certain soil type, and may need fertilizing more often than in ground beds.