Hi Jodie, A couple of thoughts. First, please take it easy doing this kind of work in summer. Drink alot of liquids and take breaks. Stay cool. It may be the angle of the photos but I hate to say that the bed area looks too small for the scale of those trees. You may want to come out further around the outer perimeter to make the whole garden look more in scale. Stand way back and take a good look. This may be the time to just work on gradual grass removal and putting down some compost and mulch. Then in fall, you could plant some plants. Fall is the best time for the South, usually. You could take this time to study the sun and shade patterns, drainage, etc. It looks very shady there, however, it may be sunny most of the day or have enough sun due to the high branches and the zone you are in. Also are the trees evergreen or deciduous, if oaks they are virtually evergreen. The plants you will need will be different depending on sun/shade, moist/dry conditions, and whether you can or want to water frequently if the plants you choose need that. It is so exciting to put in a garden, and you are probably very anxious to get it done now that you've started, but I hope you will consider some of my suggestions before going too fast. You might then have to move a bunch of plants or lose them. Also you have to consider covering the tree roots with too much mulch, I think 2-4 inches would be the max, but don't quote me on that. Luckily, you have a wealth of info on plants for DFW on the internet once you know the conditions.

msfuzz, I'm in my 5th year of tomato gardening, here's a quick recap of my methods and what I've learned so far : Year 1 : I used terra cotta containers about 1 gallon in size. I used gardening soil from the local Home Depot. Given our dry air and the small, breathable containers, I found watering twice a day was a requirement - which I didn't always achieve. My plants suffered but the taste of my first homegrown hooked me hard. Year 2 : I used white, plastic 2-gallon buckets which were better for moisture retention, but still required daily watering and weren't very pleasing to the eye. My plants did better, but were prone to tipping over in gusty winds. Year 3 : Using small landscaping bricks, I built a planter / raised bed on my patio, dimensions roughly 7ft x 2ft x 16in. I lined it with rubber pond liner to reduce moisture loss, control drainage and prevent staining my patio. This improved my results and cut watering to every other day during the height of summer. I re-used one of the buckets from the year before and tried a hanging / upside down technique for a cherry tomato variety. It was a neat experiment, but again the small size meant mucho hydro maintenance. Year 4 : Moved to a house with a yard! Built a raised bed on one end of the back lawn. The planter was a hell of a project. Three conjoined circles, each about 4 feet in diameter (picture the circles on Led Zeppelin's Stairway album). I tapped into the sprinkler lines for a drip irrigation system - highly recommended. I probably should have removed the grass / sod underneath, but instead I turned the soil with a shovel, covered with several layers of newspaper and filled it in with about 20in of gardening soil from the local nursery. I was pleased with the results, but fruiting was delayed because I didn't have any way to mitigate the excessive heat last July. I learned high temperatures can sterilize the pollen. It was frustrating to see a multitude of blossoms never come to fruition. 2009 : I'm adding a second raised bed (3ft x 13ft x 16in) where there is currently a patch of boring landscaping gravel. I believe this new planting area will be appropriated by DGF (darling girlfriend) for flowers. The tomato garden bed will get some wrought iron shepherd's hooks for another attempt at hanging tomatoes and to provide support for a shade cloth. In short, unless you have mountains of time and money, don't try to accomplish everything in your first season. I have learned (and love) patience thanks to this fantastic hobby. The mistakes you make and the successes you have can contribute nicely to next year's project (and the following year and the year after that, ad infinitum) Welcome aboard and have an awesome day! Ray

Great house! I am particularly fond of Victorians, and yours is lovely. I agree with mnwsgal that you want to be sure that shrubs get placed far enough from the building. If you look at the shrub around the side of the house, notice how large it is, but is still almost brushing the building, so the beds need to be deep enough to accommodate the grown size of what you choose plus enough room to walk behind for painting, washing windows, etc, usually a minimum of an extra 2 feet. (This also may help decrease pruning if the plant gets larger than expected, though checking with a botanical garden like the Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder as to ultimate size works better than relying on the plant tag which usually gives shrub sizes at 5 years.) To me, with a house the height of yours, a deep bed also balances the house better than a skinny little strip along the front. So I would make a deep bed of a minimum of 6' deep, though better 8'-10' to give you depth for a couple layers of shrubs and perennials, improve the soil with compost or manure, and then add an edging, either a well-buried strip of metal or plastic made for edging, or a deep cut edge, V shaped in cross section. That will keep out the grass and keep the bed looking tidy. Finally, add a layer of corrugated cardboard over the surface and cover it with at least 3" of mulch. This will keep the weeds down while you are adding plants. Having good soil is a key to a good garden, and this will be the foundation of the garden. (I know it's not the fun stuff, but it's worth it!) When you are ready to plant in a particular spot, push aside the mulch, cut an X in the cardboard and tuck the ends under, and plant. If you can only do one side of the house this summer, that is fine. You can prep the other side in late fall or next spring. Sources for manure or compost that are free or inexpensive might include your municipality's yard waste recycling facility, a local riding stable or a neighbor that keeps chickens (needs to be composted first) or rabbits or a pet guinea pig. Frugal sources for mulch include the line clearing crews or tree crews that are running chippers (if they are in your neighbor hood, dumping in your driveway often saves them time and dump fees) or if there is a local woodworker using a planer or lathe. I've only rarely needed to pay for either beyond my own labor. If you do need to buy them, getting a truckload from a local place that delivers by the yard is far cheaper than getting bagged materials. If there are still some funds available after getting compost and mulch, you can add some sun-loving shrubs and hardy perennials. Be sure to check water daily by sticking a finger in deeply and watering when needed. Then start annuals from seed that will grow large enough to add some presence and volume to fill the rest of the bed for this year. You can get packets of tall marigolds, cosmos, cleome, calendula to name a few, or if you want you can get them as already started 6-packs. You may find some perennials in 6-packs as well, particularly at small neighborhood nurseries. I've gotten several different types for prices ranging from $3.50-$12.00 per 6-pack, which is a good price per plant for perennials. Small new perennials won't probably bloom a lot this year (hence the annuals) but will in future year. Look around your area for plant swaps or sales, either posted in the mid-Atlantic or Virginia forums here on GW or else locally, often coordinated by garden clubs. In my area, new gardeners are always welcome at plant swaps, even when they can't bring any plants; gardeners are generous IME. In fall, spring for some daffodils since they will give the biggest bang for the buck in bulbs IME - the critters never eat them and the clumps expand a bit each year. Just plant them behind perennials so their dying foliage is hidden by emerging perennial foliage. The small shady area on the left can get planted with shade plants, but the rest of the front and the side will need to be planted with plants that like full sun - morning shade doesn't really count here since it will get more than 6 hours of full western sun during the hottest part of the day. So no Hydrangeas or other shrubs that will suffer here. I mostly won't make specific plant suggestions since your area is too different from mine, but will second the suggestion to look around for what appeals to you in gardens, not in pots at nurseries to begin with. Look for plants in full sun. You may find ideas in your neighborhood, or in demo gardens at nurseries, or at botanical gardens, or even at commercial businesses. If you take photos you can post them on the Name that Plant forum for ID. Consider all 4 seasons - flowers, leaf color, fall leaf color, leaf size and texture, as well evergreens (either shrubs or perennials) and colorful bark or berries for late fall and winter. Do you want to plant for hummingbirds or butterflies? Do you want plants to string holiday lights on? One of the advantages of using mostly annuals the first year is that you can look for plants that are at their best in fall and winter to extend interest. I will suggest that if you are interested in roses, look for ones that are disease resistant in your area (demo gardens may help here). If you like clematis, look for ones that say they are type 3, hard prune plants. They will be easiest in your hot and humid summer weather and only need a hard pruning down to a couple sets of buds once annually in late winter.

Wow thanks! I'll google all those. Haha I have a full sun line that I think I can fit things in because it's pretty spaced (pic attached) then the front gets maybe an hour or two of sun max. Then the random island thing my front tree is on where half gets probably 6 hours and the other half none. Then the ground cover would probably be awesome for the back!!! I planted creeping myrtle and bellflower(?) but again pretty spaced out (hence budget :/ ). I can come whenever you are free and I'll bring the delphinium! Thanks!!!!