I garden in downtown Atlanta, my garden acts easily as a zone 8 garden and it is BLAZING HOT, no shade, facing south and east. Everything does just dandy for me! Prepare soil well so it retains water, mulch very well and water when needed. I actually don't water all that frequently and everything is fine. Cowpeas, yard long beans, bush beans, lima beans, okra, malabar spinach, butternut squash, luffa, sweet and hot peppers, eggplants, various melons and tomatoes all do fine. I grow Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, sungold, green zebra, Juliette, Taxi, Jubilee, Rutgers, Marlglobe, and many more different tomatoes but these are the ones I grow pretty much every year. Most of the heirlooms I vary simply to try new tastes every year. Tip: Grow sweet peppers in the shade of tomatoes. A local farmer taught me this and it works like a charm. I've increased my pepper harvests greatly and never get any burn. Insects and disease are more challenging than that heat.

I have a cub cadet 7205 22 hp compact tractor with front end loader, bush hog and finished mower. I Just don't need it anymore. I've cleaned out all the areas I want and lifted all the dirt and rock I need. I will only mow maybe 4-5 acres at the most. I have a big incline that my house sits near the top on. Then everything else is basically flat with some rough areas. I want a garden mower that can go on rough surfaces, sideways on the incline (can't do with my tractor now, only up and down) with ease of maintenance and where I can change attachments by myself for gardening. My research: The JD X500 series is to prices I think and the attachments are $$. It is not rated for ground engaging work. Turn radius 16-18, transaxel K46 kawaski engine, not owner maintenance friendly. Simplicy easier than JD for R&R, floating deck, good for lumpy lawn, turn radius 14", deck easy to take off, everything made in USA including tires. Regent 18/38 kohler engine 18HP, cuts at 3"-3 1/2", controls well, maintenance friendly pulls well, bumpy ride (lower air in tires and rides better) , craftsman28846, 26HP Kohler, cuts1.5-4", good on rough uneven surface, made in usa, harder to edge, somewhat hard to change attachments-takes muscle,hydrostatic, oil & greasing easy to do. I am looking for a 54" (if not close to it)sturdy tractor that can take rough surface and sideways on a hill for no more than $3,000 so I can buy some attachments. Comments

I couldn't see your photos. Do try to post them in the optional link URL so we can all see what you have. Anyway, it's all very easy. Use triple mixes to top off any garden bed. When you do clean beds, remove all weeds. Triple mixes are not too rich for plants. You can get them premixed in bags already. I also like using Loblaws' black earth and a bag of composted manure like cow or sheep manure. There is no smell so don't worry. It's been aged for a couple of years and so any weed seeds in there are been killed off. I also add bone meal. You can certainly add annuals to your garden bed. Before transplanting, water your plants well first. Then when you transplant, do it early in teh day or late afternoon. Never during a time when the sun is particularly hot. Also never fertilize the same day of of transplanting. Fertilizers can burn off plants. I would apply it only in the 2nd week or so. Having said this, I prefer to use perennials for my bed because they come back year after year and there's very little maintenance. I water maybe once a week and my plants would be fine. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

Hi CJ, I created a food garden in similar conditions two years ago with great results, and thought I'd share what I did... To begin I dug out the area (I chose a circle about 15 feet in diameter for the garden), and like you, I hit impossibly hard substrate less than a foot down. I mixed the loosened top layer of soil with a few bags of topsoil, manure, and some of the organic material under salvaged dead pinyon pines. I then fenced the area in, of course, mulched like crazy with straw, and hooked up some hose from my washing machine to give it graywater (not actually supposed to be used for vegetable gardening, but that's ridiculous unless you're washing soiled diapers). With that thick layer of straw, all the necessary moisture is retained between laundry loads (using appropriate biodegradable detergent only of course), and any plants that cannot grow up through the straw from seed are started indoors, hardened off, and transplanted into the garden. I would discourage raised beds anyway, as they don't benefit from the moisture-retentive and temperature-mediating properties of the ground. Also, rainwater cannot flow into a raised bed, only out of it. Sunken basins are much more appropriate for this climate (check out the book "Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands" by Brad Lancaster, which goes into detail about this, as well as has a chapter on ancient Native American gardening methods). So, my three tips for gardening here would be: 1. Keep it small, this allows much more control over every part of the process, increasing yields. 2. Mulch like crazy... Oh, did I mention I have never had to pull weeds from my garden? 3. Pay attention to the weather and animals to minimize plant losses. Good luck to you!