Time to Plan

It's time to plant a Spring garden!! We have gotten a little behind on our garden planning this year and are quickly trying to decide what we want to grow.  With everything going on around here, it's easy to get distracted!  We've been cleaning up the yard a little bit and attacked our grape vine a few weeks ago.  I hope we didn't kill it.... it has thick, old roots and hopefully will produce good grapes this year.  Also, we have two pear trees and an apple tree.  Yes, an apple tree in way down here!  They are very old and were absolutely full of fruit last Spring.  Unfortunately, we had not purchased the house in time last year to properly fertilize them and prune them.  Then, when we signed on the house, we had to immediately get to work on the interior, etc.  This year we hope to take care of them and see how well the fruit do.

Hank has found some great raised bed plans online and we are deciding which one we like best.

Here is The Sussex.  I really like the simplicity... just a square, uniformed shape.  Very simple.

This one is the Stafford.  The top left corner bed is not only a raised bed, but has another raised bed within it.  I like having a bench in the garden, but I'm not so crazy about the small bed in the center.  We could just leave that one out.

Next is the Westminster.  I just love the shapes of these.  Again, I really like the bench on one edge and the small circle could contain the herbs.  I don't really know what I think of the small rectangular bed, but we could decide on that as we go.

And lastly is the Trowbridge.  We like the shapes, still has room for a bench, still has the small circle to keep the herbs separate, etc. 

I think our favorites are the last two... the Westminster and Trowbridge.  We really like how these look neat, clean and orderly... season in and out.  Our yard is plenty big to do this, so size is not an issue for us.  The beds are not too big or wide and therefore should make the planting, weeding, etc easy.  I like how I should be able to reach in and get to everything... and not have to step in and ruin anything.

Which design do you like?  And what are you planting in your garden this year???  Any ideas and tips would be helpful!!