I decided last summer to invest some time and money in a raised vegetable garden after enjoying gardening in my little ground bed for the last three years. Raised bed's solve several typical gardening problems including poor soil (mine's all clay, grrrr), poor drainage, and weeds.
I've been using the book "Cubed foot gardening" by Christopher O. Bird as my guide which has been very helpful and inspiring. I love this book because it gives very specific information as well as his opinions on various issues.
I recruited my dad for some help on this project, and having his tools and expertise made everything much easier. The bed is pretty big, 4 feet X 16 feet X 12 inches (I don't know if I put those dimensions in the right order, but I'm sure you'll figure out what I mean). I'm not really looking forward to filling it up with dirt or figuring out the watering system, but I can't wait to start planting stuff in it! I guess I will start my seeds sometime in the next few weeks.
As you can see we've had some unusually amazing weather these last few days, and I've been restraining myself from diving head first into spring. I must confess that I did buy a new swimming suit last weekend though!