This is my “vegetable” garden, the garden that I traditionally plant on Memorial Day. The only problem, which I simply never foresaw 10 years ago when I sited this bed, is that the magnolia nearby would grow so enormous! So now it only gets about a half day’s worth of sun. It’s still fine for most things–green beans, some herbs and annuals–but I can’t really get a good crop of tomatoes out of it. So I do those in pots.
This was the cover crop–pine needles from my abundant pine trees. Since nature doesn’t like uncovered soil, I leave the pine needles there over the winter and then compost them when I am ready to plant in the spring.
And here’s the garden, mostly planted with herbs (parsley and dill for the pollinators along with the existing lemon balm, sage, chives, thyme, and tarragon), dianthus, marigolds and celosia (which have proven to be surprising bee magnets in the past!) and that large open area is for the pole bean tower yet to come!
I’m all ready for summer to begin!
Gardendaze 
I can’t see the magnolia here, but do the roots invade the garden?
They don’t seem to as yet. Remember most of my yard is on bedrock. I can see a lot of the magnolia’s roots within its own bed and coming out into the yard. As far as I can tell, they don’t reach quite as far as this raised bed–but but perhaps that too is just a matter of more time.
Karla
this looks splendid! keep going!! 🙂
Thanks– and thanks for reading and commenting.
Karla