Even before moving into our new home I was planning my vegetable garden. Actually, I have longed for years for a potager/kitchen garden. Last fall my husband was kind enough to build 4 8x4 foot raised beds and thus began my kitchen garden. Just this past April we had a picket fence built to surround the garden and I began the long, tiring job of hauling in better quality soil from various locations of our property. This was done via wheelbarrow and I now harbor an aversion to hauling wheelbarrows full of soil (atleast until next year..LOL). The fence will eventually be stained white to match the trim of our house.
Although the soil will take many more seasons of composting to bring it to its' best, I started planting almost immediately. As my vegetable gardening experience has been limited to tomatoes, I have started slowly and cautiously attempting to gain some knowledge and experience before going hog wild. 
Italian Bush Beans-Having been a "canned" bean eater most of my life I am amazed at just how good fresh beans taste. There will be no more canned beans in this house-unless I can them myself, of course.
A beautiful Purple Bell Pepper. This green bell pepper will eventually turn orange. They all taste the same, but a variety of colors just look nice in a salad.
The first little watermelon-I'm growing Sugar Baby up a trellis. The flower will eventually become Okra-great for soups and frying.
The cucumbers are doing great! No fruit yet, but tons of flowers. I found some wonderful metal obelisks at a local discount store for less than $20 a piece. I've used them for cucumbers, zuchini and pole beans. They have worked out wonderfully and add a decorative touch to the garden.
Cinnamon Basil-it truly smells like cinnamon! I grow several varieties of basil-Sweet, Cinnamon and Lime are my favorite. When I find myself out of actual Lime (they are expensive these days) I use Lime Basil in my Corona, it's fantastic! I also grow Sage, Rosemary, French Tarragon, Parsley, Spearmint, Peppermint, Chives, Oregano, Lemon Balm and Cilantro (Coriander). 
Look closely and you can see the raindrop on the left mirroring (upside down) the leaves of the plant. The raindrop on the right shows the picket fence directly behind the plant, the tops of the trees and a bit of the cloudy sky. Amazing isn't it, the things we don't really see?
This is most definitely one of the unwelcome visitors to the garden! He was one of two that I encountered within 15 minutes of each other. The first was attacked by my Great Dane as she was let outside into the fenced area of the yard. As soon as I could get her back into the house my son promptly ended its' life. Shortly afterward Mr. Maximus (see photo to the right) and I began our daily walk through the garden and he spied this lovely critter. I was incredibly grateful as he was tucked up into the corner below the water spigot that I use everyday and was doing a great job of blending in. I again called to my son who rather comically attempted to extract the thing without puncturing a hole in my garden hose. The snake then managed to wrap itself around the base of a holly plant and after several failed attempts we did manage to put an end to its' rampage. I was uncertain as to the type of snakes they were. They looked like rattlers, but had no rattles. All I knew for certain is that they were not the average little garden snakes I was accustomed to. A neighbor has since indicated that they appear to have been chicken snakes. No matter...they scared the crud out of me..and I find that I am much more cautious in the garden.
The soft colors of early spring are now beginning to give way to the warmer colors of summer. The daylillies are the first to bring yellow to the garden. I love daylillies and try to tuck them throughout the garden. The brigher shades of yellow are brought in with this wonderful coreopsis....
And the Cosmos are beginning to sprout up throughout the garden...
