looks like a big yard.

i would be inclined to lay the bed so the sun goes across it side to side.

we use raised beds the no-till style, we have pic's and description on our site there may be some ideas there for you?

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Just a tip - whatever your layout of the timbers, be sure not to make any bed wider than 3 feet so that you can reach the center from both sides without having to trod on the garden soil. It's an important consideration.

And on the peppers - they actually take closer to 10 weeks to be ready to transplant and the tomato plants will be ready to go out well before then as cherry varieties grow quite quickly. So start the peppers first. Soil temps are important for peppers, more so than for tomatoes, so plan to not transplant the peppers until a couple of weeks AFTER the tomatoes have gone to the garden and the soil has warmed to 75 degrees.

Soil temps are important for all vegetables and each has their ideal rage. It would be helpful to do some research on that issue - spinach and the strawberries will be your first plantings - and buy a cheap bulb thermometer you can stick 4-6" down into the ground to measure the temps.

Good luck. ;)

Dave

I was in the same position last year, except I basically knew absolutely nothing about gardening at all. I learned a lot by asking questions here, and by using the MD Extension Office's website. Its got lots of good stuff. I added a link to it here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maryland Extension Office

You are getting some good advice here. Don't make the beds wider than you can comfortably reach into without stepping on the growing area. My own beds are 3' wide though some people are OK with 4'.

Reading up at your state extension service is also good advice as they know when what should be planted and other locally important information.

I agree with Dave that what the seed packet says and how long things take sometimes varies. I would agree most peppers are going to be at a better transplant size if you start them 10 weeks before you expect to plant them outside.

For tomatos 4 weeks may be enough if you have HID lighting otherwise 5-6. They are a bit tricky to time right because they seem to take forever and then one day they just start growing like mad. Start too early and you can have 3' tall plants indoors and not enough light coverage. The good news is that you can still work with the plants. What I do in such a case is I dig a trench about 6" deep and lay the plant in it and bury all but the top 6". The plant will curl the tip upward and resume growing and will form roots along the buried stem.

If you are going to border the beds with wood and grass will be on the other side, please install some plastic edging underground as well. If you don't do this you may end up with the grass growing into the beds from below. It is a pain to get rid of once this happens.

Thank you all for your thoughts! Very helpful!!

Appreciate any other thoughts out there.

My 2 cents worth

1. Growing tomotoes and peppers from seeds is tough. I purchase plants when I am ready to plant.

2. I would plant some buttercrunch lettuce as well. Makes a wonderful salad with the spinach.

3. Do you have rabbits in your yard? They love the spinach in my garden but leave the lettuce alone.

4. Squirrels love tomatoes just as they are getting ripe.

rgress:
Growing peppers and tomatoes from seed is actually not very tough. I suppose buying seedlings is easier though. The downside to purchasing seedlings is twofold; 1) They are much more expensive and 2) You are limited to the varieties that the store carries. I also really enjoy growing seedlings so the choice is an easy one for me.

theprez9: Seedlings can get out of hand really fast. I'd go with the lower estimate (ie 6 weeks before last frost for the tomatoes, not 8)

Jon