1. I would cover the soil somehow, mostly so weed seeds don't have an opportunity but also to keep it from blowing away, etc. After all, I assume you paid for it and want to protect it. If you use mulch, just push it aside when you are ready to plant.
2. I don't think you'll need to worry about that.
3. I don't know how many hours of sun you are getting in that bed, but it sounds like a good idea--I am sure in Texas your greens will like the afternoon shade in late spring.
4. You can do rows, circles, etc. Anything you want--just read the seed packages to determine spacing.

Now that you have the sun and the space (and hopefully good soil), you are well on your way to a more successful summer of gardening! But don't sweat it--I am certainly still learning and I suspect I'll have plenty of failures this year.

Do you have any gardening books to refer to? I like these:
The Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardening Handbook: Make the Most of Your Growing Season (good for timing info)

One Magic Square: The Easy, Organic Way to Grow Your Own Food on a 3-Foot Square (good for bed-planning info)

and the Rodale Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening is great!

Veeta,

Thanks for the great advice and book suggestions. The only book I have is Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening by Malcolm Beck (although I've misplaced it at the moment!). I'll definitely check out your suggestions.

To clarify my question about forming rows in the raised bed - I was referring to mounding the dirt up like you would do if you were gardening on flat ground. I've always thought that the reason the dirt was mounded was to provide a nice loose mound to sow the seed in. Is that the case? If it is, I wouldn't need to do that in the raised beds because the entire raised bed is filled with well-aerated soil already. Right?

Also, I had another question come to mind as I was turning the dirt in last year's raised bed this afternoon. I was using a shovel and I noticed I butchered a couple of earthworms. I don't want to lose anymore and wondered if it was worthwhile to purchase a pitchfork to work the soil? Or, would it do just as much damage to the worms as the shovel?

Thanks again! -kc

First, I agree with everything veeta said. I would not bother mounding. Usually when you see this it relates to improving root drainage. Your raised bed IS a mound.

For your last question, I use a digging fork frequently and find it easier to use and more comfortable for me than a shovel. You may also like a digging fork better, but sadly chopping a few earthworms happens from time to time. Bear in mind that most of your native worms are going to be deep dwellers, and disturbing their tunnels is damaging as well. As long as you aren't digging frequently, the damage is negligible.

(I also don't turn my soil in my raised beds at all. As long as I treat them right, they don't need it.)

I learned the hard way that it's a good idea to uncover the soil in your raised beds about two weeks or so before your last frost date and leave it uncovered until night temps are above sixty. Mulch does prevent weeds, and it does hold in moisture, but it also holds in COLD and you want the soil to warm up this time of year. Once the soil is warm enough (hold your bare hand on it. It shouldn't feel cold) then put your mulch back down.

I include a link for you just to give you an idea.

You can definitely sow lettuce right now. Also greens, carrots, spinach, onions, and snap peas (and more). These like cool temps. In my garden, they are usually done about the time I plant cowpeas and butterbeans. I pull them out and immediately plant the beans.

Just as a note, if you plan well, you can get three or even four crops a year from each bed: early spring (as listed above), two crops in summer, and fall/winter (reruns of the early spring crops). This is known as succession planting.

I have nine raised beds. Last year, I planted 3 beds each of the tomato family (also includes eggplants and peppers), the bean family (English peas, cowpeas, butterbeans, shellie beans, snap beans), and the squash family (cucumbers, summer squash, winter squash, and melons). I planted one bed of each about a week after my last frost date, then another bed of each a month later, then four weeks later, I planted the third bed of each group. By that time, the first ones that were planted were starting to poop out (not the tomato ones, as they go all season). So I began replanting, bed by bed. I loved it. I was never overwhelmed with planting or harvesting, and at mid summer, I planted different crops so we didn't get sick of eating the same thing.

By keeping the beds divided into thirds, it makes crop rotations much simpler. By the way, it will be a tremendous help to you if you will keep a garden calendar. Write down the dates that you plant things, when you have first harvest, and when they are done. Next year, you'll be so glad you did. Also, make notes later, like "too early", "too late", etc.

I am assuming that your beds are narrow enough for you to stand on the outside of the bed and reach into the middle? If so, when you plant, you can plant your crops in blocks. If the seed packet says to plant, say, 6 inches apart in rows 2 feet apart, ignore the row part. Plant everything six inches apart in all directions. You'll be amazed at how much food you can get from a relatively small bed. Check out the Square Foot Gardening Forum for more info on this technique. If you're into aesthetics too, take a look at the Potager forum.

Never hesitate to ask questions! Chances are there are others wondering the same thing, and sometimes the posters include extra tidbidts of information that are extremely valuable to us all!

Here is a link that might be useful: My raised bed garden

Planting greens in part shade is standard practice even in Michigan, and will work well. If you really have very exposed beds, make sure you plant something that produces at 100F. Okra, sweet potato, Malabar spinach, melon and watermelon come to mind. Eggplant is also more heat tolerant than most other summer crops.

I have a different experience with mulch than Donnabasakets has. I mulch in winter, and heavily because I enclose my garden in plastic tents, and also a layer of reemay. The mulch helps keep in the moisture and supress the weeds. It can also hold some insects so I do dust it with a little diamotacous (sp) earth. My garden grows under there like crazy and holds no cold, I just uncovered my beds this week and the soil is so nice and lovely. The earthworms are so happy to have had the cardboard and straw, the soil is incredibly rich. So experiment! See what works best for you.

KCL's follow-up question brings up a question of my own. I don't mound my soil into rows in my raised beds, but when I plant cukes, squash, etc., would it be beneficial to form a hill?

And on the earthworm issue, I rarely work the soil in the beds. They are only 3x6, but I use a hand tool to fluff it a bit if needed or tot remove roots.

Wow! Everyone, thank you for all the input. I'm definitely sowing the lettuce seeds today.

As for mulching the new beds, I'm going to do it. The soil is new and so I'm not concerned with the temp being too cold. I do want to keep the weed seeds away though!

This is a very friendly forum. I'm glad I found it.

thanks! -kc

Planting on hills and mounded rows is beneficial if you have poor drainage, common in heavy, clay soil, or need to help the ground warm up more rapidly.

Here in the NC Sandhills I have the opposite problems -- excessive drainage and soil that gets burning hot in the summer. So I plant in pits and trenches.

Just to clarify, I mulch my soil in the winter too. I remove the mulch 2 to 4 weeks ahead of planting to let the soil warm up, and other than that, it is mulched continually throughout the year. Yesterday, I began spreading compost over my beds, but as I did this, I replaced the mulch for the time being.

And, regarding your question about earthworms. Everytime you work the soil there is a strong possibility that you will kill a worm of two (or more). However, if you keep plenty of organic matter in it (compost, manure, etc.), the worms will multiply far faster than you will kill them. Not to worry. :)