This is the best sun exposure Im going to get in my yard. It gets direct sun from about 10-4 during the summer, more when the days are longer. I have lots of huge trees on my lot but theyre at least 50' away.

" I want to grow lettuce, tomato, pepper, cucumber, bush beans, zucchini,
and sunberry (looked unusual). If you can think of flowers or herbs
that would be good companions in this garden I would like to hear about
it."

The first thing that caught my attention is that is all far too much for such a small plot, even for 4x12, unless you want to try growing only 1 plant of each which won't give you much to eat. So I'd begin by paring down the list or plan to triple the bed size. You can also eliminate the 'companion planting' aspect as that is just a well proven misleading fad.

" Should I box it in with a wood frame or other border, or try a trench or mulch border?"

How you frame it is less important than how deep you make it so use whatever you can afford to make it 12-18" deep. So do you want a raised bed or an in-ground bed? Can you easily dig and amend a bed that deep? If it is to be framed in raised bed what you fill it with counts more than your native soil nature.

Yes, squirrels will require some garden fencing of its own and even then they can climb most fences.

As for plant lay-out, much of that will depend on the specific crop and the direction the bed runs - N-S or E-W so that the taller plants don't shade the lower plants.

Lastly, as a fairly general rule, fences such as yours and roots from all the surrounding trees are problematic so the further away from the fences and from the trees, the better.

Hope this helps some.

Dave

PS: you might also want to read through some of all the previous discussions here about planning a new garden.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/query/planning-a-garden

Thanks Dave I'll check out the link. The bed runs east to west and I could easily dig down 12-18". The soil isnt shaded by the fence, according to the shadows on a sunny day. The most problematic tree, roots-wise is a black locust thats closer than the others but situated to the north. Either I leave it as is near the fence, or I move it closer to the trees.

Yes. The small size was what leaped out at me too. 4 x 8 would accommodate 2 healthy zucchini plants and not much else. You need a lot more space or a lot fewer plants.

In my experience, the only thing that squirrels will want to eat from your list are tomatoes. Deer can hop a 6-foot fence if they really want to. As noted by others, I read your list as things you want to grow, but not necessarily simultaneously. To the extent you have fencing that faces south, it would be an excellent structural support for trellising, which would maximize your growing space, and be appropriate for several of the things you want to grow.

Alright, I can nix the sunberry, bush beans and zucchini. That leaves lettuce, cucumber, tomato and peppers. The picture of the fence on the left is showing the northern facing side. Can I plant the cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers in a row on the south side and the lettuce in a row on the north side.

Usually tall crops go on the north side. If you put them on the south side they shade the lower growing crops.

Cukes, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce are still an awfully lot for a 4x8 bed so you'll have to grow the cukes vertically. And since lettuce goes in so much earlier than tomatoes and especially peppers it may all be done and bolting by it is time to plant the pepper plants.

Dave

I'm with Dan and Dave on vertical cukes for that small plot. I'd put up a trellis at least 6-8 ft high on the N border (12' long), then staked tomato plants parallel to the trellis, then lettuce up front on the S side (that's pushing it for just 4' wide, every inch counts so expand if you can). If you want some later lettuce (shaded) then a few plants dotted between the cukes and tomatoes might work. 4 tomato plants max w/ 12 ft row, or 3 w tomatoes / 2 peppers .

Peppers can be easily grown in the small cages bought at home improv centers (not sturdy enough for tomatoes). 8 ft poles would be good for tomato staking I use 10ft long x 1/2" rebar for stakes. As for beans, once the lettuce is done (bolted/gone bitter) then you could follow it with bush beans. A small plot like that should be easy to keep weed free, That's a good start for you, maybe expand if you like it next year.

Check out Square Foot Gardening if you want to grow a lot in a small space. There's no reason zucchini have to take up the whole bed. Let the leaves hang out over the sides of the bed.

Some good suggestions, thank you. I was looking into square foot gardening a little bit and arriving at a similar setup vgkg suggested. I think this garden is going to be fun!

My first question is..what do you like to eat the most? With such a small plot, I would grow what I liked fresh ..a variety of plants will give you tiny amounts of everything, and probably disappoint you. Especially for a first time gardener, I'd advise you to choose 1, or maybe 2 things and learn to grow them. You will most likely expand in future years!