Thank you! Like I told moonshineray below, I am a big fan of container gardens, even if I don't have one myself. Well, not yet anyway. I've got a huge chunk of concrete that, apparently, is supposed to be for parking & such, but could still produce food if I put pots on it! And I've still got a big ole stretch of yard on the other side of the swingset to get rid of, too. I have plans... oh yes, I have plans...

I'm so proud of you for starting a container garden! I know lots of people who have tons of luck with them--often more than us folks with open ground. =) GO YOU!

Hey, I'm totally down with expletives. =)

Danke! You should've seen my garden last year. "Disaster" doesn't begin to cover it, and that was at the *end* of the year, not the beginning. Suffice it to say, I've taken steps to deal with the walnut tree, and several tree branches have come down. Oh yeah, and I mulched. Oh, did I ever mulch.

Thanks! This is the third year of my garden. The first year was great, the second was an unqualified disaster, but this year seems to be shaping up nicely.

If you have the wherewithall and impetus, I would suggest getting the uprights. I was going to do that this year, but due to job circumstances, there's a real chance we are going to have to sell our house and move, so I didn't want to be building permanent structures which might impede the resale value (grrrr). However, the place that weeds have the most success in invading is on the edges of my beds. There's only so many times you can cultivate the sides of the bed before you start to seriously impinge on your plants. I'm hoping that the mulch will help, but no doubt upright bed sides would all but end that problem. If we are able to stay in our house, next year I am definitely building permanent beds!

Good luck! Let me know how it goes!