Ok - kept the grass but added some herbs along the front to soften the edges! - Couple of sages (got to help with wisdom!) a thyme (lemon - great with fish), some parsley (flat leaved) and a couple of lavenders (cos they smell nice!!!). Put a weed mat down and gravel on the top. Also put in a few more stepping stones - otherwise the grass is turning more and more into mud! Really pleased things are gradually growing - just can't wait to get planting! (Another month or so and the frosts are finished) covered up the beds last night as it was still a bit chilly but the weather has been beautiful all day - bit of back ache tonight - nothing a good hot bath won't fix!!!

You can see the new grids laid out - it was plastic electrical conduit (what ever that means!) - I drilled holes in either end and then just used wood screws to keep them in place - they will stay there all summer which will make it easier to see where each veggie will go. At the back on the trellis are the mangetout peas which have gone in, and the garlic and shallots are already shooting up (about 2 inches, not bad as they only went in on 17/2/07!). The garlic won't be very big this year as it should have gone in the Autumn as it needs quite a long season, but I am looking forward to it anyway!

I've decided to keep the grass round the beds as the birds are enjoying it - I reseeded it yesterday to give it a boost as we have been walking on it quite a bit and yes the birds must have thought it was their birthday - down came the blackbird and robin straight away!!!

Couldn't resist showing you my "Red riding hood" baby tulips that came out today - they are so pretty and delicate!

Now you can see the raised beds once they have been painted! and covered in netting to stop the local cats! The bed on the right shows what "square foot planting" is all about - build your bed then mark out each square foot - I am trying to get something stronger to mark out the grid - in the book (by Mel Bartholomew) he uses old venetian blinds but can I find any? Not in any skips I see!! Once you have marked out your bed you then plant a different crop in each square so if your clever you can confuse things like the carrot fly by planting onions in front!

You can just about see a bamboo trellis that I've made to grow mangetout peas up - they were lovely last year nice enough to just pick and eat straight away or you could stir - fry them - lovely!!

I still don't know whether to gravel the front of the beds or leave the grass? What do you think? Gravel would be easier but I have a bird table and lots of birds coming into the garden (robins, blue tits, blackbirds etc) which feed from the table and drop seed! and eat worms from the grass which they wouldn't be able to if I covered it in gravel. Anyway, any ideas would be most welcome!