Garden Planning. Eeekkkk!

I! Am! So! Excited!

I've started planning my garden. I'm a fairly new gardener - this is my fourth or fifth year gardening in my backyard - and I learn something new every season.

For example:

1. I need to have more raised beds. Last year was the last time that I used a traditional garden. John made me three raised beds last year, and I loved them. This year, that's all I'm doing. 
2. I should continue to plant around 20 tomato plants. We eat them fresh, I do a lot of canning, and will still give a lot of surplus tomatoes away to friends, neighbors, and coworkers. 
3. I need to tend to my fresh herbs more carefully. Last year they were burned by the sun very early and once I did get them to flourish, I didn't harvest them regularly. 
4. I'd like to grow cucumbers this year. I had a TON of cucs a few years ago, but now that my pickles are running low, it's time to plant a few more. 
5. If I can get my hands on some old pallets or scrap wood (for FREE!), I need to look into building little planter boxes for my porch. I'm confident I can make them look chippy, and therefore beautiful. 
6. If possible, I'd like to move an old wooden craftsman table from our basement and use it as a garden table in our backyard. There's a perfect shady spot right behind John's garage that's near the rain barrels that would work well. I'd be able to wash my veggies outside and work on garden tasks at a comfortable standing position, instead of being hunched over on the ground. 
7. Mulching is essential! 
8. More rain barrels couldn't hurt either. 
9. Succession gardening would be really beneficial for us - I need to put everything down on paper and/or use some of the resources in my urban farming books to plan this out. In the past, I've just been too lazy to figure out the rotations. 
10. I need to spend time in the garden every morning. Last year I spent a lot of time in the garden in the evenings, but I think getting out there before the heat of the day hits the plants would be more appropriate. 

Either way, I'm looking forward to more of this: 

(nurturing, mulching, trimming, watering, etc.)

And less of this: 

(freaking out about a severe drought that killed off all of my leaf lettuce way earlier than anticipated)

Over and out.