Plants in the ground!

[amalnahurriyeh]

With the semester over, and it no longer looking like there are going to be overnight freezes (living in upstate New York: gardening is hard), I just put in some plants today. Now, I had intended to put them in last week, but discovered, when trying to dig holes in the front flowerbed that my landlord put in, that our front garden is apparently solid clay. Like, not "gee, we have some clay-y soil." Like, "gee, I can roll the scoop of dirt I just pulled out of the ground into a ball, and then sculpt a pinch-pot with it." I decided it wasn't work digging out the whole thing and replacing with topsoil, so I went out and bought pots and dirt to put in them, and spent my early afternoon happily digging.

( pictures of food plants (and some non-food) )

At the moment, I'm planning on keeping all the herbs on the back step, the tomatoes on the porch edge, and putting the peppers on the front steps. We get morning light in the front, strong mid-day light on the back step, but not for very many hours (it's shady in the morning, and gets shaded pretty fast in the afternoon). I'm not sure about the lettuce. Previous attempts have ended up with bitter, inedible lettuce in June, but I've moved to a cooler climate; should I position them to get less sun, or put them alongside the tomatoes up front? I'd rather get to eat them than not...