Time to turn my thumb green

This is our first apartment where we have a good sized yard, and ever since we moved in Lee and I have wanted to put in a vegetable garden.  Seems like the perfect use for our very large backyard and help cut down on the grocery bills.

Problem here, is I have a tendency to kill any plants that come in contact with me.  Even plants that are supposed to be able to survive pretty much anything!  So like with many other things I want to learn, I turn to the Internet for advice, guides and inspiration.

My first good find was this article here:
http://www.landscapeontario.com/planting-vegetables

It seems beginner friendly and reading it has improved my confidence that I wont waste the lives of hundreds of little seeds.  It was also interesting to know exactly how much I would need to grow in order to feed the two of us.  I will have to plant extra carrots... Bentley.

Then a little extra inspiration struck me.  What about horse poo?  Does it make a good fertilizer?  Which led me to this article:
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/organic/2003082510028156.html

There is a HUGE mountain of manure at GEC.  In fact, it is starting to get in the way of the door, and I keep thinking about how something needs to be done about it.  I don't know how they disposed of it before, but it has been steadily growing in the last year that I have been there, and I haven't seen any of it disappear.  While my little veggie garden wont even make a dent in the size of this pile, maybe it will inspire some others to do the same.

I will try and take some from the bottom, in hopes that it will be better composted.  I will set aside an area in the far reaches of my backyard to let it compost and try to rotate new manure in every so often.  I will also be dividing up my green bin in order to salvage a variety of things to compost.  Pickings may be a bit slim however as my rabbit gets most of the veggie and fruit refuse.  So we will see what sort of compost I can get working for me!  Wish me luck!  I will keep providing updates as to what my harvest will bring.