Beginner Gardening: New Veggie Gardner Questions, 1 by Maitri

Maitri wrote:
Hi all :) I am new to gardening (and the forum!) and would like some advice before I try again this year.

I live in Iowa where it has been unseasonably warm this spring (80s some days) but still gets into the 30's at night sometimes. The general rule of thumb for planting here is to do it on Mother's Day or later.

My DH has given me a patch in the backyard to try a vegetable garden. It's about 20 feet long by 10 feet wide. Attached is a picture (it's a mishmash of 2 pics but you get the idea):

This patch is against the eastern wall of our house.

I checked it several times yesterday. starting at about 12:45 pm (the pic above) when it had full sun. At 2:30 it was starting to become shadowed close to the house; by 4 it was almost in shadow. So it gets at least 3 hours of full sun a day, perhaps more.

A friend is going to bring me a tiller so I can get the patch ready. What else should I do? Should I put fertilizer down before I plant? This is all completely new to me :)

Also what vegetables would be good to plant here? I have a baby and would like to grow my own veggies to make food for him.

Any advice is most appreciated! TIA!