A Beginner's Garden

We have decided to plant a small vegetable and herb garden in our backyard. We ripped out some really ugly bushes that we have disliked since we moved in and have begun digging out a decent sized bed so we can add some nice organic soil and get our little plants in there. When I say "we," I technically mean Brett. I have the ideas - "Brett, let's plant a garden this year. It'll be fun!" Then Brett works all day digging through North Carolina clay and looks at me and reminds me that planting a garden is neither fun nor simple. Well, it will be fun once all the hard work is done and we can get some yummy veggies from our back yard! So far we have purchased basil, rosemary, thyme, Italian parsley, two types of heirloom tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and rosa bianca eggplant. We also plan on getting a variety of lettuces and spinach. Any other suggestions for veggies that aren't too big and are relatively hard to kill?

Here's the "before" picture of our garden. Hopefully next week we'll have an "after" picture. That is unless Brett decides to bail on the ardurous project! In which case I'll post a picture of the half-hole we've got so far!