Our yellow squash did ok, green beans pretty much failed. Got some okra, the basil experiment did the best, lol. The tomatoes did pretty good, I forget the type, but they took forever to mature, and most split open and the bugs moved in. So, most were picked before ripening. The onions failed. We had maybe a dozen potatoes, the size of peanuts, lol.
It was clear that the roots went down into the mounds, through the shallow topsoil, hit the clay and were done. While I wanted to do boxes all along, our friend, who actually does most of the work, insisted mounds would be fine. We have very limited funds, he didn't want to spend a bunch on materials, I get it. He finally agrees we need boxes. We have all winter to get them done.
We ordered chicks in april, 10 each of two breeds, picked for both eggs and meat. All hens. 3 were DOA on arrival, 3 more died within two hrs. We still have the remaining 14. They started laying several weeks ago, one or two, up to about 10 now, so we're getting 7-10 eggs a day.