Cunningham Life: Jack's First Construction Project

So for years I have wanted to have a garden. The idea sounds amazing. Grow your own food, live off the land, watch something go from a tiny seed to something so amazing tasting that it puts the grocery store to shame. What's not to love? So I have been researching and researching the best gardening method for me. But first, let me tell you a story about my previous gardening experience.
I attempted last year to grow herbs in a pot on my porch. I know that growing herbs isn't rocket science but my project failed miserably. I have never read anything about gardening. I just assumed you plant the seeds in whatever you feel like, give them some water and they grow. And granted with some things it is that easy. I unfortunately didn't realize that when you plant an ENTIRE pack of basil seeds and an ENTIRE pack of parsley seed in one pot, that you would have 100s of plants growing and that those plants would need to be thinned. I mean, why would a seed package have you plant an entire pack just to thin the seeds. It seemed so illogical to me (and my trusty resource, aka my husband who also does not garden). Thus we decided to just let them all grow. Well they sprouted, but that was about as far as they got. I didn't thin them and then I went on vacation for about 7 weeks so they only got the occasional Utah rain for water. Needless to say I never had any fresh parsley or basil.
So, I am more prepared this time. I have decided to use the square foot gardening method (SFG). I have read and researched how to garden and while a lot of the terms and phrases are still Greek to me, I understand some basic gardening principles (like don't plant an entire packet of seeds!). I chose the SFG method b/c its a) easy to understand, b) takes up little space I (and our backyard is tiny), and c) it doesn't use any of our existing soil (which is clay here). So to start my SFG I have to build 4 foot square boxes. We went to lowe's today and bought the 2x6's and Jack built me a box.