Thoughts on bed layouts?
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Mr_Yan
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Are these square foot layouts?
Mr_Yan
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My thoughts...
Give one zucchini plant 4 square feet by mid summer. The snap peas will be done about the time the Zucchini is really getting size.
Watermelon could work or could make the whole thing into a jungle and over run the whole garden. It all depends on how long and hot your summers are and what cultivar you plant. Again lettuce and spin will be done in the hot summer when the watermelon takes over.
Corn - don't bother with only 8 square feet like that. Plant it in a block. I haven't had luck with anything less than 10' x 10' of corn.
Knowing how my family eats snap peas and green beans I'd double or triple it. Look at your peas. Snow peas (flat pods) tend to be about 3' tall vines but snap peas (round pods) tend to be tall like 5' tall and require much more trellis support. I prefer snow peas and think they work better in stir fry and the like. Snap peas are better raw snacking or with hummus.
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Also in excel you can just resize the cells so you don't have to mess with merging cells to make squares. It will make your life easier in the future as you want to move merged cells and groups of cells around. Just click on the cell boarder between the letter at the top or numbers on the side and drag the cell size.
Give one zucchini plant 4 square feet by mid summer. The snap peas will be done about the time the Zucchini is really getting size.
Watermelon could work or could make the whole thing into a jungle and over run the whole garden. It all depends on how long and hot your summers are and what cultivar you plant. Again lettuce and spin will be done in the hot summer when the watermelon takes over.
Corn - don't bother with only 8 square feet like that. Plant it in a block. I haven't had luck with anything less than 10' x 10' of corn.
Knowing how my family eats snap peas and green beans I'd double or triple it. Look at your peas. Snow peas (flat pods) tend to be about 3' tall vines but snap peas (round pods) tend to be tall like 5' tall and require much more trellis support. I prefer snow peas and think they work better in stir fry and the like. Snap peas are better raw snacking or with hummus.
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Also in excel you can just resize the cells so you don't have to mess with merging cells to make squares. It will make your life easier in the future as you want to move merged cells and groups of cells around. Just click on the cell boarder between the letter at the top or numbers on the side and drag the cell size.
Yes it is
Susan BBPM
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If you use climbing varieties you'll fit in more.
I'm going to use containers for some of my bigger plants this year. If they only need a square foot of soil it seems pointless to let them monopolize 4 square foot because of their big leaves. I'm going to use veg as part of my ornamental display on the (huge) patio.
I'm going to use containers for some of my bigger plants this year. If they only need a square foot of soil it seems pointless to let them monopolize 4 square foot because of their big leaves. I'm going to use veg as part of my ornamental display on the (huge) patio.
Ruderunner
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Onions might be too close to beans. Would be better with cukes or zucchini. You can put them in the empty spaces and they'll probably enjoy the shade.
Beans and corn are supposed to be friends, put them together and free up some space.
Beans and corn are supposed to be friends, put them together and free up some space.
Thank you! Any suggestions on the blank spaces or keep them empty?
The corn, I night still try. That was the 1 thing my kiddo requested
Thank you! Any suggestions on the blank spaces or keep them empty?
The onions were a last minute add so i might just scrape them. Any other suggestions or tips to get the most out of it?
Thank you!
Ruderunner
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What do you like to eat? Especially things that are hard to find or expensive.
Beets and turnips are a home favorite but not commonly found in our local stores.
Don't forget to leave room for yourself to maneuver.
Beets and turnips are a home favorite but not commonly found in our local stores.
Don't forget to leave room for yourself to maneuver.
Mr_Yan
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Your shopping list should determine your planting.
Do you like beets? Grow beets. I like to steam them (15 minutes in an Instant-Pot) then slip off the skins, slice and hit with a splash of wine-vinegar and olive oil.
Do you like radishes? I don't so I don't grow them.
Basil is expensive and we use a lot of it so I grow several square feet a year.
Swiss chard wilts down very nicely for eggs.
Green cabbage is 70 cents a pound. Even though we eat a lot of it I don't bother growing it.
Greens are expensive and very easy to grow. Kale, collards, mustard etc.
Mint, don't plant it in these beds, it will take over.
What if you planted the whole 4x4 box with corn then grew peas around the edge. The peas will be done mid to late june just as the corn is putting on size. Then you could underplant the corn with green beans. Look to wax beans rather than green beans. The yellow wax variety taste the same but are much easier to see and harvest.
I intermix a lot of my planting and have ditched the square foot idea and most of the spacing.
Ruderunner
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I think he's referring to putting short plants among tall plants. Another example would be cabbage (short) and tomatoes (tall)
Carrots and peas are a classic
Carrots and peas are a classic
Mr_Yan
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Yup, as @Ruderunner said plant the little stuff under the tall stuff.
I've never had a garden as large as I wanted so I intermix and intensively plant the area I have. I mean, I am trying to pull as much food our as possible to feed a family of five.
As a very high maintenance example of unterplanting let's think just about the corn you want to grow in a 4' x 4' square - and adjusting for my soil temps for these dates. Sow it when the ground warms up, call it late May, which means you have several cold weeks where the bed is empty. Hey how about planting some beets, kale, and pea there. The corn will still be pretty short until early July so you can harvest and tend the beets such until then.
Mid July on the corn will dominate the bed but you'll still have the edge where some green beans can be snuck in.
After the corn has been harvested I would keep the stalks to lay over the beds for the winter. But sweet corn is harvested in July and August around me so that still gives me 2 months of growing time where I could sneak in beets, peas, and salad greens again.
As I said I drive things very intensively and with that start almost all my plants in flats and transplant out as seedlings. Some to many on this forum would say this is too dense of a planting and pushing it too hard.
I would say this would be too much to bite off for a first year gardener.
I've never had a garden as large as I wanted so I intermix and intensively plant the area I have. I mean, I am trying to pull as much food our as possible to feed a family of five.
As a very high maintenance example of unterplanting let's think just about the corn you want to grow in a 4' x 4' square - and adjusting for my soil temps for these dates. Sow it when the ground warms up, call it late May, which means you have several cold weeks where the bed is empty. Hey how about planting some beets, kale, and pea there. The corn will still be pretty short until early July so you can harvest and tend the beets such until then.
Mid July on the corn will dominate the bed but you'll still have the edge where some green beans can be snuck in.
After the corn has been harvested I would keep the stalks to lay over the beds for the winter. But sweet corn is harvested in July and August around me so that still gives me 2 months of growing time where I could sneak in beets, peas, and salad greens again.
As I said I drive things very intensively and with that start almost all my plants in flats and transplant out as seedlings. Some to many on this forum would say this is too dense of a planting and pushing it too hard.
I would say this would be too much to bite off for a first year gardener.
