Advice on Planting Plan

[galtezza]

I am a novice vegetable gardener, and have just finished building a raised bed garden. I am hoping that I can now get some advice from you experienced grapes on my planting plan.

I have done some research via this forum, and a herd of gardening books donated by my mum. I am trying to work on a rotation basis, and we are trying to grow sufficient for two adults, and the excess to be given in fresh fruit and veg baskets to guests that come to stay in the holiday cottages. I have tried to incorporate some principles from companion planting, and used flowers to bring in good insects, but not sure if it all makes sense now.... there seems to be so much information that I was changing the plan every chapter I read!

If you could have a look at the plans attached (hopefully they are clear enough to read) and let me know if there are any glaring errors / omissions, or just things you would tinker with..... I would be very grateful for your help before I start buying seeds and young plants.

Overview of plot


Fruit and Vegetable Raised Beds...


Thanks for any input

[galtezza]

Had a look at the images and they are not very clear.
They are easier to read if you go on to the blog and click on the pictures....

Deep in Dordogne

[Kleftiwallah]

Too much wasted space between your raised beds and could you tell us which way is South? Cheers, Tony.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Too much wasted space between your raised beds and could you tell us which way is South? Cheers, Tony.

Looking at the massive field these beds are in (see the photos on the blog), I don't think space is an issue Tony

[Pumpkin Becki]

galtezza, I think I'd be tempted to physically divide the asparagus from the other side of the bed, or put it in its own permanent bed. Asparagus doesn't like having it's root disturbed, and any harvesting in the other half of the raised bed (especially potatoes) will be very disruptive. Other than that, it looks good to me. I wish you every success

[Scarlet]

I would maybe check your spacing of the plants - Some of my rosemary bushes are 3ft wide, you have not left much room for them. Same with the raspberries, they grow like weeds and will be coming up through your chives. I have all my permanent fruit and veg in beds of their own although its not really necessary it makes life easier.

A fixed herb bed works best for me, easier when you want to pick them

Just had another look! Blueberries need acidic soil, (pH 4.5-5.5) so possibly not good to grow next to gooseberries?

[galtezza]

Thanks for the responses so far guys.
Yes you're right Pumpkin Becki, the total space for the vegetable garden is quite big at 20m2, so we wanted to keep the paths wide enough to be able to drive the quad between the raised beds if i want to bring manure/compost through on the trailer.
Good point about the asparagus though; I hadn't thought about its roots being disturbed when we pulled up the sweet potatoes - we'll have to section that bed into two parts.

Wow , I didn't know rosemary got that big Scarlet. I have got the bottom part of the plot solely as a herb garden:



so I think I will move the Rosemary over to that plot. Will Rosemary stay smaller if I cut it back hard each year - or will it just keep growing?

I had intended the fruit bush bed to be just for fruit - but read somewhere that the chives were good companion plants (onion smell keeping pests away from fruit?) or I may have got that wrong. If thats not the case though, I will keep the fruit on their own.

I have that bed divided by wooden sections to separate the raspberries from the gooseberries and rhubarb, to try and stop everything getting too big. I also have wooden dividers separating off the blueberries completely. The blueberry section is just filled with ericaceous compost, and top soil...

[galtezza]

Sorry forgot to respond to Kleftiwallah....

South is on the right hand side of the plans
East is at the top.

[zazen999]

My comments are:

Your squash will swap your onions.

Your salady stuff is all over the place, wouldn't it be better off in a bed of it's own, spring onions, all leafy stuff; so that minimal disturbance is made when harvesting all these. Ditto your herbs. Keeps them clean too.

You have 7 rectangular beds and one square. Keep the square one as fruit but take out the chives and garlic chives, if you want put them round the sides so that you can get to them not in the middle.

I'd put the perennials together - so asparagus and strawberries in one bed; the strawbs round the edge and the asparagus in the middle, again so that you can get to the strawbs all summer long.

I'd have the remaining 6 beds:
2 for brassicas [all of them, as they will all need netting, including radishes in this]
1 for alliums
1 for cucurbits
1 for legumes
1 for salady stuff

Alternatively - don't rotate and just grow what you like wherever.

[Strawberry delight]

i would put the sweetcorn in a square, this helps pollination

[zazen999]

I didn't even see sweetcorn; but the pics are very small.....

[galtezza]

Thanks guys. Sorry about the size of the pictures - but if you go on to the blog and click the pictures of the plan, they come up much larger.

It will be an easy fix to plant the sweetcorn in a square Strawberry Delight so thanks for that.

Thanks for all the input Zazen999. Its funny, as I started my plan with all the vegetables and fruit separated out as you suggest. It seemed to make sense to my orderly mind to have everything separated into its own bed. But when I was talking about it to one of my french neighbours, they were horrified. In their traditional potagers they grow everything in together, including flowers. They were convinced that the mix of fruit, veg and flowers meant that the pests were kept down, and and the integrity of the soil maintained. Their principles seemed to be the same as companion planting - so I spent some time researching, and came up with a plan to mix things up - less easy to harvest, but more likely to protect against pests/disease (fingers crossed!)
However as a true novice, I didn't realise strawberries were perennials - so your idea of putting them in with the asparagus is great..... would work with Pumpkin Becki's advice to separate the asparagus from the sweet potatoes, so that I don't disturb the roots when I harvest.

I will definitely move the chives as well, and keep the fruit bushes on their own. The herb bed at the bottom of the garden should keep most of the herbs separate, and the ones in the beds will hopefully act as deterrents to pests. I will have another look at the salad stuff as well and see if it can be pulled together more effectively. Complicated stuff this, isn't it!

[zazen999]

Thanks for all the input Zazen999. Its funny, as I started my plan with all the vegetables and fruit separated out as you suggest. It seemed to make sense to my orderly mind to have everything separated into its own bed. But when I was talking about it to one of my french neighbours, they were horrified. In their traditional potagers they grow everything in together, including flowers. They were convinced that the mix of fruit, veg and flowers meant that the pests were kept down, and and the integrity of the soil maintained.

Complicated stuff this, isn't it!

Oh, I agree with this - it's how I grow at home. But you have to consider that you said you wanted to rotate.

I rotate the spuds and grow the rest around them. I used to rotate the brassicas but it's easier to net off one square area at a time, so they get mixed in now.

Don't get too hung up on the plan if you want to freestyle it! Get the perennials in right, think about how taller leafy crops will shade out or completely grow over smaller crops; get the spacing right and bung the flowers in as and when.

I just bung plants in when they are ready in the space that I have - you often find your plans go to pot anyway when slugs get 3 out of the 12 neatly placed lettuces so bung a bunch of spring onion seedlings in the free spaces or don't space things out too neatly in the first place.