Block planting

[tootles]

I have seen a few references to this, but I am still not sure quite what it entails. I don't have raised beds, can I just plant as though they were though?
I want to get some broad beans and peas in soon. If the broads want spacing of 25cm between plants and 60cm between rows can I just plant a block 4 plants deep just using the 25cm spacing??

I have done a search but cannot find any idiot proof guidance

[Alice]

Tootles, block planting means planting out in a block rather than a big long row. It's usually used for corn to help pollinaton and cellery to help blanching. but you can use it for anything - your peas and beans. If you don't need to be able to walk between the rows to pick the beans then you don't need to leave the 60cms. You can plant in a block and trear it like a raised bed. Hope this helps.

[andrewo]

It works really well in small and large spaces, I used to plant in 2 foot blocks and that way I could create blocks of the same veg over a large plot. This helps to deter pests, when veg is in lines it's easy for them to just fly down the line but in blocks means they get some and miss others. It goes back to medevil gardening, where we planted in small beds, making it easy to tend and harvest.

[lynda66]

i found it much easier last year to plant in metre square blocks, keeps everything together all neat, found it much easier than rows, also means for things like carrots and parsnips you can spread a packet of seed over the area, and just thin as they grow, leaving a decent space for the bigger ones to reach maturity and you get more veg in less overall space, i grew 9 beans or peas in a square metre, and they did ok

[tootles]

So (sorry, still not quite there yet!) My sugar snap peas, which want a row spacing of 5cm, can be sown in a block with 5cm all round spacing? is there a maximum block size?

[lynda66]

So (sorry, still not quite there yet!) My sugar snap peas, which want a row spacing of 5cm, can be sown in a block with 5cm all round spacing? is there a maximum block size?

yup, just fill the allocated space with 5cm between each seed

not really, when you grow stuff in a block, you actually get less weeds, so really you just need to be able to get to the beds to harvest, without standing on the next bed, i tend to do 1 square metre beds, or multiples of in a long row right across the garden, and leave a foot of walkway between the rows, though you might want to leave a bit more if you need to get a wheelbarrow between them.

[Jenegade]

Oh, I didn't know that! Why are there larger spaces between rows then? I thought the veg wouldn't grow so well without that larger space? Hmmm might be able to fit in more veg than I thought!

[lynda66]

i've found with planting in a square metre, you use more seeds (cos theres more space), but overall get more veg, as you haven't wasted space between rows, ranging from baby ones (like carrots) to big ones, as you've thinned them out the ones left in longer get bigger as they have more space, much like you do in a row, where you thin the smaller ones, but as they have space all round, they actually get a good size, if you use the same approach for bigger plants, you can then move them as they take over the space,

i planted squash and courgettes this way last year, then as i had the space, moved them into their own square and grew them up a frame, so there was still plenty of space round them, they use much less space than the packets said this way, and i got a good crop, despite being planted late and the very early heavy frost killing them off in the middle of production.

[coreopsis]

Lynda,you just gave me a great idea...

[Mrs Dobby]

What I remember Heyasson saying is that if the spacing for rows is x between rows and y between plants, then if block planting you add x + y and then divide by 2, so if the seeds are supposed to be 12" between rows and 6" between plants, then you'd get a block spacing of 9" between plants either way! Any closer and they could crowd each other, suffer from dehydration (too many roots lusting after the same water) and need very regular feeding as there may not be enough nutrients present for them. Planting closer can result in smaller plants and will need more feeding and watering IMHO!

[tootles]

Thank you Mrs D, that makes more sense to me. So my packet of 50 sugar snap peas (5cm/60cm) could be either one double row 1.25m long (approx 40cm wide plus 60 cm for the path - 1.25sqm) or one block (x+y=32cm) 3mx1.5m (10 plants long x 5 plants wide spacing 32cm - 4.5sqm).
How does that make block planting more efficient??

Damn, i'm still confused!!!!

[Mrs Dobby]

It can be more efficient, especially if you space them diagonally, so instead of being in a block where each side is 32 cm, you could alternate them, so each other row is aligned and the invetween rows are planted in the gaps, making the 32cm on a diagonal, if you get the gist of what I'm trying to say?

[tootles]

Hmm, it doesn't reduce it much though Mrs D.

I think I will stick with double rows.