Rows, blocks - how does your garden grow?

[Growem]

It doesn't like spaces. If you add dots instead, everything stays in place.

[Snadger]

It doesn't like spaces. If you add dots instead, everything stays in place.

Like this:-

O.....O.....O.....O.....O.....O

...O.....O.....O.....O.....O

O.....O.....O.....O.....O.....O

Yay hay!!! There's something else I've learned!

[Iamhanuman]

as this is my first year I am most certainly a mixture of all styles. it's mainly cottage garden, lots of containers, but I am making a raised bed which will be a tad more regimented.

great to see what everyone does!!

[gojiberry]

I always used to plant in long rows across the allotment. However I have now got 6ft wide raised beds and plant roes across the beds, which then ends up as a block if you plant enough rows i.e. like 10 rows of onion sets planted yesterday. I also end up putting stuff in all over the place once space gets a bit tight.

Ian

[sewer rat]

Pretty much everything I grow in 50m rows and also on ridges - makes it easier for me to work and weed between crops with cultivators and scarifiers.

[Flummery]

Staggered in blocks, that's me!

[selfraising]

I start off in rows nicely measured out but as the year goes on I start filling gaps and then it all goes to pot

[Herbie]

Kitchen garden style for me this year. Mix it up abit with edible flowers

[dexterdoglancashire]

I start off in rows nicely measured out but as the year goes on I start filling gaps and then it all goes to pot

Yep, me too. Well, measured as far as I can do, seeing as I cant do owt straight, even with a metre ruler and a long plank of wood!

[Demeter]

My allotment is still in development, but is divided up into beds (which dignifies it rather - "patches" is what we call them) of assorted shapes and sizes. Within the beds there are a combination of organised blocks and "mini-rows" ie rows across the width of a bed rather than across the whole plot, and also some scattergun effect sowing (mostly when the little one "helps" out as she cannot be persuaded to dib in a straight line). The other day I sowed a row of carrots across the width of the bed, then 2 or 3 rows of shallots, then more carrots, then the last of the onion sets... meanwhile She did the peas and who knows what we will get?!

Our shared plot at the city farm is divided up into 6 beds, one for each family (spuds, legumes, brassicas, onions/roots, sweetcorn/squash and permanent) but within each bed it is either rows or blocks or whatever the particular person looking after that bed feels like doing. I haven't actually planted anything yet this year (apart from some onions and things) though lol

At home I just stick things in where there is space. I currently have kale rubbing shoulders with primroses, rocket with crocuses, broccoli with pansies... did I mention there is garlic under the gooseberry bush?

[RobintheBobin]

Oh gawd...my lack of spacial awareness is coming into play here...I just see rows in those blocks

So blocks mean the same distance between plant and row (which is the average of the recommended distances)?

Rows are as per the recommendation so plants usually closer together with greater distances between rows?

E.g. Boltardy beetroot - 15cm between plants and 30cm between rows is recommended BUT sowing in blocks would mean approx 22cm between plants and between rows.

It's like a maths lesson but as I have the wonkiest veg patch ever this may just help me fit more in...perhaps...maybe...oh I need a drinkie...oh I can't I'm on a diet

[di]

Rows,half rows,blocks & dotted about stuff!!!...I'm not organised at home,so think it would be a miracle if I could manage it at the lottie!But it adds an interesting look...this year to add to the confusion I'm planning on dotting about lots of flowers to fill in any gaps also!

[Eyren]

Oh gawd...my lack of spacial awareness is coming into play here...I just see rows in those blocks

It's just because we type in horizontal lines - it makes the rows seem more obvious!

So blocks mean the same distance between plant and row (which is the average of the recommended distances)?

Yes

The spacing on seed packets assumes that you are going to be planting in a conventional (I won't say traditional, as the tradition is only a couple of centuries old!) style, i.e. a single enormous bed without fixed paths. You therefore need space to walk between the rows in order to do your hoeing, so the plants are like this:

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Block planting is used when you have narrow beds with fixed paths between - because you can reach the middle of the bed from all sides, you don't need clear paths between your veg. However they still need space for their roots, so you plant them further apart within the row but with the rows closer together:

x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x
x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x
x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x
x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x


You can either plant them in a square grid as above (which is easier) or, to maximize use of space, you can use a diamond grid, where the average spacing is the diagonal distance between plants:

x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x
..x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x...
x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x
..x...x...x...x...x...x...x...x...

Hope this makes sense!