Finished our Plot's Planting Plan (well, first version anyhows!)

[Mrs Dobby]

A few observations Mrs D.

Minicole cabbages hold well in the ground for about 3 months so I would plant them in two batches.

Leeks. There is no need to stagger the planting.

Courgettes. 6 plants??? Just grow 3 plants and you will be able to eat them for your breakfast, lunch and tea! Don't stagger the planting,

Squashes and pumpkins. You are growing an awful lot of plants and far too many for the size of the bed. They want to be a good 3 foot apart.

Tomatoes. Don't stagger the planting.

Cucumber. Don't stagger the planting.

Sweetcorn. Don't stagger the planting.

The greenhouse. There are miles too many plants. Grow some extra outdoor tomatoes.

As Snadger said where are the beans? Blue Lake french beans are lovely. So are Kenyan Safari dwarf french beans (I haven't forgot PT!).

You are certainly organised!!

Hi LJ!

Thanks for those suggestions and observations!

Cabbage in 2 batches, ok no probs!

Leeks in single batch, ok fine, thanks!

Courgettes, 3 plants instead of 6, not knowing how many we'd get off each plant I was planning on playing safe, but if you think 6 is too many then we'll try 3!

Squash and Pumpkin, the spacing in the bed is 2' by 2' for the squashes (as it says on the packet) and 4' by 2' for the pumpkins (again as packet directs), but we can easily thin it down a bit and go with a 3' by 3' spacing if you think it better!

Toms, sweetcorn and cucumber - dont stagger, ok, thanks for the advice!

Thin out the greenhouse, ok, no probs, the spacing is as advised on the packet, as it is quite a big g/house (8'by10'), but I was concerned that we may not have enough ventilation with all them in, so will go with 2 plants per 3' of border with a 2' gap between plants, that sound a bit better?

French beans a possibility, once I've ammended the plans to take into account everyones advise I'll see if I can squeeze any more in, only thing is Mr D has put a ban on buying any more seeds as yet, he thinks we;ve far too much anyway! lol!

Thanks again for the advice!

[Mrs Dobby]

Well the cabbages i have at the moment i spaced as per packet details but
they could have done with a touch more .

Thanks Pete, we'll try spacing them a bit more, I was thinking of thining them by eating a few smaller ones anyhows, so not sure how we'll play it with them yet, but thanks for the tip!

Wow Mrs D - I'm very impressed. Not done anything on such a grand scale although did have a paper plan. I am so impressed with your positive assumption that you will get 192 carrots! Thats the way to do it!

Im very envious of the fruit you already have on the site, that must be a tremendous boost. Thats my target this year is to get two or three bushes in. The josta cuttings sent to me by ChrisB are looking very healthy, so I'm going to go for some blackcurrants. I have to build a cage first though! Like DDL - I must say you have worked tremendously hard on your plot, it did look very overgrown initially. Well done.

Thanks Jennie!

Not sure if we'll get 192 carrots, but thats how many seeds we should be able to plant, tho whether any of them grow is another thing entirely! lol! I'm not naiive enough to assume that everything planted will grow or even make it through to edible maturity, but we can at least do our best to try!

The fruits on the plot were an unexpected bonus, but one we are hopefully going to see the fruits of next year! As I've said on other pages tho, if there's too much of a harvest we may well be asking folks on here if they want any, please! lol!

Thanks for the kind words Jennie, we have worked hard, but its been fun and rewarding, long may it continue to be so!

[Earthbabe]

Courgettes, 3 plants instead of 6, not knowing how many we'd get off each plant I was planning on playing safe, but if you think 6 is too many then we'll try 3!

We have had 5 each year for the last 3 with three of us and have been giving them away to anyone who has promised to eat them.

[Mrs Dobby]

Ok EB, I think its finally sinking in, 3 Courgettes it is then!

[Spuds up]

Courgettes. 6 plants??? Just grow 3 plants and you will be able to eat them for your breakfast, lunch and tea! Don't stagger the planting,

This is good advice. In my first year I 6 or 7 courgette plants and ended up with far too many. Had to give loads away and could not eat them fast enough to keep ahead of supply.

This year I grew three plants and I got enough of to regularly feed our family of 4. Gave very few away.

[Mrs Dobby]

Thanks spuds up, will plant 3 now methinks!

[PAULW]

Carrot (Paramix) 8 rows of 24 plants, sown 2 rows at a time, 3 weeks between sowings = 192 carrots
Carrot (Amsterdam Forcing) 8 rows of 24 plants, sown 2 rows at a time, 3 weeks between sowings = 192 carrots

I have found carrots to be self staggering and apart from early, mid season and lates would chuck them in all in one go.
I sowed my autumn king two rows with a three week gap and I am picking the two sowing equally

[Snadger]

I tend to agree with you about runner beans, unless picked young they are quite stringy. This year I grew butter beans and borlotti beans which look very similar when growing but you can harvest the actual beans not the pods!

They also give a bit of height to the garden (8'0" wigwams) and are really quite ornamental.

French beans are delicious, very productive, and expensive to by in the shops. There are climbing varieties as well which can also be grown up wigwams if you don't fancy the runners, so don't take up much space. I can guarantee that once you've grown French Beans, you'll always grow them!!!

With that said, off to work I go again!

[JennieAtkinson]

Just noticed your little poem Snadger - great!

I grew French beans for the first time last year and decided this year to try quite a few different types and they were all very successful, including the dwarf. Alot more successful than the runner beans and if you are growing in a polytunnel are self fertilising (I have to "dust" the runner beans).

[Mrs Dobby]

Thanks for that Snadger and Jennie, looks like I'm goning to have to work on Mr D about getting some french beans, now where did I out those seed catalogues!

[rustylady]

French beans are lovely, specially picked young. I really have a thing about runner beans, love the taste, but again you really need to pick them young before they go stringy. Same applies to most veg really, I think. You get either maximum size or maximum quality - I'd rather have small, tender, tasty veg straight off the plot.

Can't disagree with much of your plan - am really impressed with the work you've done on it - as someone else said, may plan is in my head!!!

Do wonder though, how on earth are you going to fit all those plants into the greenhouse when they are maturing. I have an 8 x 6 and it was like Day of the Triffids in midsummer. You have to take account of the eventual size of the plants.

Anyway, GOOD LUCK. The plan is impressive. I really must try harder to plan, instead of bunging things in wherever there is a space.

[Mrs Dobby]

Thanks RL, the greenhouse spacing is what was said on the seed packets, and it is rather a big one (10 by 8) with 3' beds to each side and the far end, but as so many folks have commented on it I'll probably reduce the numbers to allow better ventilation and make it a bit easier to access!

[nick the grief]

Mini cole you can plant at about 9" spacings & grow them as mini cabbages as well Mrs D. Thats where I've gone wrong .... I don't plan As LJ is right with the courgettes I only gro 1 or 2 plants. You could feed the whole of partington with 6

I allow about 2 foot per plant with toms & only grow a single row & you get just as many as they have room to breath, if you cram them in you can get all sorts of problems with the air flow around them. so 3 Gardeners delight are plenty for us & maybe a couple of Ferline for some bigger ones.