Square foot gardening.

[monkeyboy]

Not going to be miffed at all Lumpy. I appreciate the help. There's so much I don't know which is why I wanted to tap into the forum knowledge. The above diagrams are only two configurations I thought of. TBH I was at work and getting a bit stuck as to what to plant. I will ask the wife later what she wants (she loves kale and celery).

Companion crops seem to vary according to source, which can be confusing.

Cauliflowers - the leaves can grow huge

Yup I read this and should know to put it in a corner.

Chives are perennials (they come back every year) so it might restrict your growing plan in the future. Try and shove them next to your carrots as they help stop carrot fly.

Chives were really meant to be companion crops for broccoli. I don't use them in cooking.

Anyting from the Mint family will run rampant

There's space for a couple of sacrificial plant pots of mint around the beds.

Celery needs alot of water but basil does not (as a Med plant) so you could end up with dismal basil but wonderful celery or vice versa.

Basil was meant to be a companion crop for the toms.

Melon - needs lots of heat and depending upon the variety lots of space.

I had three squares left and ran out of ideas.

I'll have another think about the layout and post something up.

[Lumpy]

Like you said MB it might be better to decide what you really want and then add in a flirty 'never tried before' plant to see what happens.
How about sugar snap peas? Either up some canes or cut the bottom off a bucket and let them grow down (I grow mine in a wall basket) then you could plant a variety of oriental veg like chinese cabbage around the base of the bucket as they bolt if they get too much sun but the peas would give them shade. It might be worth thinking about dwarf french beans or dwarf runners as well.

Good Luck.

[lolie]

Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome. This will be my second attempt into vegetable growing. My last attempt resulted in a tomato plant with blight

That's a lot of spinach plants. If you want to freeze or juice a ton of spinach, that's fine but otherwise you're sacrificing a few squares to something which will continue to produce as you harvest it. I'd probably plant a few less squares with spinach and dedicate them to something which requires successive plantings and/or something which is a space hog.

[monkeyboy]

Okay here's attempt 3:



I've left a few gaps for expansion of tomatoes, aubergine, courgette and cauliflower. I've added calendula as companion planting. Other companion plants like basil, mint etc will be put in small planters next to the beds.

I've used this website >clicky< to create the layout. If anyone wants to try a layout, I'm more than happy. Tomatoes are on the left as that's the north end. Radishes and lettuce are at the south end.


Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

[Jungle Jane]

French marigolds are nice compact plants that can go between the tomatoes to keep whitefly away. Courgette like a lot of water,I don't know if the garlic would be too wet,maybe garlic with carrots & onions,lettuce with courgette. Are you planting garlic & onions now because you can if you want
Edit to add are you netting the kale,turnip & broccoli from cabbage white butterflies,they might be better together under one net?

[lolie]

Okay here's attempt 3:



I've left a few gaps for expansion of tomatoes, aubergine, courgette and cauliflower. I've added calendula as companion planting. Other companion plants like basil, mint etc will be put in small planters next to the beds.

I've used this website >clicky< to create the layout. If anyone wants to try a layout, I'm more than happy. Tomatoes are on the left as that's the north end. Radishes and lettuce are at the south end.


Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

I would put the courgettes on corner squares so that they can flow over the end and the sides. Unless you're going to trellis them, they're going to take up more than their allocated space.

[Jungle Jane]

Ive probably really confused things now but if you look at each plant & think what do they want,they want a lot from us! Seriously though it is worth talking about it all,like my Brussels sprouts leaves are ruined this year,I found eggs on them about two days ago,they're still laying eggs,I'll definitely use netting next year.

[lolie]

Ive probably really confused things now but if you look at each plant & think what do they want,they want a lot from us! Seriously though it is worth talking about it all,like my Brussels sprouts leaves are ruined this year,I found eggs on them about two days ago,they're still laying eggs,I'll definitely use netting next year.

It would definitely be easier to protect the brassicas if they're grouped together in one bed. I'd also try to group vegies which have similar needs together.

[chris_m]

I would put the courgettes on corner squares so that they can flow over the end and the sides.

That's what I'll be doing with my new beds - one of them is shorter than the length of my patch because there's a young apple tree in the corner so I don't want the bed too close to it, I've left about 3-4 feet clear. My courgettes will go in the corners of the bed nearest the tree and will be "encouraged" to head towards it.

[chris_m]

It would definitely be easier to protect the brassicas if they're grouped together in one bed.

Indeed - of my four new beds for next year, two have netting frames over them, lined with veggiemesh. That's where my brassicas will be going, along with about half my carrots.
The other carrots are either (supposedly, I will find out next year) fly resistant or will have marigolds and/or onions near them to try and confuse the little blighters with other scents.

[monkeyboy]

Courgette like a lot of water,I don't know if the garlic would be too wet,maybe garlic with carrots & onions,lettuce with courgette. Are you planting garlic & onions now because you can if you want

Happy to swap courgette around. I'm chitting garlic as we speak. I was originally going to wait until start of 2018 but decided to get going now. I was going to spend the next few months planning everything, reading etc.

Edit to add are you netting the kale,turnip & broccoli from cabbage white butterflies,they might be better together under one net?

I was going to net both beds (except toms) because of cats and for butterflies and birds.

I would put the courgettes on corner squares so that they can flow over the end and the sides.

Okay I reckon I can put them at the rightmost column of bed 1.

Ive probably really confused things now but if you look at each plant & think what do they want,they want a lot from us!

Do you reckon I'm trying to do too much or grow overly demanding veg? This will be first proper attempt at growing a veg bed so I'm keen to maximise success. I'm happy to reconsider what I'm growing to ensure a successful harvest.

[veggiechicken]

I wouldn't bother with aubergines/eggplant and okra outdoors. They're difficult enough in a GH.
Don't know whether you mean summer heading broccoli (calabrese) or sprouting broccoli that's picked early in the year. Both are large plants - especially the sprouting ones.
Choose your varieties of all veg carefully if you're growing in a small space/square foot.

[Jungle Jane]

I don't think you're trying to do to much,it's quite easy sowing the seeds & planting out,planning takes longer. If some things like cauliflower don't grow,it won't matter because you've got a nice variety of other fruit & veg.

[lolie]

Do you reckon I'm trying to do too much or grow overly demanding veg? This will be first proper attempt at growing a veg bed so I'm keen to maximise success. I'm happy to reconsider what I'm growing to ensure a successful harvest.

Grow what you eat. Not everything will work out but you can't predict in advance what particular gardening problems are going to pop up in any given year. You don't want to end up with a bumper crop of stuff you don't really use.

One thing I didn't think about when I first started was how much single plants produce on average. And that information wasn't in any of the gardening guides.

I didn't know that the variety of watermelon I was planning on growing only produces a 2-3 fruit per vine and had I not found that out I would have thought I'd had a poor result. The first year I grew zucchini/courgettes, I had pollination problems and only ended up getting a few fruit per plant instead of a dozen or more. I was disappointed in my sprouting broccoli harvest but later found out it was entirely normal and I should have planted a lot more given the amount I use (I'm only growing broccoli as microgreens this year because I have some seed left).

[Lumpy]

You are doing really well MB. I agree with VC and choose your varieties carefully. Also, I would recommend looking at alternatives for things such as 'normal' calabrese etc. Some of the oriental stuff is very similar except it tends to grow quicker and in many cases are smaller plants (height wise).