Horticultural nightmare?

[Sara]

Hi everyone,

I don't know about all of you, but when I've grown something I'm keen to show it off. I'm always glad when other gardeners feel the same way, because it means I might get a guided tour of their plots.The other day a friend offered to show me photos of his dad's allotment – the whole area's immaculate and the vegetables are laid out in regimented rows.


Every gardener has a different way to organise their plants. How would your ideal plot look, and what's your horticultural nightmare? Do you get the best harvest from straight lines and formal beds or will growing veg, herbs and flowers together give you a better crop?

Your comments may be published in the August issue.

[Shadylane]

This is my second year and I have tried to get better organized with flowers this year, sowing more and earlier but they still just sit there refusing to do anything. I have long beds, none raised and try to put stuff in rows but it seems that I am incapable of doing this. Everything ends up wonky. Not that I am bothered. I like the idea of pocket planting but I don't think I'd be able to remember where stuff went for crop rotation reasons and I'm too paranoid to risk not rotating. Having said that I don't really rotate so much as swap around.

I don't really have a horticultural nightmare, I like looking at the others pristine regimented plots of neat rows, the organized tidiness of raised beds, but personally prefer to work less formally. I don't really have a system yet, next year, hopefully will get more flowers bunged in and more companion planting going on. The variety must work down there though as we have lots of ladybird porn going on at the mo

[hamsterqueen]

about 3 years ago I discovered raised beds. They are sort of organised and I think make the garden look nicer, I have mint and chives growing all over the place though, as well as a bay tree in the hedge and self seeded fennel. The lawn part of teh garden is shrinking

I like the look of old kitchen gardens and a walled garden with all sorts of veg, herbs and fruit would be my ideal. Especially with a tucked away place to just sit and stare at my hard work. I'm not disciplined enough for the regimented rows and weed free type of garden.

My worst nightmare would be manicured tiny lawn, gas barbecue, patio heaters and and a hot tub plus "tasteful sculpture" (plastic)

[selfraising]

Because I have a small garden with 3 raised beds, I find I have to plan it out carefully in order to get crops in that I want to grow, so it all goes onto squared paper before I start seed sowing.

[HeyWayne]

For me, growing in blocks of rows keeps it manageable. I don't have the time required to tend to neat long rows, so have separated my plot up into beds. They're not quite raised beds, but it divides the plot up into manageable chunks that seem a lot easier to cope with on my brief and somewhat infrequent visits.

The rows make it easier to identify weeds for the novice like me, and the blocks/beds turn a large area into smaller bitesize pieces.

[zazen999]

Sorry, how is this a horticultural nightmare?

[Tomatoking]

I tend to grow in rows, though not always straight ones. I tend to plant crops where there is a space, and a little crop rotation.
I make my raised beds from scrap wood, and as long as it serves the purpose I am not too worried about the aesthetics.

I suppose a horticultural nightmare to me, would be what I call a B&Q garden, where everything is immaculate and filled with all the accessories from a garden shop, with neat paved paths and the hose wound up neatly on a rack every night.
I have nothing against these type of gardens personally in fact, I quite admire them. However, I have to admit with my slightly untidy nature, that I would never be able to keep it looking as good as it should.

Mr TK

[Shadylane]

Sorry, how is this a horticultural nightmare?

As in 'what is your horticultural nightmare'. It was probably just to get our attention.

[Sara]

Thanks for the great comments, everyone. Keep them coming!

Hi Zazen and Shadylane,

I admit the title's a bit sensationalist! Maybe I should have asked 'what's your horticultural nightmare?'

[Shadylane]

Well it worked on me

[Pumpkin Becki]

At the lottie, I grow in raised beds and I tend to plant/sew in straight lines, albeit at a slightly tighter spacing than the seed packets suggest.

At home I pocket plant in amongst my ornamentals. Especially things like pumpkins and squashes which I run out of room for at the lottie (I've got approx 20 varieties on the go this year, and an average of two plants of each variety). I find they do quite well amongst other things. They tend to get watered more frequently than the lottie ones, and I suspect the close proximity to flowers improves the pollination.

[zazen999]

My first two are ALWAYS in a straight line.

It's the ones after that that aren't.

[T8Ter]

Being limited for space, whilst waiting for a lottie, I start off with good intentions, everything spaced nicely and in relatively straight rows. However, once all the seeds I plant grow, I realise how many things I want to squeeze in, then spacings get smaller, rows tend to disappear and a lot of the uniformity is gone (which isn't a bad thing). Having said that I nearly always get great results, my philosophy is that all plants want to grow and I can compensate for smaller spacing by ensuring adequate food and water supply to them.

[Suky]

My idea of a nightmare would be my late Stepfathers idea of correctness. Front garden square of lawn surrounded by french marigolds and salvias, back garden regimented rows of veg all laid out with the aid of a line across a 30 ft wide garden.
I am trying the Square foot method this year along with raised beds for potatoes, brassicas, beans and soft fruit. Plus, it has to be said, pots of salads and the odd bean wigwam where ever I can fit it

[SarzWix]

I tend to grow in blocks rather than rows, I find it a lot easier to work with, and I think it looks better too. I also try and fit in flowers here and there, and salad stuff just gets popped in wherever there's space for it.

I can't think of anything that would be a 'horticultural nightmare' - after all, it's all growing plants isn't it? Even if some styles are a bit overly regimented, they're still better than concrete, tarmac and paving blocks