A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening 2009 Planning

My husband and I are intent on starting our own Victory garden next year. This is a plan we've come up with, with the help of **************

• 3 foot walk-around
• Low-pressure drip hose running through the center of each section
• Tomatoes/Cucumbers
• Broccoli, Carrots, Onions, Strawberries, Melon, Watermelon
• Potatoes, Beans, Peas, Lettuce
• There is a 6' fence along the bottom and right sides

<--- North

What are your opinions? This is the first garden I've planted on a large scale. We want to keep it relatively simple and have it provide food that can sustain us (for a time) with canning and freezing. Any groupings I should change?

Looks like a good selection of vegetables.

Comments:

Plant tall vegetables or vegetables supported by plant stakes, trellis, etc. from North to South, so that they don't cast shadow on other plants as the sun moves from East to West.

A four feet wide bed is best, so that you can reach over the middle when harvesting or weeding. A 3-foot walkway is good; it will allow you to use garden cart or wheel barrow.

Have you considered companion planting?

Companion Planting

Good & Bad Companions for Vegetables

That is a pretty picture. Melons, watermelon and potatoes can use up a good bit of space. Strawberries do good with some space too. Papito has some good suggestions for you.
Lettuces make a great edging and you can keep a constant planting of those leafy greens close enough for harvesting easily that way.
I have used my fences (chain link) as built in trellis' for cukes, beans and peas (and shared with nice neighbors this way).

papito has good advice about the taller vegetables shading the shorter ones.

Beware that watermelons can spread 20' from the central vine. They need a lot of open space and sunshine. The melons may spread 15' from the base, while the cucumbers may spread 10'. They are all space hogs.

Strawberries can take 3 years to reach production maturity. Common practice is to separate them from the rest of the garden. An old tractor tire or other form of raised bed is often used to contain them and make them easy to maintain.

You can take advantage of some of the early crops lasting for only ~2 months. Get you lettace out early and, after harvest, you can follow up with late beans or corn/tomatoes/potatoes.

Thank you all for your advice.

I've made some changes to my plan. What do you think?

My yard slopes towards the west, so I thought it would better to run the rows that way. Should I change it around?

We took away the melons. We are really trying to grow only those veggies that would be a better use of space. Really looking for the canning, freezing, pickling.

We will build trellises for the beans, peas, and cucumbers. The tomatoes will be caged.

Bed 1: Tomato, pepper
Bed 2: Carrot, Pole Bean, Lettuce
Bed 3: Onion, Cauliflower, Broccoli
Bed 4: Cucumber, Pea, potato

Again that is pretty. Are your pole beans going to shade the carrots and lettuce on either side of it? Is north still on the left in this plan?
Melons are fun to grow. Just realize the space needed to grow them. Think about having some strawberries in containers somewhere nearby. Any old container with drainage will do, even a leaky old bucket looks good with strawberry plants hanging out of it. You will be happy you did even if you pick and eat while working the garden.

Were you able to do any preparation before your cold weather closed in? Did you start any kind of mulch or compost with your fall leaves? Are you keeping your non-meat kitchen scraps somewhere to help feed your spring garden? These are fun ways to help get ready over long winter months.
If you have a front yard with plantings, you can actually mix in occasional edibles that won't detract from your curb appeal. Artichokes and asparagus are really good looking plants for instance. You might have more space than you think.

Jonni,

Unfortunately, we came up with our plan after a good hard frost set in. The soil is frozen as we speak. :( Our plan is to get out there as early as possible in the spring and till, then bring in a truckload of soil and compost and mix that in. After that sits for a bit, I'll test pH and adjust accordingly.

We were thinking about getting a big barrel to start composting. We don't have enough space for an open compost heap and don't really want to shell out the money for a tumbler. I want to buy one of those little pails for the kitchen to put my scraps in. I always feel guilty throwing them away.

I have a strawberry pot in the front yard. I will plant strawberries next year along with a herb garden in an already established flower garden.

The trellis we plan on making is just two posts at the end of the row and rope stretched out. Maybe another in the middle. Will this still cause too much shading?

Thank you for all your input.

that is a very impressive garden. I planted strawberries for the first time this year and got a few tasty berries. They look pretty good for next year. Someone told me the weeds would take over but that hasn't been a problem.

It is not the trellis that shades the plants around it. It is the plants that cover the trellis that cause the shade. Just something to think about. But it may not be an issue depending on where north is on your most recent plan. If it is still on the left like your original plan then the sun going east to west like your trellis would run could be OK for the shorter plants to get enough sun on both sides maybe.

Jonni,

You are quite right. I wasn't even thinking about what kind of wall the beans would create. I was wrapped up in the trellis.

Would you suggest a bush bean instead?

Not necessarily. Which way is the sun going during the day? If it is following the same line, east to west, as the trellis than the plants on either side might just get enough sun to do you right.

Left is still North in the updated plan. I will be home tomorrow so I will observe throughout the day.

Well, This time of year the sun's position is different than in the summer growing season. As long as it is east to west you should be ok.

Oh yes, it is definitely east to west.

Then it is probably good.
Planning is half the fun of gardening. Are you planning on starting from seed? Are you going to start seed indoors early for an early start?

Well, if I had it my way, they would all start from seed. Unfortunately, my husband and I have a difference of opinion.

My 2008 container garden started with all seeds. I lost a lot of my seedlings. I didn't get them out in time. So he thinks I wasted a lot of money and effort.

I'm doing my best to convince him otherwise.

Well, Try a few from seed. Then if they don't make it or get too big before the weather turns right for your timing, go with plants. Even the experts lose seedlings for a variety of reasons. But they can be fun too. You may not be able to find the varieties you want in plants. seeds are offered in many more varieties.

That has been my dilemma all along. Plants are easier, but I want some special varieties. Plus, I think it'll be more cost effective (with a good success rate) if we start from seedlings. I will need a lot of plants.

Does anybody else have a plan they've been working on?

I have put my gardening on hold for this year due to health factors in my family. I don't grow many edibles because I cannot adequately protect them right now from critters.
But I am very interested to watch your gardens grow and would love you to update us with photos if you can. Midseason especially to see how it all works out. And hear what you might change for the following year.
And we do have people who do canning and a recipe section as well.
We also just share our daily lives in general in the Coffee Houses. Drop by there to speak of other-than-gardening issues. We all get caught up in everyone else's daily joys and trials and tribulations there. (and have a bit of fun too)

Well my egyptian walking onions are in the ground. No garlic this winter but next fall I'll definitely plant it.

Lets see I'll be planting my tomato seeds in Feb indoors.

The mini chocolate bell peppers have overwintered well in the house.

I'll put the radishes and lettuce in the ground in march

That's about all I have planned for the veggie garden this year. I'm so slow. I may put in some beans if I can figure out how to make a trellis for them.

Jonni, thank you for the invitation. I will be sure to check it out. I'm disappointed to hear that you won't be growing this year. I definitely share my photos with you all. I need all the input I can get.

Tkhooper, I look forward to hearing more about your garden. We've been deciding how to configure our trellis for the beans, peas, and cucumbers. I think we will be doing the most basic variety.

BBgrl, in your climate you may have better results with seeds if you start them inside. I did that one year and it just about killed me transplanting but a lot of people in colder climates do it. Living in the south, I have plenty of growing time and can direct sow. You're planting a lot of stuff so buying plants will cost a little.

Now, I mostly put out plants. There are just 2 of us and we don't eat at home a lot so I plant tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, radishes, cukes. I plant lettuce all the time but then we never eat it.

I think we will do a mix of seed and plants. I have very limited space and even less natural light to do much in the way of growing seedlings. I haven't really decided which ones to start from seed. If I can direct sow some, then I'll definitely do that. I'll buy tomato plants, but also start some heirlooms from seed. Part of our plan is to sell/trade some of the excess, the stuff we can't freeze/can.

lettuce is a good thing to start from seeds, and potatoes you just start from potatoes. Some things take forever to grow from seed so you need to research which will work for you.

Do you direct sow lettuce or start indoors? I'm trying to gear up and decide what I need to start indoors, since it's already January! I've done a little revision to the garden. I moved the cukes and peas over with the pole beans in the north bed to help avoid shading of my other plants.

Lettuce is almost always direct sown. It is fast and doesn't transplant well most of the time. You will probably want to do lettuces in a series to keep a spring/summe/fall supply. Sow some then a few weeks later sow some more, etc to keep it coming.

I'm trying to figure out broccoli. They say it does better in cool weather and bolts above 80F. But then they say to do successive plantings for an all-summer harvest. The weather here will get above 80F by late June. Any ideas?

"They" may not be from your area. So plant according to your area and do successive plantings for as long as you can before they harvest time will run into your warm weather.