Finalizing My Garden Plans

I'm getting the hemlock to build my boxes next week(should be built by that weekend but won't be filled till compost is done at the end of April) and I'm doing some layout plans. Here's a picture of the side of my house(the one on the right) where these two boxes are going. The red line in the middle of the picture is approximately where my property line is. It may not look like it but there will be more than enough sun on this side of the house.



The boxes will be 10ft long and 4ft wide with the 10ft following my house and the 4ft going from the my house towards the neighbor's on the left. I hope I'm explaining myself properly

The boxes will go from near the A.C. unit and satellite dish you see on the right of the picture to right around the clump of daffodils on the right. I forget the exact dimensions but there's enough room to run these two 10ft long boxes between those points mentioned and have a gap of 4 feet between the boxes. It might not look like there's enough room but believe me, there is.

There's approximately 6 feet from the side of my house to that low stone wall you see.

If I have my boxes the way I described they will look something like this....


Looking at the diagram of my box you'll notice 24 1ft squares around the perimeter. Those red lines you see in the middle of that box represents the 8 tomatoes that will go in each box. If I plant the rows of tomatoes at the very edge of those 1ft squares so that there's roughly a two foot gap between the two rows of tomatoes, will I have enough room in those squares to plant other things? I want that two foot gap between the rows of tomatoes to allow for proper airflow and just in case I get slightly lazy with tomato plant pruning.


I'm looking at planting in those squares:

1) radishes
2) carrots
3) lettuces
4) beets
5) bell peppers
6) bush beans(forhook limas)
7) bush string beans
8 )bush sugar peas or snap peas
9) spinach

Not counting the 16 tomato plants that will be in the two boxes, I will have 48 squares to plant things.

The two boxes will be 12 inches deep at the end towards my house and 18 inches deep at the opposite end. To keep it level, I had to go with 18 inches. The boxes will not be completely filled with Mel's Mix. Only about the top 12 inches will be. I know the majority of veggies can be grown in only 6 inches of Mel's Mix but I want to go with 12 inches.
The wood is already ordered(and paid for) so I really can't make changes to the dimensions of the boxes.

I know I've talked about planting just tomatoes in these boxes but the more I think about it, the more I think I want to plant other things.

Something else that I thought of:

I can plant things like lettuces, spinach, and other "cool season" crops in the squares that would be closest to the house because once the tomato plants start really growing, there might be too much shade between them and the house. Know what I mean?

I can't wait till I get this project of mine started. I'm seriously getting tired of changing my mind.

Too Tall Tomatoes wrote:...I can't wait till I get this project of mine started. I'm seriously getting tired of changing my mind.

I know JUST what you mean TT. I'm currently on version 8-1/2 of my plan

It looks good! Your math is right, your placement is great, and you even know if you'll have shade in 16 of the boxes to further the growth of things like spinach!

I hope to have it all figured out in the next few weeks. Once I buy the veggie seeds, I'm not going to change my mind.

I think I'll work on the layout of everything, and figure out what veggies I really want.

Bush fordhooks are a definite. So are carrots, beets, and a few lettuces.

Luci Dawson wrote:

Too Tall Tomatoes wrote:...I can't wait till I get this project of mine started. I'm seriously getting tired of changing my mind.

I know JUST what you mean TT. I'm currently on version 8-1/2 of my plan

I think I'm on version 7 of my plans.

My preliminary layout.....



Like I said earlier, there's going to be roughly 9 feet from the side of my house to the top edge of my boxes, and a 3 foot gap between the two boxes that will be running along the width of the house.

With having two identical boxes, I'm going to have a lot of veggies. Hanging out with you guys and girls convinced me to grow other veggies.

Most importantly, there will be two rows 4 tomatoes each in the middle of the boxes. They will run one foot in from the top and one foot in from the bottom with an approximate 2 foot gap in the middle.

Anybody see any problems?

Anybody grow collards in their SFG?

Me, me and my son. And they do great.

Kay

walshevak wrote:Me, me and my son. And they do great.

Kay

That's great to know because I LOVE collards, especially if they're cooked with ham hocks.

Here are two from my fall planting and the one on the far right was left from last spring. Pulled it up last week. Was still good but only because it had been frosted on last month. The one on the left bolted yesterday. They will go through the hot summer if planted in the spring, but fall/winter collards bolt when the weather warms back up.



Put 3 new starts in today and have 3 more for when I pull up the ones in the picture. Probably next week.

Kay

walshevak wrote:Here are two from my fall planting and the one on the far right was left from last spring. Pulled it up last week. Was still good but only because it had been frosted on last month. The one on the left bolted yesterday. They will go through the hot summer if planted in the spring, but fall/winter collards bolt when the weather warms back up.



Put 3 new starts in today and have 3 more for when I pull up the ones in the picture. Probably next week.

Kay

That looks really neat. Are collards one of those "cut and come again" type veggies?

Yes they are. Summer collards are not as tender as winter collards so catch the leaves when they are just slightly bigger than your hand. Collards are best after a frost, but having anything leafy green in the summer is a plus.

watch for cabbage worms.

Kay

walshevak wrote:Yes they are. Summer collards are not as tender as winter collards so catch the leaves when they are just slightly bigger than your hand. Collards are best after a frost, but having anything leafy green in the summer is a plus.

watch for cabbage worms.

Kay

Awesome. Thanks for the info. I'm going to head out to a garden center/nursery tomorrow to pick up some veggie seeds. I hope they have collards.

My favorite is the Vates collards. Seem to take our sourthern heat, but are not as easy to find. I usually start them in the house but they can be direct sowed now that the crazy weather has warmed up.

walshevak wrote:My favorite is the Vates collards. Seem to take our sourthern heat, but are not as easy to find. I usually start them in the house but they can be direct sowed now that the crazy weather has warmed up.

I'm pretty sure that's the variety I saw at a garden center today. I should've just picked up a few packs. Now I have to go back.

Anyway, I did buy 2 packs of bush snap peas and 2 packs of bush forhook limas.

I know about making changes. Your plan is lookin' good and I'm glad you are trying other crops. Its such fun to harvest your own variety of foods. I have to add kale and collards to my beds somewhere so another plan is in the works for me.

I was going to order some vegetable seeds from the internet but since I had my bank account compromised this morning, I won't be ordering seeds online. I'll just get them at local garden centers.

I still want to pick up carrots, beets, radishes, some lettuces, and spinach. The peppers I will get in plant form in May.
I love eating collards and now that I know they're a cut-and-come-again crop, I will definitely grow them in my garden.

That means I'll have to revise my plans again.