Desparate cry for help!

HI everybody- expirienced sfg gardners ! I am the new member of the community , but not new to the garderning though. Just recently I found out about Mel's method and definetely would like to try. I just started new garden from zero ground ( just bought new house with big lot of land and trying to convert old lawn into garden) . Raised beds look likle the great and the only solution for my problem of digging old lawn full of rocks and never been taking good care of. Anyway, just read a new Mel's book about SFG and watched dosens of youtube material , but stil confused with which plants I should plant on one bed. I do remember from my mom's talks about gardening that some plants not good together in the bed ( don't remember which ones though ) Now, to be exact for those who are willing to share their knowledge and expirience with me, just let me describe exact layout and what I would like to raise. I have now 4 long 4x22 ( yes, that's right , that's long , but it suits me very fine and it fits my lawn 's shadows precisely plus I'd like to grow alot ). I place them by long side to the north. I am not sure if I would plan 22 tomatoes , but at least 10. Anyway, here is the list of plants I definetely would like to grow ( have them growing from seed already ) : tomatoes, cucs,peppers, eggplants, zucchinies, butter, scallop and accorn sqashes,pumpkins, onions, garlic, different lettuces, lots of redishes ,rutabagas, potatoes, carrots, lots of dills and parsley enough for year long to save. Now I am having troubles to plan mine beds- which one should I plan on the closest bed to the house ( south) and which one to the farthest( north) ? What will be tallest on the vertical ? I put them parallell to each other longwise on the north side , so I could place verticaly my cuces, tomatoes and squashes on the north end of beds, since I am planing to grow lots of them ( 22 cuces are just what I want, maybe same amount of tomatos , maybe half of sqashes ). So, you can see I am not quite sure and keep looking for info online and didn't find any so far ... Please, somebody, give me a helpfull hint:)

I think you know all you need to know and just think you don't! Yes, all of the squashes, tomatoes and cukes need to be on the north end of any bed. If that shades the bed behind it, then that might be a good place to put lettuces since they like it a little cooler.

As far as plants that are antagonistic to each other, it is a very small worry for this method.

From THIS ARTICLE:




Generally:


Peas and beans do not get along with: onions,garlic


Pole beans do not get along with: beets or the cabbage
family (brassicas)


Potatoes do not get along with: Cucumber or tomatoes


Cabbage does not like tomatoes


And,this is usually not a deal breaker, but good to know if you have room to plant them somewhere else.

It's really nice that you have so much room. Just to make sure I understand you are going to have the garden running East to West so the 22 ft sides will be on the North and the South. With a typical 4x4 you want the trellis and the tall plants on the north side. You might have a long enough garden to put some tall plants on the west side of your bed and provide some late day shade for things like your lettuce if they were planted just to the East of the taller plants like tomatoes. The rest of your garden 10 to 15 feet to the East wouldn't be shaded until the very end of the day. The late day sun may not be a problem where you are unlike down here where nothing outside lives through August.

If what H_TX_2 said is right about the 22 sides being the north and south sides. I would alternate all the vining crops so the I would have a tomato, pumpkin, and then the other types and the then repeat. My reasoning is that if you get a bug that likes your tomatoes it proably wont realize that you have more tomatoes farther down the line. I know that there have been other discussions about companion planting on the forum so I would suggest searching companion planting in the top left box and make sure that the box is check to search this site. That should be able to tell you more about what to plant with what. The one book that comes to mind about companion planting is Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte. Good luck and I would love to see pictures of you garden:heart:

Good evening, guys! Thank you so much for your replies ! they were very helpfull. I would definetely check the posts about companionship . Will do my pics and will post them later.

to the forum, anuta! Your garden plans sound awesome. What are you going to use to build 22' of trellis?

I always found THIS companion planting chart helpful. (Scroll down to the colorful chart that you can download). I keep a laminated copy in my garden so I can make split second decisions.

Chopper, that guide includes lots of herbs and even flowers, but is not 'square' enough for my linear thinking, LOL. But why is Marigold in two different circles?

trukrebew wrote:

Chopper, that guide includes lots of herbs and even flowers, but is not 'square' enough for my linear thinking, LOL. But why is Marigold in two different circles?

I have no idea. Seemed like a nice visual instead of a list but I do not entirely understand it either. I like your visual chart better.

We all have different ways of learning, but the chart that you provided, Chopper, has been fabulous for me! All of a sudden, it's easy.

martha wrote:We all have different ways of learning, but the chart that you provided, Chopper, has been fabulous for me! All of a sudden, it's easy.

Just goes to show you. We all learn in different ways. Whatever works.