2012 Garden Plan

Well it took me all fall/winter/spring to finally come up with a design that I like, but I did it! The large black square is the fence around that section of the garden. The smaller black rectangles are tophats. The walking onions are growing directly in the soil, because I learned last year that they're HUGE and very hardy and probably didn't need to be in an SFG.

I enjoy looking over your garden plan and all the others....
so I am going to try to upload my own here too....

Tip about corn.....it likes to grow in blocks so the wind can pollinate it. You have them too far separated. Try putting 2 rows of corn side by side or better still, 3 rows of corn. The tassels disperse their pollen every now and then and if will drift away from the corn below it. Carried by the breeze/wind it ordinarily pollinates the corn beside it. Of course, if you insist on that plan, then tie a paper bag over a few of the tassels every nite, open them later the next day and if its released some pollen, shake it over the corn silks on any stalks you like.

Your peas, are they vining? Is there a reason you have them on the east side of the raised bed rather than the north?

I like that you have a fence around your garden. How lucky. That'll keep away the critters. Having those pumpkins and melons along the fence is a good idea. They have plenty of room to spread.

Peppers near the potatoes......Taters don't like being near or growing in the same soil the next year, of the tomato/pepper family because they grab the same nutrients, but it can't hurt to try. The new bed is full of nutrients so the two shouldn't drain the same ones too soon. I would make changes next year.

Love the layout. You've worked hard and it should be beneficial.

quiltbea wrote:Tip about corn.....it likes to grow in blocks so the wind can pollinate it. You have them too far separated. Try putting 2 rows of corn side by side or better still, 3 rows of corn.

The 4/s means she has double rows with 3 ft between them. That is a narrow block, but could work, according to how the wind blows there. Conventional spacing for corn is 3 ft between rows and 4 rows wide.

Turan, loved looking at your garden! It looks like you've got quite a lot going on

Quiltbea, thanks for looking over my garden plan and giving me your advice! Let's see, to answer you...

The two rows of corn aren't that far away from each other, just a few feet. I would restructure, but I just seeded the beets, carrots and radishes today I'll try the paper bag method though.

The peas are indeed vining. I put them in that corner because it's the shadiest place in the garden. That particular section doesn't get any morning sun, but it does get full sun from about noon until the sun goes down, so I figured it wouldn't make a difference if they were in the east.

Thanks for the tip about potatoes and peppers. It was a last minute change, actually. The peppers used to be where the radishes are now, but I thought about how leafy those winter squash will be and decided they would want to be somewhere sunnier. We'll see how it goes!

That's the good thing about SFG. You can try and experiment and if it works, hooray, and if it doesn't you just make a change the next year. No huge crop is lost.