Nashville frost date and layout plan review (please)

I'm a little confused with regards to the frost date for Nashville, TN, based on several different sites that I've reviewed. I have found dates anywhere from the beginning of April, to mid-May. Is there that much fluctuation, or are these poorly labeled 'probability' dates?

on another note, i was hoping to have some experienced eyes review my sfg plan. please note, the beds aren't actually that close together. i'm curious as to if i have some things bedded too close together, as i know some plants don't do well together. the middle and right beds have 1/2" EMT conduit (reinforced w/ 4' rebar) in place for ~6' trellises.

i don't have anything in the ground yet, so i'm also curious as to if i've missed the mark for some of these things. on the flip side, i plan on putting everything in the ground this week, and wondered if that is too soon for other items.



thanks,
dave

Hey Dave,
are these 4 x 4 boxes? I don't see any bad companions. If your watermelon goes up the trellis it should stay out of your strawberries and lettuce. Keep an eye on the strawberries as they'll send out "sisters" (runners) to make new plants. Otherwise I don't see any problem.
Sorry to hear about the confusion on your frost dates. Hopefully someone here lives in your area and can help. There are a lot of frost date web sites out there and all of them seem to give different dates.
A great source of accurate local gardening information is the Cooperative Extension System Office in your county. You can find it by clicking the map here:
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html
Your county page should have accurate frost date info and possibly even recommended planting times for different crops. Good luck.

I have not seen that big of a swing in last frost dates but I have seen dates spread out over much of April. Most references I have seen place it some where between April 10th and April 20th. I would say anytime after this next week you are 90% safe. We have had a few late April killing frosts the most recent being two years ago but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

I see no real issues with your garden plan myself other than than the fact that there are not enough tomatoes. If those are 4x4 beds that is only two tomato plants and that is not nearly enough for my taste, but hey that is just me.

My only suggestion, and it's strictly a personal preference due to height differences, would be to switch your broccoli with your cabbage and R. lettuce. in the right box. I have no idea if that would affect the companion planting scheme.

boffer wrote:My only suggestion, and it's strictly a personal preference due to height differences, would be to switch your broccoli with your cabbage and R. lettuce. in the right box. I have no idea if that would affect the companion planting scheme.

noted, thanks for the tip!

doh! rookie mistake. i had planned on growing the broccoli and cabbage from seed, and apparently it is too late for that. in lieu of broccoli and cabbage, i'm considering more peppers and tomatoes. that being said, i had planned on at least some of the tomatoes being roma tomatoes (i use them in my salsa) and have since read that they are very bushy and determinate.

should i consider moving the romas out of my SFG and just put them in their own individual planters and cage them, and instead use the SFG space for something else? i guess i could also put a trellis on the right side of the right box and grow tomatoes or some other vine there?

thanks.
dave

I actually had two roma tomato plants in my square foot garden last year. I had decent but not great results with them. I did prune and train them up a trellis and the first set of blooms/fruit was outstanding. They were very prolific plants but they fizzled a bit with time. The later blooms and fruit were reduced in number and size. As the season went on they got smaller and smaller. I would still consider them since they are great for canning and salsa. I would just plan on one or two good harvests from the plants then add the plants to the compost pile early and free up the squares for a late summer/fall crop planting.

I just wanted to point out that oregano should come back for 2-4 years, so make sure it is somewhere you don't mind it being for a while. same with the strawberries. I'm keeping all my perennials in pots, and the strawberries have their own bed since you want to allow some runners the second year so you will have continuous strawberry plants.