Critique my tenative garden plans!

I have these 4 boxes tentatively planned right now. I'm pretty sure the one for tomatoes and the one for strawberries will be the same but not sure about the other boxes yet. I haven't even filled out all the green ones because I wasn't sure if some might need a larger space and/or maybe I'll grow more varieties for certain vegetables or maybe add some other vegetables that's easy to grow here. (I'm in Texas aka hot hot summers)



For the tomatoes I'm planning to make tomato cages out of remesh. I'm planning to maybe stake the peppers. For the Cucumbers, snap peas, and eggplant - I'm planning to make a trellis but using two stakes on both sides and tying twine between them. I gave the summer squash so much space because I've heard they have huge leaves and takes up a lot of space.

I will also probably do more than a foot between boxes obviously, more like 2-3 but I just wanted to fit them all on one screen.


Any ideas/critiques?

I garden in the far north so don't have your heat probs but I can tell you that eggplant (its an upright plant) won't need trellising so save that space for something vining, like cukes, peas, pole beans.

Even here in the north, my zucchini and summer squash need 9 sq feet to grow well, so that's good on your plan.

Unless you get excessive growth, I doubt your peppers will need staking. They love to 'rub shoulders' with each other and will hold themselves upright. If too much growth and they start to flop over, just wrap some twine around them to keep them upright or use a couple of stakes and twine them. But you many never need stakes.

Good luck with your new garden.

If you are okay with your herbs reseeding in your box leave them there but if you want to change it up year after year you may want to consider a seperate herb garden or herbs in containers! Have fun!

Sorry I can't critique, but what program did you make that in?

Tris wrote:Sorry I can't critique, but what program did you make that in?

That's just in excel

sheisaeval wrote:

Tris wrote:Sorry I can't critique, but what program did you make that in?

That's just in excel

Thank you!

I've updated my plan a bit. I expanded the beds to 8x4 instead and for the green box I'm thinking about trying the three sisters method. Any other recommendations?

For 3 sisters, make sure your corn is up about 4-6" before you sow those pole beans. They need a head start before the faster growing pole beans.

There are some helpful videos on utube about three sisters that may help you.

I've tweaked/updated my plans a bit, any further recommendations or helpful hints?

Borage is quite invasive. In fact, plant one, and you'll never have to plant another! You could actually start a business selling baby borage plants.

In other words, keep it out of your SFG. In a pot near (but not TOO near) your tomatoes would be a good spot. Borage helps repel the dreaded tomato hornworm.

donnainzone10 wrote:Borage is quite invasive. In fact, plant one, and you'll never have to plant another! You could actually start a business selling baby borage plants.

In other words, keep it out of your SFG. In a pot near (but not TOO near) your tomatoes would be a good spot. Borage helps repel the dreaded tomato hornworm.

Do you have any suggestions for another herb that can go in the box with the strawberries instead of borage?

Parsley is the first thing that comes to mind.

Basil and stevia.

I thought of basil, too, but I think it would work best near the tomatoes.

Although not an herb, a square of brightly-colored lettuce (Mottistone, Outredgeous, etc.) would be a nice accent, and lettuce is compatible with strawberries.