If you could start over- what would you do differently?

No! Not the grapes!

I’m renting and it’s limited some of my options. But I do plan on buying (not this house/yard, somewhere else local) in a couple years, so some of these are relevant to when I start over at the new place:

- Use more plant labels. Seriously. “This tasted great, I wonder which variety it was!” “Hm. This square *looks* empty – did I plant seeds here yet?”  “If I knew who you potted seedlings were, I’d know where I planned to transplant you...” “The critters took out *something*that was in this square...”

- Have a better fence/gates to keep out critters(renting limited my current options here). Like others on the forum I’m having issues this year. 

- Immediately start using tulle for the brassicas (cabbage butterflies, root maggots?, et al.) and beets (leaf miners.)  Huge difference in outcome/effort! 

- Thinner long beds for the tall/trellised stuff so I can reach both sides – I’m short.

- Wider paths (because some are the OSFG 1ft wide and it just isn’t enough)

- My next yard will have a larger, sunnier place for the garden. My option here was under a tree or not at all – and I still prefer my shady garden to not having one at all! Also, either a less windy place, or the ability to install a good windbreak. And not at the bottom of a hill sloping away from the sun.

- Woodchip paths – not grass --> mud --> head-quarters for plants invading the beds from the bottom edges

- More metal trellises and either keeping them in place year-round, or a better way to move them (rather than pulling up rebar, and/or using the screwdriver every year.)   - something like Sanderson’s PVC cup holders.

-Get a compost tumbler sooner (Jora JK270! Just got some nice stuff out!)

-Start with flowering perennials for the OSFG border beds instead of not getting to annuals until it's too late

- ____< whatever the thing I need to do to get nice broccoli and cauliflower heads (might be as simple as the more sun mentioned above.)

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:- Use more plant labels. Seriously. “This tasted great, I wonder which variety it was!” “Hm. This square *looks* empty – did I plant seeds here yet?”  “If I knew who you potted seedlings were, I’d know where I planned to transplant you...” “The critters took out *something*that was in this square...”  

Amen to that, Girlfriend. 

Wow!  Great thread!

1.  Siting the original re-purposed windowboxes;  I put them around a tree root hole.  Really dumb.  Yes, it did “hide” the hole, but also not cool as far as weed/grass control.  They are in a modified box with a walk-in place.  I love their dimensions (about 1.5’x varying lengths, and about 12-14 inches deep) but they are falling apart.  They won’t make it too much longer, so will have an opportunity.

2.  Siting my compost pile/and not using a bin-type compost maker; again, put compost in a tree root hole.  Wet, gets anaerobic when tons of rain.  Not very productive.

3.  3’x7’ bed; first year last summer planted 18 tomato plants in there.  Too much!  Too dense.  Not good production.  Converted to strawberry bed!  Much better.

I'm loving this thread!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Wow!  Great thread!

3.  3’x7’ bed; first year last summer planted 18 tomato plants in there.  Too much!  Too dense.  Not good production.  Converted to strawberry bed!  Much better.

"Too dense" is also a mistake I made gardening in the house in the winter. With no breeze, all sorts of bad things happen to inside plants, and jamming them too close together makes it even worse. Now I plant more sparsely and give my inside plants some exersise, either with a fan or just moving them around or shaking them.