Ontario - trying out SFG

hi all i am going to attempt to do these gardens this year with my mother 

any ways i have drawn up some plans and just want you guys to check them out (plant spacing)

i have grown every thing befor except the peppers and zucchini 

i know everywhere i have read  says to grow 2 zucchinni plants but my wife is a vegetarian and we consume 10 zuchinni a week(7days) so thats why i chose 4 

heres my planned layouts 
i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/corypi/garden%201_zps9yqjt1b6.jpg (apperently i cant post photos)
and
i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/corypi/garden2_zpssldcrwnh.jpg

(photo coming soon)

will my plants have enough room? any modifications you think i should make?

also i plan on starting all the seeds next week or the week after that will put me at 2 weeks past final frost for safety (my mom has 2 4 tube shoplights with 4 bulbs each so i should be ok to keep them indoors longer if needed) 
the beans and zuc. will be started at 2 week intervals aswell

Hi Corup,  Welcome to the Forum from California!   Trolleydriver, a very active active Ontarion, is on bereavement leave from the Forum, but will be back very soon.  Ontario is becoming an active All New SFG area.

Regarding zucchini, they are bed hogs, taking up about 9 square feet each. A compromise is to build a row of 2' x 2' boxes, or even 18" x 18", for each one.

Welcome from Ohio, c0ryp1!  How much room are you giving those zukes?  Also cannot see your links, can you just describe your set up?  How many squares, what you like to grow, etc.!

Welcome Cory! (Does that work as a shortening of your screen name, or no?)
I can see the links, but the photo images are too small to read. One magnifying glass icon leads to search, the other is view image... and neither *magnifies*....? Can you tell I'm not familiar with photobucket? I tried to copy and paste the image into MSWord and then enlarge it, but the words were all fuzzy and I still couldn't read them.

So I'm with ScorpioRising - a description would be great for now! Something like:
Bed 1, 4x4, From north to south, left to right
Row 1 - trellis: - 1 tomato (Rutgers) [2-squares], 1 tomato (Cherry Pie) [2-sq], [2 sq] pole beans (Gold Crown)
Row 2 - [4 sq] for the tomatoes above, [1] Marjoram, [1] Lettuce: Butterboy
Row 3 - all peppers, 1 square each: California Wonder, Jalapeño, Bellette, Purple Picker
Row 4 - [1] Spinach: Popeye, [1] Beets: Red Queen, [1] Green onions: Stallion Scallions, [1] Carrots: Garnet Imperial (with a "top hat" riser on that square)

(Yes - I made up some of the variety names...I think.)

Yes Cory is my name so feel free to use it

Ok let's see I have 2 4x8 foot boxes

It's gonna be 24" square as zuc. And then the silvery fir tomatos as another 24" square x2 (my mom grew them last year and they were self supporting bush type) and then one more 24" square as zuc(this box will be the black beauty's)

The 12" section in front of that will be 3 x cucumbers I wasn't planning on trellis just doing 3 plants spaced in the second plot from both ends and then one right in the middle of the two

To finish this box off will be a row of empress green bush beans on the last 12" section

The second box will be the same back as the first box but with golden zuc. And in place of the tomatos will be the doe hill bell peppers and another type of bell pepper that I can't think of the name right now (both peppers are labled as 24" spacing )

The next 12" row will have Rideau sweet cherry tomatos in the same configuration as the previous cucumbers

And then the last row I was going to try some red onions ( no seeds but I was reading that you can just keep replanting cut ends from the supermarket)

Was planning on starting my seeds at 2 week intervals to see if I can get some ripening at different times but I also was reading that all of the items I have chosen produce like crazy so this may not be needed?

(Written on a cellphone so hopefully it makes sense and doesn't run on too long)

Thanks for the warm welcome

You got a plan!  Sounds good!  You have gardenend before, right?  So you know what you like to eat, or is this a newish adventure for y'all?  

My biggest thing 1st to 2nd year was realizing what I WANTED to grow but really didn't like....

So last year, 2nd year, I ended up more on target.  However, I realized that a lot of what I like to grow in summer requires COOKING.  And I abhor cooking indoors in the summer.  It does not happen.  THerefore, this year, I am focusing more on stuff that I can eat right off the vine.  

Evolution....

Story?

Yes I have gardened befor but never a serious veggie garden only some tomatos in a container, and some beans on a fence sort of thing and not starting all my seeds indoors. My experience in gardening has been flowers and landscaping

I just figured that 60- 80% of my grocery is veggies and having the produce is starting to suck in my grocery store I figured that I will just try to grow every thing I buy besides the grapes apples blueberries etc because I don't have the room for those

Cory, Peppers can be planted 1/sq with SFG. Regarding the Zucchini, you will be trying to pawn off surplus to neighbors, strangers and any car with an open window! Do you have a Seal-a-Meal? You can blanch and freeze them for winter enjoyment.

Hi Cory. Welcome from Atlanta, GA.

Sounds good. And I'm sorry you don't have room for blueberries... We use them as our front hedges. From 6 plants last year, we got about 6 gallons (using bird netting).

Oh, and you can also dehydrate them!

i have seen the little dwarf type so i might buy a few of those and maby strawberries but its not one of my prioritys

 heres pictures now

c0ryp1  
from Kelejan in British Columbia.  

Come and see us on the Canadian thread when you get time, but keep this thread as your own, then you can keep in place a diary of your progress and you will appreciate it as the years go by.  Trolley Driver is from Ottawa and he has his own thread.  I wish I had started one of my own when I joined SFG.

Although Canada is a large land-mass, we seem to have few gardeners compared to the U.S. but that is understandable as their seasons are so much longer.  But we do our best.  We often complain about the cold and the wet etc.

Looks pretty good! Others have made most of the same comments I would have.
My additional comment is: how do you plan to support your tomatoes? I say this because my experience is that while those 3-4ft cages work well to help support pepper plants, they don't, in my experience, get enough resistance from Mel'sMix to stay upright under the load of a large healthy tomato plant. (I've found it horribly disappointing to have a tomato plant crash over in the wind and lose branches. )

Hi Cory, I am in Ontario too. Started my pepper and Tom seedlings last weekend. I think I started a bit earlier last year, but my plants got too big. They did fine though (I buried the Toms in deep). 

I water my seedlings from the bottom in big trays, and put them in a warm area. I bought a little mini greenhouse, where I hung lights with plastic cables. To save money on electricity I put the lights on at night. I also put blocks under the pots to raise them as close as possible to the light. There are different tricks for doing this. The seedlings also like air circulation so they don't dampen off, and to get stronger. I use a small fan to get them moving a bit. I also use organic fertilizer when they're a couple of weeks old. 

Otherwise, just follow the instructions on the packet. Good luck with you plant babies. I find growing from seed very fun and empowering. You can get way more kinds of plants this way too. Plus they're charging too much for seedlings these days.

Mimi2 wrote:Hi Cory, I am in Ontario too. Started my pepper and Tom seedlings last weekend. . . just follow the instructions on the packet. Good luck with your plant babies. I find growing from seed very fun and empowering. You can get way more kinds of plants this way too. Plus they're charging too much for seedlings these days.

I like that, empowering!

Stake secured to the side of the beds, then secure the cages to the stakes.