Help with Garden Plan?

Ok, I think I'm nearly finalized on my 2011 garden plan. Would you all take a look for me and let me know if I have overlooked something.

Note:

• one 4x8 bed and two 4x4 beds.
  
• There is a trellis on the north side of the 4x8 bed.
  
• Indeterminate tomatoes will be grown in buckets to the north of the boxes. There will be a separate trellis for them. They will not be as close to the beds as they appear.
  
• Those squares divided in half represent a crop change. The top half is the early spring planting, and the bottom half is the summer planting.
  
• The cantaloupe will be allowed to flow out the box and across the lawn.
  

Thanks!

Dizzygardener,
Your plan looks great. What are the circles at the top? tubs/buckets? I'm interested in trying my potatoes in a big container this year.

dmsandlin wrote:Dizzygardener,
Your plan looks great. What are the circles at the top? tubs/buckets? I'm interested in trying my potatoes in a big container this year.

I plan on using 5 gallon buckets for my tomatoes.

The potatoes will probably be in large Sterilite plastic containers.

sterilite containers were what I have been thinking.
have you grown your potatoes this way before?

No, I haven't, so this is going to be a bit of an experiment. From what I can tell, people have had good success with the Sterilite containers.

I grew my potatoes in sterlite tubs last year. I drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom but I think our spring rains last year were too much for them. This year I plan to try again, but elevate them on some bricks or something to make sure they can drain ok. The best part was they are easy to harvest from the tubs! Just dump out on a tarp and pick em out!

That plan looks great! My only critique is that it doesn't resemble mine. Can you come and correct it for me?

Looks nice, and tasty I'm sure it'll be great for you

Hey dizzy,

What a great plan! And I am completely jealous of all your space for the tomatoes, too. I do have a few comments, though. In no particular order....

1. Your Kale might be able to grow all summer if you want it to.... but nothing wrong with pulling it in favor of new plants!

2. Chives / garlic chives can be grown as an annual, but if you have a spare planter, you might want to give them their own permanent home, as if they do well, they will become a perennial and spread, albeit slowly.

3. I am (seriously) not sure about the wisdom of growing dill and carrots in the same bed. I think they will cross-pollinate.... but I don't have any personal experience, so I am hoping someone else will chime in here.

4. In the lower-left bed, you may want to swap the onions and eggplant. In general, if there's something that's just going to hang out in the ground for a long time, stick that closer to the middle of the bed and give yourself easier access to something like eggplant that you'll be interacting with much more often. (Then again, you can reach over the onions easily enough. Just sayin'.) I played some balancing acts last year, literally, on the edges of my beds trying to get at plants without stepping on my Mix, so I try to think about that now.

Hope this helps. I think my biggest concern is the dill.

Also... I really like your innovation of the split line in the square showing early / late planting. Very intuitive and easy to understand. +1

Megan,

Thank you so much for your response! Your posts are always so thorough and informative!

1. Indeed, the kale will probably last into summer, but I need the growing space. I might pull the broccoli rabe early and replant kale there for the summer. I'm not sure yet.

2. Thanks, I hadn't thought about that with the chives. I'll look into getting a container for them.

3. How close can I put the dill to the carrots? If I moved it over to the first 4x4 box in the upper left corner would that be far enough away? Will I then have a problem with the parsley? Maybe the dill should be in a container as well? While we are at it, how many dill can I plant per square. I'm growing it mostly for the heads, so I can make LOTS of pickles!

4. I did consider moving the eggplant, but I was going to move it to the north edge of the box and put the lima beans in its place. However, from what I gather, I'm not supposed to have onions next to beans, so I need the eggplant as a barrier between the two.

Thanks again!

Gee, I am blushing... thank you! You are very welcome.

About the broccoli rabe: I grew some last year and it was done by late spring/early summer. It was a race against the hot weather and the flea beetles for all my spring brassicas (the rabe, bok choy, radishes, etc.) By the time the flea beetles were in full swing destructo mode, everything was getting ready to bolt anyway, so I just pulled it and ate it.

You may have better luck than me on that score, being in 6b rather than 7a, but my suggestion would be to put the Kale in its permanent spot and not try to move it. You could swap the rabe and the kale, for starters.

I honestly don't know how far the dill should be from the carrots, but the same 4x4 is not a good idea. Everything I've read says dill does not play nicely with others, either...but I don't know how how true that is. If you free up the garlic chives spot, that might be a place for it.

I also don't know about dill per square. (Ander, you want to chime in here? Please?) What I do know is that there are different kinds of dill and they grow to different sizes, some can get quite large, so it will depend on which kind you get. Mine didn't do very well last year (and I'm growing it for the same reason you are!!)

Hope that helps!

Goodness gracious! I'm glad you said something. I just took another look at the packet of Dill seeds I have (from Wintersown.org). This varietal is supposed to get 3-5 feet tall. That changes everything!

Looks like the Dill will go in its own container as well...

I like your idea of swapping the kale and the rabe. Will do.

Hee. I remember some Dill I met (that sounds funny, doesn't it?) out in California that must have been of the Mammoth variety. It really was ginormous. If I am getting it right, Dill will re-seed itself once it gets big and happy, and then you will have plenty forevermore. So, yeah... own container, and maybe its own little dilly corner of the yard, too.

Scraping the corners of my memory now (it's been a long day), I also seem to remember that dill is a favorite food of some caterpillars--monarchs? swallowtail?--so you may want to plant some extra, just in case, if you want to get lots of dill heads / weed for pickling.

Also...speaking of dill weed, here is an awesome photo (and no, not mine! Wish it was.)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanh/4815287435/in/photostream/