Victory garden planning.....Part 2

Planning your veggie garden is from what I have been told.... the most important thing. (I guess...besides buying the seeds). But I have been having alot of fun with this. Truth be known I had no idea that there were so many different types of plants. I have been just amazed!I love looking through all of the seed catalogs....and browsing online.

Here are some of my favorites:

http://gurneys.com/

http://www.parkseed.com/

http://www.humeseeds.com/

http://www.seedsofchange.com/

or just go to Walmart.....

What does your family eat and what are you going to grow???

Make a list of the things that your family will eat and things that you would like to grow.....Then think about space.....

First of all where are you going to plant everything? and how much space are you going to need?

Even the smallest back yard or porch can produce a crop of vegetables in containers. Planter boxes, wooden barrels, hanging baskets and large flowerpots are just some of the containers that can be used. The container gardener is only limited by his own self. When I lived in a much smaller house, with a tiny postage stamp back yard, and it was only my husband and I, we used the container method. Our tomatoes grew like crazy, our lettuce and peppers did well. You just get MUCH LESS. But now having a family of 7, I need my yield to be greater. Plus now have lots more space.

The traditional method of vegetable garden layout was to plant long rows. Most home gardeners now plant in beds rather than rows. This method allows you to concentrate on the area where the plants are growing rather than wasting time on the paths between the rows.

(Walking between the rows also ruins the soil structure, so beds can be better way to go.)

Beds need to be small enough so that you can easily reach in to weed and harvest all the plants without stepping on the bed itself. Also, if you raise your beds about 8 to 12 inches, you will have improved drainage and the soil will stay warmer in colder weather, such as early spring. Last year I tried raised beds. The problem that I found was that our soil is so hard and rocky pass that 4-6 mark. So once my carrots got through the good soil they were stubby Plus I ran out of room fast!!! Not enough to feed 7 people.

This year I have chosen wide row gardening.....Here is some information.

This is taken from Ed Humes web page http://www.humeseeds.com/

Wide-row gardening may be a practical solution. It is a way to produce an abundant quantity of vegetables in limited space. Wide-row gardening means grouping several rows together, rather than planting in single rows. This reduces the amount of walking room between rows. In addition to saving space, it saves time, increases yield and makes harvesting easier.
I want to utilize every inch that is available, we have used this method in our garden for several years. With the rising cost of produce we consider this to be especially important. Vegetable beds are about four feet wide and 20 feet long. Here is an example of how much space this conserves: In one wide-row bed two feet long I can plant the equivalent of a 48-foot single row of garden carrots.

Put another way, a bed four feet wide and 20 feet long seeded with carrots is the equivalent of 480 feet of carrots planted in a single row. Wide-row planting also means I can expect to harvest up to six times as much produce per foot.

I find that this method of gardening saves me a lot of time and it is important that I use my time to best advantage. Watering time is cut down because the lower foliage tends to shade the entire area and reduces evaporation. Also, because the crops are planted closer together, they tend to crowd out weeds. Fertilizer is conserved, too, because all the soil that has been prepared is utilized.

Using the wide-row method, more than one row is planted of a particular crop. For example, instead of planting a single row of bush beans, two are planted close together. To make the wide-row even wider, plant three, four, five or more rows close together. Spacing of plants in the rows will depend entirely on crops grown. Directions on the back of the seed packet will specify how close together that crop should be spaced.
I plant in four-foot-wide beds because it is easy to reach across this distance from each side for weeding, watering and harvesting purposes.
As in all vegetable gardening, the key to success is proper soil preparation. Take extra time to properly till or spade the soil to a depth of six to 12 inches. Mix in ample amounts of compost, if available, processed manure, well-rotted manure and an all-purpose vegetable garden fertilizer. After mixing these soil additives with the existing soil, rake the area level to eliminate low spots where water night collect and keep the soil cool. By mounding the planting area you will find the soil dries out and warms up sooner and crops reach maturity at an earlier date.

Plan the layout of the garden before you start planting, keeping in mind that tall-growing crops should be to the north. Otherwise, they would shade lower-growing plants.

A Location & layout.....Do you have a spot in mind?????

LOCATION (Ed Hume)
Choose the sunniest, brightest spot in the whole yard. If there's not such a spot, choose the next sunniest spot, avoiding any areas that are too shady, as leaf-crops are about the only thing that will grow in limited sun. If you are limited for space or do not have a bright, sunny spot in the yard, then you can grow some vegetables in containers on a sunny patio, deck or lanai. In fact, you'll be amazed at how many vegetables you can grow in a really limited space, such as a container. A few years ago my neighbor, who had a very small yard, grew all his vegetables in the sunny part of his garden, amongst his summer flowering annuals. Being a Montana farm boy, knowing what he was doing, he harvested a fine crop. Of course, in such situations one would not use harsh chemicals or pesticides.

A LAYOUT

Or just draw something up on a piece of paper....

There are lots of web sites that you can plot up a garden for free or a small charge. Some people swear by it. But I just draw mine out on a piece of paper and it never is the same anyways....I follow what it says to a point....but mostly I just switch things up a little bit and correct it as I go. But it serves as a good guide.

NOTE:

There are some plants that, when planted close together, will benefit each other. Likewise, there are certain combinations of plants that will inhibit the growth of one or both types of plants. Here are a few combinations to avoid:
Potatoes – inhibit growth of tomatoes and squash
Beans – inhibit growth of onions
Broccoli – inhibits growth of tomatoes
Carrots – inhibit growth of dill
This isn’t to say that you can’t grow these plants together in the same garden, just don’t grow them right next to each other.