All About Home and Garden

In a previous article I touched on the subject of what to grow, some good combinations, identified some plant types, and covered some planting dates. I will now get into more detail on these subjects, layout some beds with different combinations, and plan them through the growing season. When we get to the planting. You should have a good idea what you want to do with the space that you have available.

To plan a bed I will make a template that can be used every time, with different combinations, and different planting dates. In the winter I sit down and make a plan for the garden, determine what I am going to grow, how much, and when to plant each bed to get the results that I want.

Example of Planting Plan Template for 4' Beds

BED NUMBER

SR 1 Lettuce Thin to 12" apart and use thins.
SR 2 Spinach Thin to 3" apart and use thins.
MR 1 Spinach Thin to 3" apart and use thins.
SR 3 Bush Peas No thinning necessary.
SR 4 Bush Peas No thinning necessary.
CR Spinach Transplant Tomatoes May 1, 2' apart
SR 5 Bush Peas No thinning necessary.
SR 6 Bush Peas No thinning necessary.
MR 2 Spinach Thin to 3" apart and use thins.
SR 7 Spinach Thin to 3" apart and use thins.
SR 8 Green Onions Thin to 3" apart and use thins.

Example of Planting Plan Template for 2' beds

BED NUMBER

SR 1 Tall Peas No thinning necessary.
SR 2 Tall Peas No thinning necessary.
CR Spinach Transplant Tomatoes May 1, 2' apart
SR 3 Spinach Thin to 3" apart and use thins.
SR 4 Garlic sets No thinning necessary.

If you use drip irrigation you may not get good seed germination in the main and center rows when using four soaker lines per 4' bed.

However, in the early spring this does not present a problem, there is rain or snow and stays cool. If it is unusually warm here in the spring I will hand water with a hose until the seeds germinate. In some gardens I have had a combination of sprinkler and drip irrigation.

At those locations I wanted to keep planting some hard to germinate seeds into the summer months. Crops like carrots. The best time to grow carrots here is when you plant around June 1. The sprinklers help to get fall crops started also. Crops like lettuce, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli etc.

Some crops that require a cool season will grow well in the fall, but they need to be planted in the heat of summer, here in Utah that would be in August. The sprinklers were set up so they could be adjusted to work with small areas, by changing the heads to quarter, half or full, and were only used when needed.

Once the plants were established, I would stop using the sprinklers, and turn on the drip irrigation. I no longer have enough space for that, all of my beds are planted in the spring, and the beds are still producing at the time fall crops would need to be planted.

In desert areas that I have gardened, there was not any snow, and very little rain. When starting the garden in the late fall it was still hot and dry. I needed the overhead watering in those locations to get the plants started, but there is another option for that situation, by adding four more soaker lines per bed.

Then there will be a soaker hose along every soaker row, the lines would need to be placed right on top of the seed rows, so that the seeds would get direct water, instead of the water being dripped 3" away from the plant row, like in the system that I use with four lines per 4' bed.

View the original article here