Starting to plan next year's garden

[Xtina]

I'm getting really revved up to start gardening again this year! I learned so much last year, but I now have some big questions about crop rotation that I need answered before I begin planning this year's garden. Here's a pic of my garden. I made this when I was considering putting a chicken coop in the spot labeled "19 feet"

At the top, there are two compost bins. Underneath one of them is the bed that I'll call "Bed A" for the purposes of this thread. Then let's go clockwise with the letters B, C, and D. We don't have to worry about hops beds, because those are the husband's.

Bed A: Last year, Bed A contained white beans, black beans, green beans, sweet peas and corn

Bed B: Last year, Bed B contained spinach and lettuces, particularly romaine. After the lettuce was gone, I transplanted a few tomato plants in to this bed. It also sprouted a volunteer potato.

Bed C: This bed was devoted to zucchini, pumpkins and tomatoes. I also put in a watermelon that got crowded out by the others.

Bed D: Here, I had a lot of white beans, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, sweet basil, parsley, and oregano. The parsley and oregano are the only plants that survived being tossed into the compost at the end of the season. They are still living, although only the oregano is thriving. And I never used any of it!

So, do you guys have suggestions for what I should or should not plant in any of the beds listed above? I've been doing what little soil remediation I can do, putting compost on top of the beds. As soon as I can, I'm going to turn that compost under and throw some worms from my worm composter into the beds.

Thanks in advance!

 

[allabout]

Can you help us out just a little by telling us your location. You may have a shorter growing season than say....Beav. in Southern Cal. than some of those in Canada.

I love what you planted last year, but that said, I will suggest what I would not plant in that small amount of space. No corn, watermelon or pumpkin again. But don't feel deprived because of the small space, just look at it like this, less weeding and the less watering required! Try "intensive gardening" meaning plant your vegetables very close together and harvest to give the others room to grow. And continue your double cropping- the way you planted tomatoes after the lettuce was harvested. Both of these techniques will ensure you space is not wasted!!

That said, I will tell you that everyone will have different ideas of what to do. You have a blank page on paper...and what your family eats will be different from everyone elses. I LOVE my herbs, but it sound like your family doesn't do many. Still, don't throw out the oregano.....try using it somewhere else as a low evergreen ground cover!! (I have some doing this coming up my sidewalk to my backdoor- think outside the box)

Late Spring: maybe lettuce, scallions, cabbage, broccoli, Irish potatoes (yum), radishes
Mid Summer: broccoli side shoots, cherry tomatoes, green tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, eggplant, lettuce, garlic, zucchini
Late Summer: the tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, basil, zucchini
Fall: more lettuces, cabbages, tomatoes, etc.

But this is what I would do also...add cut flowers...annuals of zennias are sooo carefree and you can only imagine how beautiful a basket of fresh veggies and cut flowers are with the smell of fresh cut herbs! I did a huge basket of this and gave to my father's primary physician....he calls me an "Artist" now... and this year I will have fresh eggs to go with my gathering....so, yes, add the chicken coop in the 19' area. Some laying hens will bring you much delight!! And don't forget the lounge chairs at the very end of the coop so you can watch the girls play and admire your hard work.

Whew...and thats alot of fun work to do!! Claudia

 

[Rosalind]

Hard to say without knowing where you are.

Basically the idea behind crop rotation is that you have "heavy feeders" (corn, squash, tomatoes, peppers, melons &c.) and "light feeders" (lettuces, greens, beans, peas, herbs, scallions &c). Alternate beds between heavy and light feeders.

You can get more elaborate to avoid disease buildup by classifying the most-grown plants according to their family (Poaceae, Curcurbits, Solanaceae, Brassicas) because generally bugs that eat Solanaceae (taters, tomatoes, peppers) will avoid the Alliaceae (onions, garlic, leeks). My Rodale's Encyclopedia recommends the following 4-bed rotation:
1. Solanaceae & Curcurbitaceae (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants & squash, cukes, melons) -- heavy feeders
2. Alliaceae & Papilionaceae (onions, leeks, garlic, shallots & peas, beans) -- light feeders
3. Brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, cauliflower) -- heavy feeders
4. Apiaceae & Chenopodiaceae (carrots, parsnips & spinach, chard, beets) -- light feeders

Even so, with only four beds in rotation, I would certainly put a generous amount of compost in a bed prior to planting a heavy feeder there. Personally I like to leave a bed covered in clover or buckwheat every 4th-5th season or so, but that's not always feasible.

 

[Xtina]

Sorry, I forgot to mention, I'm in Portland, Oregon! We had such bad luck with tomatoes last year, everyone's were green still in October. Only my cherry tomatoes turned red, and they're no good for sauce! Anyhow, thanks for the advice, that'll be helpful. I'll cut out the corn and watermelon next year for sure. Neither worked very well. But I fell in love with pumpkin, so I might carve out another area of garden and do more of those. I made the best pies at thanksgiving with them.
Thanks again!

 

[me&thegals]

Hi and welcome

A couple suggestions with all great advice given above!

I do 5' beds also. Be sure to dig really deeply and work in lots of great fertilizer, as this is a pretty intensive growing method with the plants packed in more tightly and using up more nutrients per sq foot.

Look for great homemade tomato/spaghetti sauce recipes--they tend to use a lot of oregano. I, too, have a rapidly spreading plant and was really happy to use it fresh in my canned and frozen sauce this year. Let me know if you would like the recipe.

If any pest problems develop, just move that next year's crop as far away as possible. We get potato beetles, but when we moved the potatoes this year as far away as possible from last year's location, there were only a very few beetles this year.

Companion planting books may help you work out what to plant together for maximal space use and pest control. Good luck!

ETA: I'm in central WI. Colder, too, but probably not as bad as Portland. For your warmth-loving plants, consider black or red plastic! We rarely get watermelons to ripen in time. This year, we laid out a huge roll of black plastic, cut holes in for each melon hill and planted in the usual spacing manner. We had AWESOME melons for once! Plus, no weeds except for a little hand weeding right at each hill. We did not punch holes in the plastic for rain water but hand watered each hill instead. Would also work great for your tomatoes and peppers, I think.

 

[Xtina]

Oh, I am a major oregano fan, that's why I planted it. I forget that people can't just immediately tell that I'm of Greek descent. I was making a pasta sauce garden by putting tomatoes, basil, oregano, and parsley all in one! My oregano was probably the most successful, but it got overshadowed by the tomatoes and I couldn't find it for a long time. Then when I pulled up the tomatoes, there was a beautiful oregano plant. It didn't get used due to laziness on my part. So much to do to keep a household!!! It overwhelms me most days.

Thanks for the watermelon suggestion! If my neighbor and I build another joint bed on the side of the house, I might use that method.