I'm very new to gardening and this year I've had the idea to start a vegetable patch. Petrus, who comes to help me out once a week, was all for it and decided he wanted to be the one doing the planting. Since neither one of us really knew what we were doing we are left with a bit of a vegetable jungle at the moment!! Butternut vines.... as far as the eye can see..... Here and there a brave tomato or grean bean is standing it's ground, and the watermelon and sweet melon is only just starting! They've all been planted way to close together but now I feel to sorry to remove them as they're all growing so beautifully and it's flowers everywhere... But I do know they won't have enough space. Once the jungle thins out by the end of the season is there any advice for next year? I'm thinking of marking 90 cm square blocks with rope or something and then we stick with one seed per block. It's a lot of fun seeing them grow with such abundance but I think next year we should use a bit more planning
You are doing okay for a first time garden... we live and learn. What you learned was too many too close doesn't work so well. Do your seed packages have information on them as to how far apart the plants should be planted or thinned to? Carefully adhere to the recommendations for each kind of plant or seed you sow. If you think "that just can't be right!" still follow the directions. It is amazing how much space each plant needs to grow to maturity. Tomatoes need to be supported. they will be far more productive on a trellis or cage or string than lying sprawled all over the ground. Disease and animals like to destroy them, too. Watermelon needs quite a bit of space... give it to them. Peppers need to be staked or caged for me. Otherwise they break off when I am trying to harvest because the stems and branches are brittle. Planting FEWER than what you need is better than planting more. Plants can quickly overwhelm you with the time and space they need from you inorder to give to you what you thought you would get from them. Carry on, though.
Think of the first garden as a test garden. Make notes of how much room each veggie plant took, you could take photos the garden in full growth to refer back to. The notes could also include the date planted, the date they started setting blooms and the date you were able to harvest any of the produce. That will be very helpful next year too. Have you noticed bees and butterflies flitting around the plants? The first garden will give them a chance to find you so next year they will return, their memory (especially bees) about where the good nectar is, is better than ours about anything. 90 cm squares for planting is a good size, that gives plenty of room for mature growth, air circulation around and between the plants and for you to get to them when it's picking time. Thinning out is always a sad time for me, I know they need space for good growth but I feel sorry for the ones I pull out. If you have friends or neighbors who are also gardening, you might pot up the ones you pull up and pass them along to others. I am looking forward to seeing photos of your veggie garden, the wild one now and the more tame one next year too.
Boy, that was some good advice from Carolyn and Toni. I am like Toni and would like to see some pics of your present garden. I shall only make one suggestion and that is to be sure and rotate your crops each year. A rotation of 3 or 4 years would be suitable for your plot, I am reckoning. When rotating, Think in terms of plant families, not just individual plants. For instance--- if you plant tomatoes in one place this year, do not plant, say...potato's in that same plot of ground the following season. The reason is that they are in the same family. the same goes for brassica's, curcubids, beans, peas and so forth. I agree that you could use more planning next year. Good luck in the coming season.
Thanks for all the advice! In the front is watermelons and sweet melons, middle the butternut, left back tomatoes and somewhere to the back right some beans. side view... The bees' playground... Baby butternut!
Everything looks great, vines growing along the ground always look out of control but not all of them can be trellised because of the weight of their produce. You might be interested in the Three Sisters form of gardening too .... http://rodaleinstitute.org/the-three-sistersand-that-fourth-sister-no-one-really-talks-about/
Wow Toni that's really interesting! I always think in terms of horizontal space and there they are all working together.
Those foto's and explanations are great! You really have a nice spread there, I must say. Good-looking plot. What sort of soil do you have? It seems to have a colour that makes me think of clay. Have you ever tested it with one of those kits that are available? I am just curious.
Sjoerd I do not have the faintest idea.... But I tried to plant some dainty flower seeds in pots in the house and the ground was to hard for them. Enter seeding soil
Well, if that soil of yours is in fact clay, you may want to add some "structure" to your plot so that it will not become so hard. Your garden area already looks good though.
I do vertical gardening with any vining plants. For heavy fruits like melons and squash I put them in mess bags ( onion & clam bags) and tie them to the trellis when the fruit is small. It has worked very well for me. It also eliminates fruit rotting on the ground and bending to pick. You need heavy duty trellises.
Looks like you have plenty of space for those plants. I would let them be and see how they do since they already look so good. I probably have broken more garden rules than anyone on the planet and barring the flooding rains we have had,,I usually have excellent production from my garden. Only thing I might say is to increase the fertilizer a bit if you think you need it to help those heavy feeders.
You guys give great advice. My grandfather always had an amazing vegetable garden, 30-something different species according to my mom, but sadly he's not alive to give advice anymore. And my dad keeps telling me you need so much meters for this and so much meters for that.... I want to plant peach trees next year and already I've had the speech, "you need a billion meters for that" So I think I'll leave the veggies be and just make notes. The vertical garden sounds great, I have just the space for something like that...
My jungle these days. We've started eating the butternuts and they're delicious! The butternut plants are thining out now but the watermelon and sweet melon are rocking it up in the front.
