Why do gardeners and farmers plan out their fields, crops and harvests? It is "easy" to plop a transplant in the ground or sow a row of carrots, right? Yes, most of the act of growing a crop or plant is done for you by the plant, Creator and nature. But you have to know when you need to come harvest said crop and need to make sure you are not putting your frost-sensitive tomatoes in the ground too early or too late to reap a harvest.
I don't know about you, but life in our house is BUSY! We have three daughters, pets, family, friends, activities that we love and sometimes I just can't keep track of everything that needs to be done in a week let alone in the future! When did I put those bean seeds in the ground? Was I supposed to plant carrots this week? Who has a dentist appointment? You have no clean clothes?!? If I can get a planting, seeding, transplanting and harvest schedule going in the winter then that's one less thing I have to do in the heat of the summer growing season! All I have to do is follow the plan.
My last blog post went over creating maps for your growing space. Now, let's talk about planning the actual crops to plant in those beds!
If you've never intentionally gardened before, I suggest starting with making a list of the veggies you and those of your household enjoy eating - we'll include tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers and squash with veggies since that's their culinary use. You probably already know which ones are a hit and which ones you can skip.
Hopefully you have an idea (or a map!?!) of your garden & growing areas already. Do you have an idea of where in your growing area receives the most sun? Do you have a shady spot? Do you have paths built into your growing area? Make notes of these things - and add in any perennial plants at their mature size - in your map. Then try to break your growing areas into beds. Most beds are long but fairly narrow so that you can reach the center from either side of the bed. If you're doing container gardening, then figure out how many containers you have and where you want them to be for the season. I suggest numbering or giving names to your beds/containers. Make an index of all your available spaces and tentatively assign a crop to that space. If I have an area that receives shade, I try to put my leafy greens, peas and brassicas there. They don't need full sun to thrive.
An example from my 2021 plan would be:
Row 1 (12'x30") - full sun - flowers
Raised bed B (12'x4') - spring sun, summer shade, fall shade - spinach, arugula, Asian greens
Pots (24ea) - full sun - dahlias.
(picture is of my tomato growing area in the fall of 2020, blueberries, winter squash and greenhouse)
Next week I'll cover determining how many plants you need to fill up the space you have set aside for them.
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