Veggie patch 2016 - 16/07 progress pics pg 8

It's so pretty, I want a pic like that

I m in bed but will reply tonight as I m out all day tomorrow.

I can't see anything strikingly obviously in the ' wrong' place. It looks like a great starting point to me, once you've done this year you ll then know what works and doesn't work. That's all part of the fun

You ll have to tell me all about the 3 sisters thingy as I Only skimmed I also don't have any bean or squash seeds yet.
Must go to bed.....zzzzzzz

That is so organised! Love the plan too!

[clothmama]

there are so many things to think about

How Should Garden Rows be Oriented?

Generally speaking, in the north, tall plants such as beans, peas and corn do best on the north side of the garden. Medium size crops such as tomatoes, cabbage, squash, pumpkins and broccoli in the center of the garden. Short-growing plants such as lettuce, radishes, beets, and onions will do best in the southernmost part of the garden.

Most experts believe that the best way to orient garden rows in the Northern hemisphere is north to south. This gives the most sun exposure and allows for ample air circulation. When crops are planted east to west, the rows tend to shade each other.

I moved all the tomatoes to face the other way then discovered that my original way is actually better for them as it gets so hot here that it is good that they can give themselves some shade I've also moveda few bits around and chopped out some broccoli (jusyt can't get my head around how much space it takes up for yeild - totmatos give so many more pounds per foot and we eat so much pasta / pizza / mexican sauce that it is something I can preserve for the winter too.

@autumnalgirl I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm soooo unorganised that the only way I have a chance of pulling this off is to get mega organised with it!! Also with the free planner as you put your plants in the plan it also generates a list of my plants with info on when to plant them, harvest etc so for a newbie like me it is just awesome! If you get the paid one they even email you each fortnight to remind you what you need to plant / harvest. Anyone want to donate 20 quid to the Tory garden fund so I can get it LOL

So I think I'm nearly there. I've:

• Done the plan
• Decided what I'm planting
• I've just checked if any of my plants next to each other are 'combative' and they seem to be OK! This chart is pretty handy for basic veggies:
  http://www.ufseeds.com/Vegetable-Compan ... Chart.html
• Started digging!

Not sure what else I need to do @confusinglady the rotation each season makes a lot of sense and I'm trying to do as much as I can with companion planting, crop rotation etc but I'm not sure how my plan works to rotate for next year but i'm thinking I have enough on my plate and worry about it then

there are so many things to think about

@autumnalgirl I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm soooo unorganised that the only way I have a chance of pulling this off is to get mega organised with it!! Also with the free planner as you put your plants in the plan it also generates a list of my plants with info on when to plant them, harvest etc so for a newbie like me it is just awesome! If you get the paid one they even email you each fortnight to remind you what you need to plant / harvest. Anyone want to donate 20 quid to the Tory garden fund so I can get it LOL

:

Could MrCM write you one?!?!? amongst his window building, wall rearranging, other work commitments!!

Gaah I still have to make a plan for this year Ah well it's still early.
Have a load of seeds from last year, though a few are out of date but heho we can always try.
We have some corn indoors, they are 1cm allready. Had them before in a pot outside but they didn't get enough food/water that way. I want to make a real bed so I need to take out a lot of stones and make the ground healthy enough to seed and I need something to cover it as we have a lot of cats overhere and they poo everywhere and well I don't fancy veg with catpoop.

We had cucumber before and that's very nice to do @clothmama.

Oh and @clothmama I always just do what I think is right and most times it works out perfect.
In our last house I only had pots and I grew a lot there without any problems.

[clothmama]

It's so pretty, I want a pic like that

You should sign up for the free trail then you can have a pretty picture of your plans too. I'm so impressed - usually I don't touch 'free trails' with a bargepole but unlike most of those 'free for 7 days' things they don't ask for CC or anything like that and it is actually the full version not a watered down one! tAnd you'll get a print out of your plants and when to plant ect - you even put in your location / last frost date (check that as it came up with an automatic different date to the one I'd found on the last frost website) so your planting times are pretty accurate.

You ll have to tell me all about the 3 sisters thingy as I Only skimmed I also don't have any bean or squash seeds yet.

So the premise is that the corn supports the beans which grow up it without needing stakes and then they act like tent ropes for the corn so they don't get knocked over by the wind and the squash provide ground cover to keep the moisture in and weeds out. You have to have a 10ft2 (3m) to get good corn pollination and you do it in mounds - I found some diagrams of the set out - basicallyu tick tac toe type grid a bean plant at each corner of the corn, I'll try to find them again and share. You need to plant the beans once te corn is 3-4 inches tall so it can grow up it. Don't worry I dont' think they need to go in for a while. I'm going to do butternut, some beans I have (will check variety as I'm not always sure how descriptions translate) and some corn I have from Oz and see how we go!

That is good to hear @MissFrodo I'm probably stressing for nothing but it does seem like a big investment of time / money and I'd really like to try to eventually be self sufficient (as possible) so want to get it right. How many cucumber plants did you have? It is only me and Rémy (and visitors) that eat them so I've only got 2 on my plan.

I had two cucombers in the greenhouse last summer and it gave enough to last the whole season and some for family and friends as well

I had 2 cucumbers @clothmama, more than enough...make sure they can climb btw