Next Season's Plans

So as things have gotten established in the garden, I have been thinking about what I should have done differently and what changes I will make next season. This is a first cut and will probably be altered throughout the season:

Overall I am pretty happy with the whole process, so I plan on growing even more veggies and fruits next year. With that in mind, the 5x5 box was too big because its too hard to get at the veggies in the center, and also because the density of the crops means that the middle veggies don't get as much light as they could. I will probably leave the center square empty next planting, regardless of what I put in the rest of the squares.

One problem is that when I planned the squares I only took into account only the final height of the crops. What I didn't account for is the staggered start times. For instance, corn gets much higher than the peas, but the peas go in earlier so they block out the corn as it grows. Next season I'll plan according to final height AND start time.

I also plan on building maybe 4 2x2 squares and putting them next to the existing bed. One of the 2x2's will be specifically for strawberries, because I am starting to see the strawberries take off now that the potatoes are out (more in a minute). I also want to take a stab at some homemade strawberry wine... (I can also use the juice of one of my lemons for it.)

Another 2x2 (maybe a long 5x2) will be strictly for corn. I'm not sure how my corn will turn out. Its been growing extremely well but I have read that corn needs to be planted densely in order to be fertilized, and I'm not sure my 4 plants per square, in 3 squares, staggered about a month apart, will be dense enough to fertilize each other. We'll wait and see.

Other 2x2's will be used for tomatoes, because by putting all of them together they will be easier to stake out.

I will also build a potato bin, maybe 18"x18." I finally gave up and pulled the potato plants a few days ago because they were just blocking out all the light for 3 or 4 squares around them. It turns out I got a good amount of potatoes:


I think this is pretty encouraging and I'm sure they would grow faster and bigger if I hadn't been cutting the foliage back for about two months (I wrote how long they had been in the ground when I pulled them so I could calculate in the future). I want to be able to disassemble the bin at the end of the season so I can get the potatoes easier.

Regarding the specific crops:

• The snow peas are tremendously prolific, putting out a good sized crop about every two weeks. I will probably plant a couple of squares of them next season.

• The carrots are also growing well:

• I also liked the spinach, but the mesclun and buttercrunch didn't really live up to my expectations. However my options for what to grow during that time period are pretty limited, so I may just end up growing a bunch of spinach.

• I think the green beans were planted too densely, 9 to a square. I followed Mel's instructions, but the way the leaves spread out (and they're big leaves) causes problems with light. I'll dial it back to four per square next planting,
  

• I'm happy with the tomatoes and peppers. The cherry tomato I've raised from seed is the biggest plant in the garden, although none of the tomatoes have set fruit yet (but they have flowered). Next year I will probably start the tomatoes and peppers about a month later than I did this year (mid-Jan), and I will start them directly in black nursery pots instead of in the peat pots.