[Bluedave]

Ok Boys and Girls, after a few weeks of reading and asking around here and there I reckon i'm ready to be shot down in flames!!

I've attached my first stab at the veg plot - I've tried to split it up into 3 for rotation - works out about 12m2 a patch (although one is split up into two and odd shapes!) plus the greenhouse and a couple of raised salad beds (on the concrete base surrounding the green house).

All comments greatly appreciated - too much, not enough, wrong spacings, things in the wrong place etc?

cheers

[Yorkie]

Wow, what technical skills, I'm really impressed.

The crops have been nicely grouped into brassica family, spuds, and others in the 3 beds.  I think that will work ok although take care to place your manure carefully in the sweetcorn area so as not to put it on the carrots / parsnips.

Bear in mind that you'll need to rotate something else into the peas spot in the future.

Not sure about strawberries in the greenhouse - I don't grow them but they are hardy and need permanent planting.  See what others say about that.

But a really good plan.

P.S. Radish has only one 'd' 

[Bluedave]

thanks for the reply.

the peas are part of plot 3 - so my plan is brassica's in a long row there next year as well as where the parsnips/carrots and sweetcorn are.

I wasn't sure about the strawberries but had nowhere else to put them - we've grown them in a pot before so i might try that again on the patio or in another raised bed next to the herbs and rhubarb on the patio?

Radish eh not raddish? Spelling not my strong point i'm an Engineer not an English teacher

[tode]

Nice plan.
I see that you've spaced your corn at 45x65. You can pack em in much tighter than that: ours were about 20x20, staggered, and you'll get better pollination.

[Bluedave]

Thats the sort of reply I like tode, more veg than expected - hurrah! Kids love it so a 20 by 20 grid it is then - that trebles the amount of that - woo hoo.

Right, after consulting with the boss i've been told that strawberries will have to replace rhubarb as the kids love strawberries but nobody likes rhubarb (except the boss!) lol.

I've also been give permission (it's always important to get permission kids, the bigger the kid you are the more important it is!) to use one of the flower beds in the front garden for rhubarb and pumpkins/squash. It's about 15' by 2', although I could extend it out to about 3' (once given permission you have to push your luck, thems the rules) so thats a bonus.

[chriscross1966]

If you get that front plot can I recommend Winter Festival for the squash?.... The plants growth habit isn't too thuggish and you should get 5-7 grapefruit-sized acorn squash from each. Early, tasty and they look pretty. If you dedicate 1/3 to the rhubarb you should get 3 Winter Festivals in there

chrisc

[savbo]

I understand you can bring strawbs into greenhouse in winter to get them going but they need to get out while it's still cold to encourage flowering

BTW what drawing package did you use? I've just done a plan using Visio that worked quite well

M

[Bluedave]

cheers for the advice chriscross

savbo - it was drawn using AutoCad as thats what I use for work, I then just converted it to a .pdf.

[tode]

No, you're not supposed to put more corn in, the idea was to make space for two blackcurrant bushes    

[Bluedave]

 

Could I grow currants/berries around the tree near the parsnips? I've left a bit of a gap there because of roots etc but that tree was a leilandi (sp?) that i've chopped all the branches off and use as a washing line post!

[tode]

No.   
Put the parsnips behind the compost bins and grow blackcurrants instead     

[Sue33]

looks really good Dave, you just need a little more space for beetroot, garlic and spring onions 

[DD.]

I'm not going to interfere with the overall layout, but you don't sow peas like that.

This is the recommended spacing:



You get more in!

(In practice I throw them in by the handful into a trench)

[robbodaveuk]

I followed DD's pea planting guide this year (well he is the pea God), chitted the peas first and had an excellent crop. For my sweetcorn, again following advice on here, I planted them 12 inches apart each way in a 10' x10' square, that is 121 plants. They all grew normally and pollination was 100%. I have had some lovely cobs off them, some were smaller and not fully formed, but I think that was down to the lack of sun this summer, overall an excellent crop and that is how I will be planting them next year.

  Robbo.

[scabs]

Very impressive plan Dave and I have nothing to add, except to say you HAVE to have rhubarb. End of.