Plant spacing is an essential part to planning your garden for the upcoming season. There are some tips and secrets you might not know and are worth a try.
Most vegetable plants have requirements and recommendations for spacing right on the package. For many of you, just like me, I can bet are trying to maximize space to fit more into your garden. Here are my tips and secrets.
For larger plant types such as tomato and pepper plants, I space each plant 1 foot apart and rows 2 feet apart. After 3 rows, I leave a space large enough for me to walk down making it easy to reach all the plants for harvest. This essetially makes a block of three rows. Try to keep varieties together so you don't get confused. This method works well for me and provides maximum space and pollination. Some people say every plant can self pollinate which is true but I find with the plants closer together, they produce more. Just remember to not plant too close or competition will occur.
For small bush plants such as beans and peas (bush or pole), spacing is quite different. I space my beans and peas 3 inches apart and keep the weeds down as much as possible. For some reason, beans and peas attract the most weeds in my garden. I plant the rows 1 foot apart so i can stradle a row to pick. Here you don't need to leave a larger space since you can walk over the plants without damaging them.
For head crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, I recommend lots of space. These crops require alot more nutrients for large growth. Stick to the recommended spacing on the package.
For root crops such and radishes, onions, and carrots, spacing is much like the beans. These can be planted in rows and then thinned to 2 inches between each plant. For carrots, you must have at least 12 inches of deeply loosened soil for them to grow straight and large. For radishes, you must stay on top of them. Most only require 24-30 days to harvest and can become spongy and pithy fast.
These are the basic crops for a beginners garden and my tips and secrets for such crops. I plant all these in my garden every year with these methods and have great success.
Hi Christopher, nice blog! I was thinking of doing the same, but it's only my 2nd growing season, so despite having gone through the school of 1,000 hard knocks last season, I didn't think I knew enough yet. I was wondering if you could comment on using fertilizer on seedlings. I'm talking about the 8-10 weeks indoors, taking peppers and tomatoes from seed to transplant stage, under lights, on a heating mat. I start seedlings in peat, and after they have 2-3 sets of leaves, move them up to 3 inch pots of potting soil. I've been struggling with (a) whether to fertilize and when, and (b) what the best kind of soil is to use for these delicate young plants after getting them out of the peat. Any advise would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Larry
I sure can
ReplyDeleteI wrote a good post about it!
ReplyDelete