Today I sat down and drew up my Spring/Summer garden plan. I suggest everyone that will be having a garden do the same, Soon!
The following are tools I use to plan my garden:
- List of what I want to grow and how many of each.
- Florida Planting Guide
- Drawn out sketch of raised beds and planting areas.
On the sketch, I label N,S,E and W and chart the sun. I plan for taller plants to shade smaller plants if needed. Having all of this in front of me helps to provide the information I need for proper placement. I have made a chart of the sunrise and sunset over my property for help with sunny areas and shaded areas. I then fill in my planting areas. Like I always say, “Having a garden plan is planning for success!”
Here are some pages that should be helpful:
A couple of things to keep in mind; room for trellises, what type of trellis will you use, will you be saving seed (if so more room is most likely needed depending on type.) If not trellising what type of support? It is much easier to have supports and trellises figured out ahead of time. I have used a pole teepee for my beans in the past. I have read they work better for cucumbers so this season I am trying them for cukes. I will use poles or strings 12″ apart in double rows for my beans.
I started my long season veggie seeds (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, okra) 5 days ago. Long season crops take a long time to produce. These types are usually started indoors 6-8 weeks before planting out. The other reason these crops are started indoors is so by the time they are planted out they are plant size which gives them a much better survival rate. As seedlings these crops are very susceptible to diseases.
Hint, hint…. If you don’t have your seeds, get them now and if you do, start them now. In the mean time, clean out old crops, mix in new compost and other garden prep. With all that said,” Get out there and get growing!”
Desiree’ Canora runs Florida Backyard Vegetable Gardener, selling organic seeds and gardening supplies through her website growincrazyacres.com and at the Hernando County Farmer’s Market in the Rural King parking lot every Saturday.