Friday, January 02, 2015

plans for another year

I drew up a couple diagrams for this year's gardens.
home garden plan 2015 In planning for a new year, I always move everything so nothing grows in the same location as last last year (crop rotation).

Along with rotation, I want to do a few things different this year. For my home garden:

- I've moved the tomatoes to a bed that didn't have the store bought compost that made them sick last year. Last year, all my tomatoes had spindly growth, curled leaves, and very few tomatoes. I hope the move will help.

- I'll add some flowers along the front fence. I thought I'd be adding a raised bed there eventually, but not enough room. I think flowers right in the soil will look nice.

- This year, I'd like to have more broccoli, carrots, beets and shell beans. I don't think I had too much of anything last year. Maybe a few too many eggplants, snow peas and snap beans. I made more space for this year by removing the zinnias patch from the garden.
community plot plan 2015
Again this year, my community plot will grow crops that need less regular care. I was able to tend this plot once a week last year and it worked out well. Changes for my community plot include:

- Growing flowers up the arbor rather than winter squash. Last year, I ended up with too much squash.

- Moving the dill out of the onion beds and into its own bed. The dill self sows and its easy to leave it where it comes up. But I think my onions will do better with more sun.

- I'm growing a lot less sweet potatoes this year. I didn't get a very good harvest last year. I had lots of very small tubers. I'll allocate a small space to the sweets for a while and see if I can get them to grow better. Maybe its just a matter of spacing the plants further apart, maybe I need new varieties.

5 comments:

Lea said...

Thanks for the reminder. I need a garden plan, too
Best wishes for a wonderful 2015!
Lea

Cameron and Becky said...

Your plans look great! I had that same problem with my sweet potatoes when I grew them 2 years ago. I thought I would give them another shot this year so I did some research. It seems that too much nitrogen in the soil can also cause small tubers. That info came from this article from the Missouri cooperative extension. http://extension.missouri.edu/p/G6368
I hope that helps :)

kathy said...

Too much N! Great, an easy fix. I won't amend the soil. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

Marian (LondonUK) said...

Happy New Year! Need to sort seed and do plan, although my sister and I have already decided to create a fruit tree orchard in one half of our second plot. We haven't much fruit at the Lottie, so decided this would be good and in the future be a lovely place to seek shade in the Summer.
Marian (LondonUK)

Unknown said...

Just found your gardening blog, after searching online for pole bean pest 'help'. So glad to have found you folks. Happy 2015 gardening. :-)