I have started to work on the 2015 garden plans with an aim to better document where I have planted different varieties. Last season, I planted several varieties of carrots, as an example, but when it came to harvest, I wasn't really sure which were which so didn't have a good idea of the best producers.
But I'm having a difficult time. One reason, of course, is that I haven't made my seed order so don't have a full picture of everything I plan to grow - I've only received
So I can't just say I'll put the potatoes over in garden X this year and move the beans where the potatoes were because they take up considerably different spaces (although I plan to do less potatoes and more beans this year so maybe they'll be closer in size).
And I continue to add new crops every year which adds to the challenge. But I'll keep plugging away at it and hope to have some sort of plan laid out by end of February when I'll start many of the seeds inside.
As for tracking progress, I've seen a number of different apps that I'm checking out to see if any will work well enough for me. I really, really, really want to track progress to see what worked and what didn't as well as the amounts of the harvests (as in, how many pounds I've harvested). But I work a lot of hours at my day job and don't always have the time - so need to make it as easy as possible.
I also want to track when I plant, transplant, etc. I started this tracking last year but got distracted and didn't quite follow through. I've found some "garden calendars" in excel format with many of the fields filled in already, so I hope to take advantage of one of those.
Many of the gardeners I follow through Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday have many of these tracking techniques down pat, so I'll take advantage where I can.
Either way, I'm very excited about the upcoming season and looking forward to seeing what other folks have planned.
Good luck with the plan. I make my plan before I order seeds. I just don't have varieties listed at that point. I have gotten better at the whole record keeping thing over the years. But I still fail at times. I forget to note when I seed things or transplant out. I really try though. I find the records to be useful if something does really well or if something fails due to lack of growing time or insect attack.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense to make the plan before ordering seeds or I might run out of room! I just get too excited about all the new varieties to try. In my case, I have a lot of space and can always put things into containers if I run out of actual garden space.
DeleteI'm so excited too!!
ReplyDeleteI've just finished my plan and am about to order my seeds. I find what works best for me it to see what I want to grow (i.e. carrots) and how much space they are going to take up. Then I figure out how many different varieties I want to fit into that spot. If I didn't do that, I likely would end up with WAY too many seeds 'cause we all know how seed purchases can just snowball and all of a sudden you have 10 varieties of carrots with only enough space for 4!
I know what you mean about different crops having different space requirements when it comes to crop rotation - I am struggling with that too...certain plant families are real space hogs!
I hear you on the too many seeds bit. I actually don't need to buy so many seeds this year because I overbought so much last year that I have MANY packages not even opened yet. Oy.
DeleteHee hee, I like your garden plan diagram. Mine's not any better. I have different shapes of beds too which makes rotation interesting. Last year I removed 4 big raised beds that had timber edging which had rotted (and they were also a bit wide for me to reach in to the middle). In the same space I made 6 thinner heaped beds with no edging ( they are actually a little bit longer too as I made a path narrower). This year I might have to plant my potatoes in them, which will be hard to do, as there's no room to earth-up so I might just mulch thickly instead. I haven't worked out my rotations yet, maybe I'll do that today!
ReplyDeleteI like the framing for raised beds mainly for aesthetic reasons ... and I guess they keep the soil in place a bit. But I am probably going to move towards what you are doing - "heaped beds with no edging".
ReplyDeleteYep, I really like raised beds with timber edging too, they look good and keep everything tidy. The ones I removed had lasted a few years but I didn't have any wood to replace them with, plus we get invasive couch grass that gets under the edge into the bed and is difficult to weed out and even grows into the timber once it starts to rot. So all in all I decided to go for the heaped beds and see how that goes. One of the problems is that they dry out quicker, as there's more exposed edge.If I was being clever when I made the heaped beds I think I'd have curved them a bit, (like a kidney shape), to trap rain water to run into the base of the beds (I haven't explained that very well!). But I'll try to do a kind of 'no dig' approach so that the soil structure doesn't get disturbed and lose water. Again, I explained badly!
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