Garlic in the 2017 garden, farm stand back left
This post is about the Big vegetable garden for this year. I will be doing posts on the Small vegetable garden @goldenoakfarm/small-garden-s-plan-2018 and the New Herb garden later on. These gardens provide enough food for our family of 3 for a whole year. There’s also enough extra to sell some on our little farm stand.
I make the plan on the GrowVeg program as it keeps track of where each plant family has been for the last 3 years. It gives a warning if you try to put something in that area. For a clearer picture go to:
https://www.growveg.com/garden-plans/871155/
I then transfer it to graph paper, as that survives best when taken to the garden for planting.
Tree row on West side of the Big garden
This garden measures 60’ North-South and 42.5’ feet East-West. It is oriented due North-South. It gets full sun from morning until mid afternoon. There are trees along its west side that shade part of it in the afternoon.
The soil is sandy river bottom loam. It is tested each November when everything has stopped growing. I put the custom amendment mix down as I plant as the entire garden is kept mulched.
Volunteer nasturtiums
I plan to plant many different flowers in the garden, some edible and some just to attract pollinators. I also get a good number of volunteers from previous years. If they aren’t going to be in the way of what is planned, they are left to grow.
Big garden yesterday, garlic up in the center
I plant rows both East-West (most everything else) and North-South (alliums). I also use beds: mesclun, potatoes. I give each variety maximum spacing so they can reach their maximum potential. This applies to spacing from plant to plant and also to rows distance apart.
New Herb garden #7 row with Big Garden’s herbs
This year I’ve reduced the number of perennials to just comfrey and rhubarb. There was an herb row where the New Zealand spinach, cabbage, and squashes are. That got transplanted into the New Herb garden on Friday.
A lot of what’s grown is for the chickens and pigs: comfrey, Swiss chard, kale, and mesclun. The last 3 are also for us and for sale.
Nothing planted yet, as I am still working on the trench for the new fencing. I’m over half done, and hope to finish by the end of next week so I can start planting and working on the other garden.