What do you think of my garden layout and some gardening questions I have

[Chickies11]

A little shade is ok (and lettuce may prefer it on hot summer days) but I experimented with that last year and having lettuce behind the tomatoes didn't work for me - not enough sunlight made it through and the few plants that grew were very stunted. So there's going to be some trial and error - if one thing doesn't work this year, try rearranging things next year.

Okay, maybe I won't have the lettuce behind the tomatoes. Maybe I will have peppers in front, then lettuce, then tomatoes so the lettuce isn't as blocked by the pepper plants than they would be by the tomatoes.

 

[Chickies11]

no strawberries bc they need to establish the first year, so less berry production the first year.

you could plant pole beans (green beans that need support bc they get 6-8 feet tall) in the very back, and they will grow up. But pole beans take longer to produce. I'm not sure how bush green beans would do behind established tomatoes bc beans do need sun.

Okay, thank you, I won't do strawberries. Pole beans do sound like a good idea to grow! Thank you for the recommendation

 

[Sally PB]

Pole beans do sound like a good idea to grow

To save space, I have planted pole beans and also peas so that they can climb my fence. Peas can be planted early, like lettuce. Beans need the soil to be warm before they can germinate. If you don't have a lot of space, think about making use of the vertical dimension too. Stuff that climbs takes up just a little room on the ground, and the bulk of the plant grows up. Remember that they can then shade other plants.

It's a big balancing act, I know.

 

[Acre4Me]

@Chickies11 - you want lettuce, it seems you are very interested in this item. You can grow lettuce in pots easily. This way, you can shade them a bit more. Anything in pots needs to be watched for watering. But, if you put the lettuce in pots, it gives you a bit of adjustment.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Look up Square Foot Gardening. This is perfect for your situation. I did it out in Wyoming and got wonderful results. The garden gets really full, but you will maximize the amount of veggies that you can grow.

Basically, you look at you garden as 16 squares of 1' x 1'. Each plant has its own space requirements, so in 1 square foot, you can plant 4 lettuce plants, 9 spinach plants, 16 onions, 16 carrots, 8 sugar snap peas OR 1 pepper plant.

Would you be able to use a trellis to grow things vertically? Peas and pole beans are great in small areas because they will grow up not out. I used a nylon netting for my beans and peas.

Put your tomatoes on one of the edges so it can spread out beyond the edge of the garden. That way you can save "space" in the garden. Lettuce can be planted near the tomatoes because it is short and the tomato plant will not have anything growing in that "Space".

Think layering - kinda like sitting under a tree.

 

[Sally PB]

very good advice!

 

[West Bend]

I did not read the entire thread, so I apologize if the following things were already mentioned but it's just my one cent. Is there a reason you can only have one bed that size? Is it because you don't have time to do the extra work of a larger Garden? Or space constraints? I would say the indeterminate tomato and other tomatoes should be planted on the edge or maybe the corners because they get bigger and they could lean outward not taking up as much space they could hang over the edge. Also look up companion plantings. Also if your space is limited what about growing up on trellises. So many things can be grown up trellises including pumpkin squash cucumbers beans melons. If you protect the base of the plants with hardware cloth or something you could also plant viney type plants up the chicken run giving you more Garden space. In addition to that what about planting things in pots you could even plant carrots in a tall pot with loose enough, like sandy loamy Type.

 

[BReeder!]

Hi, I was wondering what are people's opinions on my gardening plan/layout. I'm fairly new to gardening and have done research and planning for my garden that will probably be planted in April/May. I'm thinking of planting them when they have already grown a little and are young (not sure what the term is for it), not from seeds. I only can have one 4ft 8in by 4ft raised bed that is still in the process of being made. I'm thinking of having three rows along the 4ft 8 in side of the bed.

The row furthest in the back will have three tomato plants. Because it's a smaller space, I want two of the tomato's to be a determinate variety and one to be indeterminate. The first determinate variety will be 6 inches in from the side of the raised bed. The second tomato plant which is indeterminate will be will be 2.5 feet away from the first plant and the last tomato plant will be determinate and a foot away from the indeterminate. It will be 8in from the wall of the bed.

The second row will have 3 pepper plants. The first one and last one will be 6 inches in from the sides of the raised bed. They will all be 1 1/2 ft from each other. I'm thinking of having a Golden California Wonder variety and two different colored bell peppers.

The last row will be lettuce. I will have 7 lettuce plants and the first one will be 6 inches in from the wall and the last inches will be 4 inches in from the wall. 4 of the lettuce plants will be romaine and 3 will be butterhead.

That's my garden plan so far. I drew a lay out for my garden below. Sorry that it's kind of hard to read. In the plan I also included some possible varieties, but I don't if those will be the ones I use since I'm not sure what the store I will buy the plants form will sell.View attachment 2564185
Anyways, some last questions I have are:
What are some types of tomato/pepper/lettuce plants you would recommend?
What's the difference between fertilizer and compost?
Is April/May a good time to plant my plants?
How often should I water my plants?
Are my plants going to have enough space? I basically looked up the spacing for each type of plant and used that to space out the plants in my raised bed.
The walls of my bed will be 18 inches high, because I had a big issue with animals eating my plants last year. Do you think in addition to that I should add chicken wire around the top of my bed?

Thanks in advance for any advise. Sorry for the long post.

Just curious, why can you only have one 4'8" × 4' raised bed?
Sorry if you already shared this and I missed it.

If plants can sprawl over the adjacent lawn or patio, you could plant some squash at the edges and train them to grow out off the bed. Another idea is a few strawberry plants. Strawberries should be perennials in your area, so they'll come back each year. You might need to remove old plants and trim runners annually, but that's all. Bush varieties of summer squash and zucchini are compact enough. You could grow lettuce under their large leaves that will provide shade for the lettuce in the heat of summer. I really like green leaf and Boston bib lettuce.
You could even grow corn it sunflowers along one edge and then allow beans to grow up the stalks.

 

[karenerwin]

Waiting to pick her up now!!

 

[Solanacae]

Lettuce will start bolting when it gets hot, but you could follow them with a different type of leafy green like chard, bok choi, or kale that’s more heat tolerant. (Bok choi will eventually bolt too, but I generally harvest the whole plant before it gets to that point.)

If you have a county extension service through your state’s land grant university, they often have great resources and suggestions on what varieties grow well in your area. They’ll also have suggestions for when to plant as well.

My favorite indeterminate tomato is Balck from Tula. Great flavor, and more productive than Brandywine in my experience.