Garden Planning

Garden Planning

More Is Better

Fact or Fiction?

 

Impatience is the downfall for many of my best laid out garden plans, aspirations and goals. Doing things the correct way is not always the easiest or fastest way to accomplish a project. Gardens need planning so that they may coexist harmoniously with companion plants, farmer and the environment. The farmer needs her some access room to get in there and harvest, weed, check and inspect for pest, disease, and other environmental mayhem. The plant needs adequate space to support full growth size without crowding fellow bed mate plants. Crowding leads to poor air circulation which attracts all sorts of bad associates such as mold, mildew, black spot, fungal disease, and fungal gnats, aphids, and pill bugs. Good air circulation is a must in Oklahoma’s hot humid summer seasons and planning is needed so that garden plants can produce to their highest potential and health requirements.

Impatience can lead a crazed mad gardener to fling her assorted interesting heirloom seeds to any bare spot of unplanted fertile organic ground, thus leading to an unplanned situation growing in her very own garden.

The Yankee Lettuce Mixture got lucky in one such unplanned seed germination excited frenzied fling off. It looks planned, but was not thought out in that harvesting salad in the flower garden may be a bit difficult to access for me later on down the line.

Oh yes, and also Jasmine Nicotiana was sprinkled in bare spots between the Bib Lettuce and Alpine Strawberries. It was bare ground and I had this wonderful packet of seeds. They are now germinating way to close so I will have to thin out as they get bigger moving to another area I have planned for this sweetly scented giant jasmine like flowering plant. Seed waste is the result of seed flinging. It’s fun filled immediate gratification for a seed sower, skipping all the careful meticulous planning, labeling, care, love, and making space. Heirloom seeds are tough and many germinate with the fling off method of the impatient, (time and space squeezed), green garden witch.

On the other hand, the gardens that have been planned out and spaced appropriately are easy to get in and work without trampling neighboring plants. I can move through the blocks of planted areas with ease and this makes my day a better one.

My garden planning is similar to the square foot gardening methods. I try to plan 4 ft by 4 ft blocks of garden bed space so that access can be achieved all the way to the middle of the garden from all sides. I think Jules Laughlin taught me this during Hort 101, OSU-OKC. She was teaching organic gardening before it was such a trendy issue. I do not plant in long narrow rows. I plant intensively and feed the soil appropriately with organic matter to keep the nutrients and health levels at optimum performance.

Companion planting has also been a little garden experiment of mine, in that I have planned for beneficial plant cohabitation by planting plants that have a sort of symbiotic relationship and benefit each other’s growth and ultimately result in more plant happiness.

I’ve planted tomatoes up and down the rows of heirloom carrots and surrounded my Non GMO heirloom sweet corn with beans and squash in the Three Sister tradition of the American Indians who planted corn beans and squash.

According to Iroquois legend, corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who only grow and thrive together. This tradition of interplanting corn, beans and squash in the same mounds, widespread among Native American farming societies, is a sophisticated, sustainable system that provided long-term soil fertility and a healthy diet to generations. Growing a Three Sisters garden is a wonderful way to feel more connected to the history of this land, regardless of our ancestry.

Plants Recommended for Companion Planting with Tomatoes: amaranth, asparagus, basil, bean, calendula (pot marigold), carrots, celery, chive, cleome, cosmos, cucumber, garlic, lemon balm, lettuce, marigold, mint, nasturtium, onion, parsley, peas, sage, stinging nettle and sow thistle.

I also just learned today not to plant fennel beside the tomatoes as it inhibits growth. Same for Dill, do not neighbor together with tomatoes. Also brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage are a bad marriage to tomatoes as they reportedly affect the taste in an unpleasant way. Whether this is all true, I have no idea, but it sure can’t hurt to stick to the lore and garden wisdom of those who gardened before us.

If it has worked for others, these garden plans for companion planting, then I just may have a shot at them working for me as well.

Whether you are a flinger or a planner or somewhere in between I hope you have a beautiful day in the garden and wish you luck in all your gardening methods..

Keep it Green - Kim Campbell