Who is ready to get planting? I am so itchy to get out there. In general, I consider myself a patient person. Two year old meltdowns, no sweat. Kindergartener on strike from homework, no big deal. Dog just ate a grocery bag full of homemade dehydrated meals (yeah, that JUST happened), it is what it is. But waiting to plant… that is a tough one. If you’re like me, you’ve sorted and resorted your seed packs a hundred times. Cold weather/hot weather, companion plants, type of plant, raised bed/rows. At times, my table looks like a a very bizarre game of cards that I only I know how to win.
Spacing and thinning
Every year I put in your standard garden plants, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, herbs, beans, and corn. These usually do okay. Some years you get more tomatoes, some years you get more cucumbers. The first year I really gardened, I did lemon cucumbers from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and they went crazy. I planted everything early June that year, had a baby the beginning of July and ventured outside a week later. Holy smokes! I had lemon cucumbers coming from everywhere. Some had trained themselves to the tepees I set up, but some were trying to live with my beans. Some were becoming fast friends with my watermelons. I must have canned at least 30 quarts of pickles and who knows how many cucumbers we ate fresh or gave to family and friends.
Since then, I have learned the value of spacing and thinning. Look, I get it. You have all these adorable little transplants that you worked so hard to grow. The idea of throwing some out or not letting everyone live up to their full potential is painful to even consider. BUT, you have to do it. Don’t overcrowd your tomatoes just to squeeze in a few more plants. Thin your cucumber vines so you’re not having to constantly reinforce your trellises (or in my case, stand that back up). Everything needs space! Your plants will grow better for it and you won’t spend your summer going crazy! Check your seed packets for spacing and thinning and plan accordingly. The information is there for a reason, I promise.
Companion planting
That doesn’t mean you need to give up only one section per plant. For example, if you really want corn then do it. Corn is a big feeder so planting another big feeder with it, like watermelon, is really not a great idea. Pair it with some helpful friends, like squash and beans. Beans will help fix nitrogen in the soil and trellis on your cornstalks and the prickly squash vines will help protect your corn from raccoons. One word of advice, be mindful of the sturdiness of your cornstalk. If you’re making your corn act as a trellis, you need to stagger out your planting or the beans are going to pull your stalk over. I try to wait until my cornstalks are at least 8-12 inches before I plant my beans.
Root vegetables also benefit from companion planting. For some reason, these are the vegetables that break my heart every year. The first year, I planted them late so by the time they were poking through, everything else was crowding them out. The second year, I gave them their own space in own of my raised beds. Then it got hot. Way too hot and the soil crusted over and they weren’t strong enough to pop through. The third year, I planted them and staggered row of carrots with beets. The bulkiness of the beets prevented the soil from hardening up around my carrots. Everything looked beautiful, I was beginning to truly believe my luck was changing. Then one beautiful summer day, disaster struck. And the chickens came. And they scratched and pecked that bed back down to soil. In the blink of an eye, my poor little carrots and beets were no more. Moral of the story, alternate your carrots and beets to avoid crusting and invest in some fencing BEFORE you plant.
In addition to my annual seeds and transplants, I also have a few perennial beds. These beds take patience, and again, when it comes to gardening, this is not my strong suit. My biggest perennial garden is my strawberry and asparagus garden. Depending what size you buy, this type of garden can take a few years to establish. However, if you have the space, it’s worth the wait. We got our strawberry plants and asparagus crowns from Stark Brothers. They have a great selection. The strawberries will send out runners to help keep weeds down and the asparagus will grow upward. I would recommend trimming back some of your strawberry runners as you’ll get bigger strawberries that way. The same with the asparagus. Trim those stalks down the first year or two. This year will be my third year with this bed so I am hoping for some big payoff! I’ll keep you posted as summer gets here.
Any plants that you find do well together? Let me know!
Thanks for stopping by!
Nicole