Garden Dreams
Counting down the days to gardening season, and I’ve been working on planning out my 25 by 25 garden plot I’ve rented for the summer growing season here in Michigan. We’re in zone 5 or 6, depending on where you are in the state. Technically, I’d say I’m in zone 6, but I tend to work with the zone 5 info as far as frost free dates go, especially for really tender plants and those that really like warm soil before they are planted out.
There’s still a month to go before the Community Garden will be ready to plant in, so that leaves out some of the crops that really like a cool season, like peas, lettuce and spinach. Those I could be planting right now, and as soon as the soil is warm enough, they’d be up and growing. They close the gardens up in mid October, so crops that mature really late and can be harvested well into November and December (up until a good hard frost) would be wasted. So, I wouldn’t get a full harvest of kale, parsnips, and a late crop of brocolli.
On the other hand, the garden is in full sun, all day, and has plenty of room for all of those yummy summer crops we all love so well! Tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, beans, squash, and so on. To make it easy to maintain and harvest, I’m planning on setting up some raised beds in it, and doing some companion planting to maximize my harvest and have a great looking garden. I love cut flowers in the summer, so I’m including some of those amongst the vegies, and some of the varieties I’m planting will be pretty as well.
All around the perimeter of the 25 by 25 plot, we’ll hill up raised beds about 30 to 36 inches deep, allowing two entry and working paths about 2 feet wide along the main pathway. Along the main path, will be planted some cabbages and dill. Along the left side, we’ll put in a variety of different tomatoes, spacing them about 3 feet apart, with a basil plant in between each, toward the path side. I have a cage for each plant, and a good sturdy stake. Along the right side, we’ll alternate Comet Brocolli, and a crossed variety called Purple Peacock that I wanted to try. There’s a back section that we haven’t decided on what to plant yet. Maybe more tomatoes, or just flowers. In all four corners will go some short sunflowers and a pretty variety of zinnia I found for cut flowers.
We’ll divide off the large remaining section into different sized raised beds. Towards the back, we’ll form a large square about 10 by 10, and in it will go 4 hills with 2 kinds of winter squash. To the side of that will be a 3 foot wide bed of bush pickle cucumbers- we hope to make some pickles later in the summer. To the front of those will go a long row of pole beans- a purple variety I love, and a coral runner bean- the combination of the two colors of flowers and beans should be very decorative. Purple beans turn green when cooked, and have a wonderful flavor. The runner beans are also delicious when picked about pencil size. We’ll set up some sort of trellis for them to grow on. In front of the beans, we’ll plant a row of carrots. The feathery leaves will look pretty along the path.
So, the planning is going well, in the next week or so I’ll be starting some of the vegie seeds we plan on using, including some of the newest shipment of seed I got from the “Seeds of the Month Club”. This month I got Thyme (I love thyme) Chantenay Red Core Carrot, Lincoln Peas, and Golden Acre Cabbage. Both the carrots and the cabbage will be put to good use in the garden, and I may try the thyme here in my herb garden if I can find some room.The Seeds of the Month Club is distributed by Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who also administers the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook.
There’s still a month to go before the Community Garden will be ready to plant in, so that leaves out some of the crops that really like a cool season, like peas, lettuce and spinach. Those I could be planting right now, and as soon as the soil is warm enough, they’d be up and growing. They close the gardens up in mid October, so crops that mature really late and can be harvested well into November and December (up until a good hard frost) would be wasted. So, I wouldn’t get a full harvest of kale, parsnips, and a late crop of brocolli.
On the other hand, the garden is in full sun, all day, and has plenty of room for all of those yummy summer crops we all love so well! Tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, beans, squash, and so on. To make it easy to maintain and harvest, I’m planning on setting up some raised beds in it, and doing some companion planting to maximize my harvest and have a great looking garden. I love cut flowers in the summer, so I’m including some of those amongst the vegies, and some of the varieties I’m planting will be pretty as well.
All around the perimeter of the 25 by 25 plot, we’ll hill up raised beds about 30 to 36 inches deep, allowing two entry and working paths about 2 feet wide along the main pathway. Along the main path, will be planted some cabbages and dill. Along the left side, we’ll put in a variety of different tomatoes, spacing them about 3 feet apart, with a basil plant in between each, toward the path side. I have a cage for each plant, and a good sturdy stake. Along the right side, we’ll alternate Comet Brocolli, and a crossed variety called Purple Peacock that I wanted to try. There’s a back section that we haven’t decided on what to plant yet. Maybe more tomatoes, or just flowers. In all four corners will go some short sunflowers and a pretty variety of zinnia I found for cut flowers.
We’ll divide off the large remaining section into different sized raised beds. Towards the back, we’ll form a large square about 10 by 10, and in it will go 4 hills with 2 kinds of winter squash. To the side of that will be a 3 foot wide bed of bush pickle cucumbers- we hope to make some pickles later in the summer. To the front of those will go a long row of pole beans- a purple variety I love, and a coral runner bean- the combination of the two colors of flowers and beans should be very decorative. Purple beans turn green when cooked, and have a wonderful flavor. The runner beans are also delicious when picked about pencil size. We’ll set up some sort of trellis for them to grow on. In front of the beans, we’ll plant a row of carrots. The feathery leaves will look pretty along the path.
So, the planning is going well, in the next week or so I’ll be starting some of the vegie seeds we plan on using, including some of the newest shipment of seed I got from the “Seeds of the Month Club”. This month I got Thyme (I love thyme) Chantenay Red Core Carrot, Lincoln Peas, and Golden Acre Cabbage. Both the carrots and the cabbage will be put to good use in the garden, and I may try the thyme here in my herb garden if I can find some room.The Seeds of the Month Club is distributed by Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, who also administers the largest Vegetable Gardening page on Facebook.
