I picked up my planting journal this morning to review the last several years of planting dates, plant rotations and planting volumes. I am always so excited when I head to the nursery to decide what to plant next, that I usually buy too many starts and seeds.
As I spent the weekend harvesting, cutting back and pulling out tired plants, I realized that again I had over planted all of my beds, stressing my soil, the plants and myself in trying to consume my produce. My neighbors loved the bags and baskets full of tomatoes, green beans, eggplant, peppers, melons, zucchini, apples, pears, to name a few.
Last spring I planted, six varieties of tomatoes, three padron peppers, one Aruba hybrid pepper, two zucchini plants, one Japanese eggplant, eight green bean starts, many lettuce varieties, one cantaloupe melon, two butternut squash, three types of pumpkins, radishes, carrots, celery and several different types of herbs. The garden beds were jammed and it was all just too much.
I reread my journal notes that I had taken while attending a master gardener’s lecture. He had said that 100 square feet of planting beds were enough of a garden to provide year-round fresh organic vegetables for a family of four. His plan incorporated a three month planting and harvesting schedule, which included having 25 square feet of beds resting or in a cover crop, 25 square feet in new seeds and starts and about 50 square feet in various stages of harvest.
I have 180 square feet and have never rested a bed! But now that I am preparing and planning my fall/winter garden, I have vowed to be more disciplined. Let’s see if it works!
