More On Garden Planning

I already posted about my old garden. Now in this post I'm going to tell you about my plans for my new garden. But first - let me describe the space. The back yard is encased in a fence and it's entirely paved thanks to the previous owners. Running along one side fence and the back fence are raised garden beds about two feet wide. They are bordered by bricks and divided into sections about one foot long. In the back corner where the side and back borders join is a large bush. At the other side of the back fence border is a tree and the border only goes up to the tree, so about half the length of the yard. One of my biggest gardening plans for this year is to extend the border bed along the rest of that back wall and the other side wall. Ok. In the yard itself there is a rectangular raised bed made of cinderblocks that is maybe 3ft by 10ft. There is also a large circular patch of bare earth with a tree stump in the middle of it where Karma removed a huge bush last fall. Overall, the space looks roughly like this (pardon my not-to-scale drawing skills):

In preparation for gardening, I've polled the housemates about what garden foods they'd be most interested in eating. Here's the list:

Karma - sunchokes, garlic, mushrooms, asparagus
Plum - garlic, herbs (especially herbs for tea), rhubarb, spinach, decorative squashes
Primo - garlic, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, watermelons
Secondo - strawberries, edible flowers, sunflowers
Terzo - tomatoes, "really big" pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns

We decided I shouldn't grow beets, potatoes, carrots, or cucumbers because we get swamped with them from our weekly produce box. So I'm going to grow everything in the housemate's list, plus corn and baby eggplants because I'm excited about having enough sun for them. And also peas, beans, and radishes because I think the kids will like the instant gratification since they grow really fast. I'm debating adding brussels sprouts and/or celeriac because I love them so much. And maybe kale or chard since they can grow later than the other things.

Amaranth growing in one of the side beds last year.

Here's my plan so far…

Side garden walls:
chocolate mint*
purslane*
watercress*
dill*
chives*
amaranth*
wood sorrel*
sage
thyme
bee balm
raspberries (4 types)
sunchokes
garlic
egyptian walking onions
day lilies
chamomile

You'll notice that everything on this list is a perennial. That's because I'd like to establish all of the garden border beds and then essentially ignore them. The ones with an asterisk are the ones I planted last summer.

Back garden wall:
rhubarb
asparagus
strawberries (4 types)
horseradish
columbine
borage
mushroom logs

I picked these since they are all companion plants with each other which means they grow well together. Plus the columbines and borage, in addition to being edible, are pretty and will attract bees and hummingbirds. The mushroom logs won't be in the beds but rather underneath the tree in the shade. All of these things are perennial, keeping with my plan of not having to do much tending to the borders.

Squash growing in the main raised bed last year.

Main raised bed:
dwarf corn
cherry tomatoes
basil
cilantro
peas
beans
radishes
spinach
lettuce
mini watermelon
baby eggplants
kale?
chard?
brussels sprouts?
celeriac?

This is where I'm putting all the annual vegetables. Cilantro and basil are good companion plants for tomatoes so they'll all go next to each other. The peas and beans will be trellised up with the corn to give shade to the lettuce and spinach. I'm hoping to have the watermelon grow off the side of the bed. The eggplants should probably not go next to the tomato so maybe I'll put it on the other side of the bed. If I plant them, the kale, chard, brussels sprouts, and celeriac would be a second planting after the summer plants die down and there's more space.

Circular Stump Patch:
sunflowers
carving pumpkins
decorative gourds

This patch is my inedibles since I'm not sure about the soil quality in this spot and it's less protected from pet pee. Though I suppose we could eat the sunflower seeds if we're feeling brave.

Containers:
strawberries (extras)
pineberries
blueberries
rosemary
lavender
orange nasturtium
pansies
calendula
marigold
tansy

I'm using containers for edible flowers and for things I will want to take inside over the winter. The tansy's leaves are edible but too bitter for my taste, however it's a great insecticide and it's pretty so putting some pots of it around can't hurt!

Black cherry tomatoes from last year's raised main raised bed.