2011 Garden Plan (Cont.)

As the assessment continues for the garden plan, the next step is a list of what will be planted and approximately how much we need. There are never enough tomatoes and egg plants, so they get 1st consideration. If all of the G-beds are planted to tomatoes on 2’ centers, there will be 3 12’ beds with 7 tomato plants each or 21 plants. E-2 is 8’ and can accommodate 5 plants for a total of 26. That should be enough.

E-1 is 16’ long. That will accommodate 9 egg plants, which is 1 ½ times as many as we had this year. Basil, parsley and cilantro will be planted between the tomatoes and eggplants. That will be a total of 30 plants or 10 of each. We don’t really need that much of any of them, but they keep the bugs down. The excess can be given away or dried. A row of onion sets will be planted down the middle of each row. E-1 will also have 9 cabbage plants. G-1 will have 7 broccoli plants.

The 4 foot rows will have different varieties of squash. Like most of the crucifers they will be direct seeded. The un-bedded rows will be dedicated to okra and peppers. These rows are about 40’ long. The okra will be direct seeded, but 21 pepper plants of differing varieties will be needed. The okra will be planted by itself. There will be some odd herb varieties inter-planted with the peppers. That will require 20 plants of various herbs and flowers. A few of the herbs inter-planted with the tomatoes and eggplants will be substituted by nasturtiums and marigolds, so the extras can be used with the peppers. This gives an idea of what will be planted in the greenhouse.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Lots of Growies Greening

Lots of Growies Greening

The heat pads kept the greenhouse alive during the new years cold. I tried to use the electric block heater; but with the lights and the pads there was not enough juice. I had to leave the block heater off. No problem. I did not even put the cloches back on because they seem to make a pressure cooker for the green plants. Everything thrived.

Many plants will need to be repotted. Nothing came up in the rockwool. I put it in the trash. Almost everything came up in the dirt. Everything that was planted in wax paper cups will need to be repotted because the bottom of the cups is falling out. Many of the other plants are outgrowing their containers. Styrofoam cups seem to be the best containers. They can be written on to label the plants. They don’t dissolve in the warm water. They fit well into the flats.

The garden is still not laid out for spring planting. I need one more pickup truck load of leaves to finish mulching. The design in my head keeps changing. Changing the direction of the rows is making new challenges. Companion planting worked really well last year. I had way too much basil; but it was fun to give it away. The squash plants survived longer than they have before. We did not have enough zucchini or tomatoes. Do I need to plant more or do something to make them more productive?

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com/ , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.