I think you haven't left enough room for your squash to spread.

Also wondering how you'll get to your trellis to pick.

What do you mean "trellis to pick"? (*edit* I see what you're asking now, explained two posts down)
The trellis is a large cattle panel arched between the beds.
I planned the squash on the ends/corner of the bed to allow them to sprawl over the edges. I also hoped to train/tie most of the plant up the trellis.

This post was edited by braidwood13 on Wed, Nov 12, 14 at 15:43

I too am a bit confused about the trellises. Cattle panels are 16 feet long and arching them lengthwise would give you about a 7.5 foot tall tellis on each side, not including the arch over the path, correct? And there is a one foot wide pathway between the beds? There's not going to be any space to walk down those pathways if I'm understanding things correctly.

Rodney

The beds are about 3.5' apart. The gaps on the sheet are not to scale.
I didn't want to waste the space on the sheet.

The panels are 16' yes.. but you can consider them as 8' per aide as even the arched area is used.. doesn't have to be vertical.

What you grow and in what quantity will depend on what you like to eat. For instance, for me that is far too few onions, but we eat onions most days, so go through lots annually. You don't have space allotted for leeks or garlic or potatoes which are staples in my house as well. All these are easy to grow here and store well for off-season eating. I also like sweet potatoes, which you don't have.

I am not sure about why you have as much borage as you do. Are you growing it for the edible flowers or using the flowers to encourage pollinators or growing it for the leaves, but unless you are planning to use that much for food, I might consider planting it in large pots or the ground near the veggie beds and use that space for other veggies or herbs such as more basil. Pesto freezes well and a little goes a long way.

I don't know if you have planted these beds before, but to cut down on diseases, I try not to plant things from the same family in the same spot more than once every three years or so. It may be that your beds are small enough and close enough together that this is unavoidable in your garden.

I think having the basil and peas side by side is a good idea since as the basil is getting large, the peas are finishing, giving the basil more room to grow. Mine definitely take up more space than 1'x1'. It may depend on your basil varieties, however.

Have you considered seasons for different veggies? For instance, your spinach probably won't last over your summer and your peas definitely won't - have you considered how you will use that space after the crop is gone? Do you plan to plant your lettuce in successive plantings so there is always some ready to harvest? Have you looked into other greens that might use space well in the hottest part of summer or that might get planted for late fall (until snowfall) harvest, especially if you put on hoops and a row cover of spun bond fabric like Remay or Agribond? Will you seed in cover crops or successive crops in those areas where early crops have finished?

You haven't indicated numbers of plants of each type, but IME one eggplant takes up much less room than one tomato plant, and different kinds of tomato plants take up different amounts of space as do different types of peppers. You may be able to fit in more or fewer plants per box for the various peppers, tomatoes and eggplants or interplant some of them with some of your early greens to allow better use of the space.

You can also just plant as planned and take notes over the summer of what spaces are empty and for how long as well as what crops you wish you'd grown more of and what you have surplus of. Taking photos weekly of each bed may help you plan next year as well.

Nhbabs,

Good questions and comments all around. We bought this house a few months ago. I just built the beds and haven't grown in them yet. All of my gardening experience comes from containers on my apartment patio. I grew up with a gardening father and couldn't wait to get started on my own.

Like my father, most experienced gardeners tend to go for more potatoes, onionions beans etc that provide more real food year round. I guess I am guilty of just picking "cool" or "weird" veggies to be different. Seed catalogues and websites can be addicting. It would be hard for me to get rid of any of my plant choices... although I might cut down on a few to increase the onion/basil output.

I do not have the experience to know exactly how much room each plant takes up but I will take your advice and keep track of the weekly progress with pics. Crop rotation was something I thought I coukr figure out on the fly. A's long as I successively sew the greens to keep them young I could replant some in the fall... they hopefully will be in the shade of the trellis.
I will have to keep the fabrics in mind to increase the season.

Borage in there was Just to attract good bugs... maybe I dont need that .
My yard is fenced in and u didnt see many bees in the yard so I was hoping to attract what I could...

In conclusion, I need to learn and experience more before I can realistically have a full season plan. I would just be guessing beyond this layout.

Thanks forth response.

Nhbabs,

Good questions and comments all around. We bought this house a few months ago. I just built the beds and haven't grown in them yet. All of my gardening experience comes from containers on my apartment patio. I grew up with a gardening father and couldn't wait to get started on my own.

Like my father, most experienced gardeners tend to go for more potatoes, onionions beans etc that provide more real food year round. I guess I am guilty of just picking "cool" or "weird" veggies to be different. Seed catalogues and websites can be addicting. It would be hard for me to get rid of any of my plant choices... although I might cut down on a few to increase the onion/basil output.

I do not have the experience to know exactly how much room each plant takes up but I will take your advice and keep track of the weekly progress with pics. Crop rotation was something I thought I coukr figure out on the fly. A's long as I successively sew the greens to keep them young I could replant some in the fall... they hopefully will be in the shade of the trellis.
I will have to keep the fabrics in mind to increase the season.

Borage in there was Just to attract good bugs... maybe I dont need that .
My yard is fenced in and u didnt see many bees in the yard so I was hoping to attract what I could...

In conclusion, I need to learn and experience more before I can realistically have a full season plan. I would just be guessing beyond this layout.

Thanks forth response.