Separate gardens in backyard

[theprez9]

Question about creating multiple gardens in the back yard.

I'd like to edge each with some sort of rocks but just not sure how to break up the plants into separate areas (and the ballpark size of each).

Any thoughts? I am planning to plant:

* Cucumber - Sweet Burpless Hybrid
* Tomato - Super sweet 100 Hybrid
* Carrot - Sweet Salad Hybrid
* Spinach - Baby's Leaf Hybrid
* Pepper - California Wonder
* Cantaloupe - Hearts of Gold
* Strawberries

Many thanks!!

[hendi_alex]

It really depends upon the variety for some vegetables, especially cucumbers and cantalopes. For standard varieties, the vines are usually planted in 'hills' of three or four plants. Each hill should have about an eight foot diameter. Three healthy vines will produce a lot of cucumbers. Each cantalope vine will produce about two cantalopes.

Tomatoes grown in cages or similar columns should be spaced at least three feet apart in every direction. The air flow helps keep down disease. Carrots and spinach can be grown in fairly small beds. A 4 x 5 foot bed would grow quite a bit of each. I plant 25 strawberry plants in about a 4' x 6' bed. You could perhaps plant between four and six pepper plants in a 4' x 4' bed.

[applestar]

My immediate thought was that you'd probably want to group them by watering needs.

My other thought is that tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, and spinach are supposed to be good companions and do well planted near each other. Maybe it would help spinach to be in the shade of toms as the weather gets hotter AND provide living mulch for the toms. Carrots will want to be in the front in the sun. (Hmm. I like that design -- I think I'll try it myself this year I'm thinking intersperse carrots with strawberries with intent to turn the whole bed into a strawberry bed eventually....)

Last year I had some cukes growing up one side of the tomato cages. But I just recently read that toms and cukes are not good companions. It might explain why my toms didn't do too well and cukes were kind of sporadic too. This probably goes for the melons as well though it's not specifically mentioned in my source.

[hendi_alex]

This wasn't mentioned in my first post, but a gardener also has to pay attention to harvest times. The spinach and carrots will be finished early enough to plant another crop. The strawberries will be a more permanent bed that needs to be maintained. Ideas of rotation should be kept in mind wrt the tomatoes and the peppers. Plus both of these groups should last the whole season.

[theprez9]

Thanks for all the replies!

I have a couple ideas in my head, so far:

1) Separate bed for strawberries, spinach, and carrots.
Another bed for tomatoes, peppers, and cantaloupe.

OR

2) Separate bed for strawberries, and carrots.
Another bed for cantaloupe, peppers, tomatoes, and spinach (with the theory mentioned of hiding the spinach in the shade of the tomatoes).

Also, I am rethinking the cucumbers because I would like to find a non-vining cucumber. Is that possible?

If so, I guess I would add that to the tomatoes, peppers, and cantaloupe bed?

Thoughts?
Thanks!!

[Jbest]

Also, I am rethinking the cucumbers because I would like to find a non-vining cucumber. Is that possible?

All the seed companys are saying here is, the plants do not vine as far, but they still vine quite a distance,

John