How to lay out garden?

[osweetpea]

Plan on tilling next week. Question is how large to make it? Should I do it in rows with space between each row?


We are planting:
14 spinach plants
24 tomatoes plants
12 jalepeno plants
6 green pepper plants
12 cucumber plants
12 green onions
and of course, 6 sweet peas!

Thank you for any guidance you can give!

[jal_ut]

I think a 25 by 25 foot plot would accommodate this many plants. Rows are good, but spacing of the rows varies with the plants. Things like indeterminate tomatoes will end up going 4 feet in all directions. Determinate types don't get as large.

Cucumbers too need a lot of space unless you trellis them. The vines will get to over 4 feet in length. I plant seed in a row and space the seed 6 inches. I leave a space 8 feet wide and as long as I want the row and plant up the middle of it.

Onions need very little room compared to many other things. I plant three rows spaced one foot then leave a 32 inch space to the next row.
Peppers take up less space than tomatoes.

Spinach doesn't get too large. I do suggest planting much more than you mention. Plant a 12 foot row and put a seed every 2 inches.

Any way, you get the idea?

Welcome to the forum.

[ExcitableGardener]

I personally like to grow things together using the companion planting method, but I grow everything in 4x4 square beds instead of long rows anyway. It just works a lot better that way in my yard.

I think the main thing to concern yourself with is the cucumbers shading the rest of the plants. If you grow the cucumbers up a trellis, make sure you grow them behind your other plants (in relation to where the sun rises). The tomatoes and peppers will want a lot of sun, so make sure your cucumbers aren't blocking them from getting it.

[rainbowgardener]

You've gotten good advice. I just have a couple thoughts. I'd plant more onions and kind of tuck them in between other things. As EG noted, they are good for companion planting, help keep insects away.

Personally, being in the midwest, unless you are in Minnesota or some very cold part of the midwest, I would skip the spinach. It's a cold weather crop. I planted my spinach seeds in mid Feb (because of our early warm up, usually it would be mid-March). In my part of the midwest, it is getting hot already and spinach really doesn't like hot. You can plant spinach in Sept for a fall crop.

If you want a green leafy, plant swiss chard instead. You can use it any way you would use spinach, but it grows all summer and doesn't mind the heat.

[rainbowgardener]

I'm sure the Fordhook Giant is a great chard, but I love the rainbow chard (e.g. Bright Lights) for how beautiful/ ornamental they are.

[img]https://www.northernbrewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/chard.jpg[/img]