New raised bed, what goes where?

[Aorourke]

This is my 2nd year at growing veggies but first year in my new 12' by 8' raised bed, and growing from seed. Just today we put the top soil on. These are the veggies I have ready ... peppers, lettuce, snow peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and broccoli. I also might have pumpkin and cantaloupe ready in a few weeks and plan on growing watermelon and onions. Reason for not knowing about the pumpkin and cantaloupe is that while they were seeds my 21 month old son thought it would be fun to swap the name stakes about and they were slow to grow so I'm still not sure which is which! Lol

Where in the raised bed would you put these veggies? I know the tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, peppers and snow peas, already grow up the way or can be trained to grow up.

I thought that the pumpkin and melons could go on the edge and train over the raised bed and sprawl on the grass. I think that peppers need some shade so could I use the snow peas, tomatoes or cucumbers for shade?

Is this too much? Since they are not in the ground yet I can put the tomatoes or peppers in containers. I think I know what kind of spacing they all need as I had a little practice last year.

Any tips and advice appreciated!... 

[hendi_alex]

12' by 8' is pretty wide, with 4' wide being optimal for reaching to the center of the bed from either direction. If planting in an 8' wide space, I would put a 2' walk down the middle and then subdivide the outside strips into six 3' by 4' planting blocks. Then would decide what to plant in each planting block, making sure to plant taller plants to the North and progressively shorter ones to the south if interplanting is used. Also it may be worthwhile to plant vines vertical to decrease the plant's footprint. I think that the six planting blocks described above would easily accommodate the plants that you have in mind. remember that the lettuce and snow peas will play out early in the season, so maybe start some cucumbers in with them. About the time that the lettuce and snow peas are through, the cucumbers will be ready to start forming vines. Also, keep in mind that the foot print of tomatoes can be limited by pruning out the suckers and only allowing from one to a few leader stems to form.

Good luck. Sounds like you have a great sized area for your garden and the space to grow lots of nice veggies.

[Aorourke]

I had originally only panned 6' wide, so I could reach into the middles fro either end, however when in home depo hubby and I decided on spire of the moment to just go with the 8'.
My post was getting a bit long so didnt want to mention the plank walks! I was planning on only one, however 2 probably is better. Can I divide the planting block just by some twine as a visual barrier?
Yes I was going to pant vine plants vertical. My toddler was around at the time of writing the previous post, that's why I said growing up! LO
I have grown tomatoes a few times and usually don't allow then to bush out too much by pruning the little offshoots. If that's what they are called.
My cucumbers are already grown but are only about 6" long. Can I still plant them beside the snow peas? Knowing they peas will be done once the cucumber really start growing, I was planning on vining them.

My snow peas are still really yellow and I hope they make it until wednesday to be transplanted.

Thanks for the info and advice!

[hendi_alex]

Hopefully a fellow Canadian will chime in, as your growing conditions are so different from down south. I can start three or four succession planting of cucumbers and have them produce from May through November. I'm not sure how long your snow peas will produce given you cooler temperatures. Down here they play out pretty quickly, and in fact I pulled my snow pea vines last week. But it should not hurt having a couple of cucumber plants interplanted with the peas. The peas will even give the cucumbers a bit of extra nitrogen. If things start to get crowded, you can always snip a few pea plants off at the ground, to give extra room to the cucumber plants.