We have our small vegetable garden more or less in. There are a couple things left to be planted yet, the squash and pumpkins in the back row, and the tomato plants from a nursery at the base of the big net.

The bamboo trellis net is for peas. The idea being that we can pick them from inside and outside the structure.





Here is the plan:

There's nothing like home-grown vegetables, is there? One day, when we're not living underneath a flight path, I'm going to make a vegetable garden again too! Meanwhile, I'll just envy yours.

OK, I am a keen gardener and although you plan looks well organized you haven't indicated the direction, this is important as you don't want to shade some of the areas with taller plants.
I would put the marigolds around the outside for some biological insecticide and they made a good border, they should also be near the tomatoes to protect from worm attack to the roots of the tomatoes, marigolds are excellent companion plants.
The basil grows like a weed and needs frequent picking so would also put on the outside. Aspargus, I am unsure how it grows in your location, but invades via runners other spaces, I would put this in a separate growing area apart from the main garden.
remember that some of these plants will grow quite tall and need staking, they should be positioned so as not to shade the lower growing plants.. I do the opposite as shade required where I am.
Also remember to plan for access, is a pain to try to reach past growing plants to pick or prune, so walking areas need to be large which seems overkill initially until the plants start spreading. I tend to plant frequently accessed plants (basil) around the edges for this reason. Also I prefer to randomize the species planting a little, this gives a bit of a jungle effect, but also minimizes disease transmission and insect attack, so split up my tomatoes into smaller groups rather than planting them all together, this also allows for better use of space and more intensive planting.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2mINKYUfDQ[/youtube]

Just collected an egg from the chicken!

North, in my garden, is in the direction from the compost pile to the corner opposite. The short stuff will mature first and be harvested or eaten. The tomatoes and cucumbers will climb a great big net. The squash family will then take over the garden toward the end of the season.

campermon wrote:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2mINKYUfDQ[/youtube]

Just collected an egg from the chicken!

Just never let your smokes go out.

Mrs Twistor has just started on this lark. What I don't understand is that all the pots and shit are inside the house at the moment. Funny, I thought veggies grew outside. But WTF do I know ?

twistor59 wrote:Mrs Twistor has just started on this lark. What I don't understand is that all the pots and shit are inside the house at the moment. Funny, I thought veggies grew outside. But WTF do I know ?

lol!

baby plants need looking after!

I grow a big garden every year, lot of work but very satisfying.

Your garden looks good. I grow peas on the fence of mine and all the peas grow on the side facing the sun, so I don't know how much pea-picking you will be doing on the inside of the teepee. Can't hurt to try though, let me know.

Where's your garlic? That's one of my faves, grows well, and makes a wonderful gift for christmas.

We never thought of putting in garlic. Probably because we don't use a great deal of it, and what we do use, we buy in small jars. Our plot isn't very big, each small square of that graph paper map represents roughly 15cm. As I walk through it, it seems like the walkways are pretty big. We'll see how that works in actual practice this year as we maintain the garden.

I'm on the waiting list for an allotment Can't wait until I actually get one and I can have my own fresh cucumbers to put up my bottom... I mean... eat

Very nice but what about next year and the year after that, you need to plan for rotation, rotation, rotation, rotation. You need to plan which plants are going where as the different types of plants plants are going to need to be grown in rotation so pests and diseases don't build up in the soil. It may be better to lay it out in at least three similar size/shape beds for easy rotation.
Also, you have perennial herbs, oregano and rosemary mixed in with annual herbs and vegetables. You can certainly mix herbs and vegetables but it might be best to separate the perennial herbs to their own permanent bed.

I see kiore has mentioned asparagus, but I don't see it on your plan, again that would be a perennial that would need it's own bed which requires to be dug deeply and well manured before planting.

Oh, and mentioning manure I hope that you dug the whole plot deeply and incorporated plenty of manure/compost before planting. When you have rotation going you can manure just one plot each year and give it time to break down by the last year of rotation which should contain your root crops as fresh manure can tend to fork root vegetables such as carrots.

Where are the brassicas, (cabbage cauliflower, broccoli etc.) don't you like your greens?
I know it's a small plot, but you have to try growing some romanesco broccoli.

Not only does it look beautiful it tastes great too.

Well, we're vegan in our house, and pretty serious about it. Getting greens is not a concern. The amount of space we have for our garden limits what we grow each year.

Didn't know that oregano and rosemary were perennial. That may be useful, perhaps we'll transplant some to some pots before winter.

We don't have a source for manure, so all our garden gets is our compost pile, which is considerable. Our diet is not only plant based, but based on whole foods. The extent of processed food we buy is flour, pasta, rolled oats and corn meal. Accordingly, we generate a decent amount of green waste for the compost pile.

Our garden is more of an experiment each year, and something to teach our boys. The trellises are our major improvement this year.

Nice garden. I remember growing up in my parents garden, helping them to plant seeds and seeing the first crops grow and actually eating them! It was like magic!

Oh, I see you have plenty of lawn with hedges around it. Here's a top tip - when you trim the hedge leave the clippings strewn about your lawn, mow over them and that way you get chopped hedge clippings mixed with grass clippings to put directly on your compost heap. Grass clippings need mixing in with something more coarse and hedge clippings need to be chopped finely and mixed with something finer to get good compost.

I don't collect grass clippings, though. I use a walk-behind mower that I have to push, that only mulches. Not even an option on my mower to collect the mown grass. And, that hedge is damned huge. When the gardened trims it twice a year, it makes trailer loads of clippings. More than my 1.5 meter square compost pile could ever absorb.

If you got a powered rotary mower rather than a cylinder push mower and as long as you clip the hedge regularly and only small clippings come off it it should still work. I would get a small powered "chipper" for the hedge clippings otherwise. You can always rake up the clippings to put them on the compost heap. It's a shame to waste any compostable material.
Do you know if, when it gets taken away it gets composted anyway or does it get burned or go for landfill?
I'd rather feed my vegetables with the lawn clippings than the lawn itself and get the benefit of the hedge clippings for the veggies too. As a vegan I would hope that self sufficiency and environmental responsibility about these things would be your paradigm too.

I'm limited to a paved garden about 5 metres square, with a £45 PVC greenhouse and some space on next door's extension roof. But I've decided to go mad this year...

radishes
mixed lettuce
runner beans
broad beans
tomatoes (2 sorts)
peppers
chilli peppers
aubergine
courgette
cucumber
turnip
coriander
parsley
red basil
carrots
corn salad
leaf beet (everlasting spinach)
radichio
wild rocket
mustard greens
beetroot
garlic chives
oriental spicy leaves
rainbow chard
spring onion
strawberry
blackberry

I know how to pack 'em in!

About 13 or so various fruits and vegetables this year. Going at it hardcore next year when we have our own place.