Planting My First Garden

[shilala]

Matt, I have one more suggestion...
If you keep your beds 4'x4' or 5'x5', you can reach all the way to the center while sitting on the edge of your bed. That makes it super comfortable to weed, plant, and whatever. You might want to do a little "mock-up" to see how far you can reach and what is comfortable. You could also make them 4'x8' or even longer, and achieve the same results.
An 8'x8' bed sucks ass because you plant them tight, then you can't get in there to harvest or weed, and you also end up walking in there, which is the very last thing you ever want to do. It compacts the soil and defeats all the work you just did.
Trust me, you'll be thrilled with them if you keep them skinny. Like I said, 4' or 5' wide. I kept all mine 4x4, 4x8 and 2x8 for flowers and bulbs. At one time I think we had like 26 of them and I had them all tubed up for irrigation. It was wicked cool.
(That was on top of five acres of orchards, two other 50'x100' gardens, and a 10x10 purple sunflower garden, among tons of other stuff. )

[OHRD]

Originally Posted by shilala

Matt, I have one more suggestion...
If you keep your beds 4'x4' or 5'x5', you can reach all the way to the center while sitting on the edge of your bed. That makes it super comfortable to weed, plant, and whatever. You might want to do a little "mock-up" to see how far you can reach and what is comfortable. You could also make them 4'x8' or even longer, and achieve the same results.
An 8'x8' bed sucks ass because you plant them tight, then you can't get in there to harvest or weed, and you also end up walking in there, which is the very last thing you ever want to do. It compacts the soil and defeats all the work you just did.
Trust me, you'll be thrilled with them if you keep them skinny. Like I said, 4' or 5' wide. I kept all mine 4x4, 4x8 and 2x8 for flowers and bulbs. At one time I think we had like 26 of them and I had them all tubed up for irrigation. It was wicked cool.
(That was on top of five acres of orchards, two other 50'x100' gardens, and a 10x10 purple sunflower garden, among tons of other stuff. )

YOU SO SMART SCOTT!!!!

Great call, cutting the two of the 8ft pieces in half, so it'll be 12ftx4ft...

And I'll go w/ the cow manure compost.

I've got to put up a chicken wire type fence as well to keep my big dog out of there....

[shilala]

Originally Posted by OHRD

YOU SO SMART SCOTT!!!!

Great call, cutting the two of the 8ft pieces in half, so it'll be 12ftx4ft...

And I'll go w/ the cow manure compost.

I've got to put up a chicken wire type fence as well to keep my big dog out of there....

Thanks Matt, but I could argue the smart thing real well.
Hey, don't be afraid to teach your dog to plant with you. My big old fat black lab worked with me year in and year out and learned where to step and where not to. He even knew he wasn't allowed in the garden when I wasn't in there.
Give him some credit, he's probably a lot smarter than me. Plus you'll enjoy having him with you. Plant some snow peas for him, and you'll have a treat for him all season. It makes it even easier to teach him to be good.
Remember that plants will take a pretty good beating, so don't be afraid.
Plus chicken wire looks like sh1t. lol