Goodness, you are organized! Your layout looks fine to me, based on your preferences. However, the space allotted for potatoes won't give you much of a crop. Potatoes are space-eaters, and you might want to put that area into something else that you'd like, green beans or a squash perhaps.

haha, Thank you! Organizing makes me feel better!
Maybe I'll give some of the area to shallots, which I also want to grow if I can get my hands on some and grow some more garlic in the rest of it...

Roughly how much room do you need for potatoes? And/or for a SMALLl crop of watermelons? We rent and it turns out our landlord is coming out to till a fairly large patch of land kiddy-corner to where we're putting in the garden (plus he said he'll till our garden for us, phew!) so if I'm feeling really ambitious I can plant back there as well!

Hi Jessica,

Congratulations on setting up your first garden! I would definitely suggest looking into square-foot gardening for your beds. You can get the book or google the spacing for the plants that you are interested in. For example, I plant one potate to a square foot (16 of your squares), 16 carrots per sqft, four lettuce per sqft, etc.

You are also a bit off time-wise for the crops you plan on planting. Garlic is planted in the fall for a crop the following summer. You could grow another crop there in the meantime. I'm not completely sure about zone 5b, but I also think you are late with the sweet onions, peas and spinach. They are usually planted very early. You may still get by if you plant onion sets quickly. Bunching onions can be planted any time.

Good luck with you garden!
Belllatrix

Watermelons take lots of water and lots of space, and have a long growing season -- up to 100 days -- but there are "short season" watermelons if needed. The vines do sprawl pretty far, so they might be a good choice for that other area you are getting tilled. (If it gets full sun.)

I was going based on the little "time zone" on the back of the seed packets which said to plant in my area in May-June. I know fall planting is ideal for garlic but I read somewhere that you can get away with planting early in the growing season, you'll just have smaller heads. I'm gonna try both. It's not too expensive so I don't mind trying it!

Do you have any suggestions? I plan on growing more with different veggies in a second wave. I want to grow eggplant, peppers, tomatoes (I'll swap out the peas for tomatoes so they have something to grow up) cucumbers, a little bit of broccoli and cauliflower, butternut, yellow and green (zucchini) squash, and corn in the second wave.

Also, I know this is probably a silly question, but how many potatoes do you get per "seed" potato? Is it just one to one or will you get multiple? And can I grow SWEET potatoes? Or just "normal" potatoes? Sorry I don't know much!

Onions and garlic will stunt the growth of your peas. They certainly don't do well together at all. Maybe move your spinach and radishes in the pea plant area? It sounds nice.

If you are doing a potato tower instead of just grown in a regular row, they won't take up a lot of room.

Your garden looks nice other than that!

omj

To get the basics on growing anything in the garden, you might find a Google search beneficial, something like, "How to grow _____" (fill in the veggie). Then we can help with what you may not understand.

Potatoes are an example. If you want to grow a potato plant, you need to have enough room for the plant itself and then cover the plant as it grows to keep the potatoes themselves from turning green due to sun exposure. I'm sure you know that green color is mildly toxic to us humans, so growing them takes a bit of care and knowledge. It's easy to get that knowledge on the internet and in discussions such as these.

And BTW, one potato plant will provide anywhere from five to eight potatoes (give or take a few), but they do take a bit of time. Many are more than 100 days to maturity.

It also helps to know how a potato grows. The roots burrow down into the soil, just like other plants, but the potatoes are formed from the stem, above ground. You can "hill up" the potato plant with almost anything that will keep the sunlight off the developing potatoes (leaves, hay, soil, etc.), just allowing the top of the plant to continue growing upward.

Scarlet, thank you for telling me that peas don't play well with onions and garlic!!! I know some plants do really well together and some really DON'T do well together and I'm SO thankful someone let me know! I'm really glad I posted this here! Also, is growing a potato "tower" just like growing your peas and tomatoes on a trellis/cage?

Anney, Thank you for the potato info! I'm glad I google searched veggie garden forum and came up with this one! Everyone here is great! :]

Get all the space you can get. 42 square feet is nothing. You will barely get much. A big tomato plant might take up the entire 40 sq feet although I would plant at least 2 in each bed.

If you figure the number of calories of food a person eats in a year you have no chance of growing that number of calories on such a small plot.

However, you can get some good stuff to eat but you will still have to buy food.

forget spinach it will not grow for you. Try Swiss Chard. It will grow all summer just cut off leaves. forget bulb onions but buy a few scallions in the food store and plant them. harvest next spring. I would do more lettuce and greens. Peas will be very low yield. you will be lucky if you get one small bowl of peas. You can let cucumbers climb up the trellis. Garlic there is a red skin but white garlic with red skin that is a hard neck for new york and cold areas. That one is the best for new york. almost all white skin soft necks from the store will die in the winter. Garlic is usually planted in the fall. but you can do it anytime.

I am sure you can find the red skin garlic at a farmers market later in the year when they are selling it.

Now that you are in PLANNIN stage, I would recomend making the beds 4 feet wide, instead of 3ft.
It is the human ergonomics; From both sides you can reach the entire bed without puting steps onto it.

POTATO:

As mentioned, potatoes take fair amount of space. You plant two seeds in one whole,2-3" apart. This is called a "HILL".
The next hill in the row should be about 14" away. If you plan more than one row, the next row shouls be 24" apart.
So in a 3ftx2ft space you can have 3 hills, in 3ft x 4ft you can manage 4 hills.

Potato yield would depend on growing conditions and care.
If you plant 1lb of seeds and harvest less than 5 lbs, that is poor. 6 to 8 lbs is ok, 9 lbs and more is good.
I shoot for one to twelve.

GardenDawgie, 42sq ft is enough for this year because it's my first garden ever! We may do another "small" area behind the main garden for big potatoes and watermelons though.

Cyrus, my fiance and I just finished pulling up the lawn for the bed yesterday and we found a great "push-pull" type method that worked really well and quickly so we could probably clear "2" more feet easily. Plus if it potentially meant more potatoes for him depending on where we plant them, I don't think he'd mind haha
Also, thank you for letting me know how you grow your potatoes! I love hearing how other people do things so I can get ideas on how to do it!
I'm going to re-design my layout. I'll post another picture of it and you'll have to let me know if you think the new plan works!

Hi, I am in the process of planting my 2nd garden so I am commenting from experience only. I am in zone 5. Last year I planted onions from seed...didn't get any worth using. I planted sets last week and 1 came up today! Carrots need loose soil but last yrs did pretty well. This yr I am planting lots more. I planted short carrots in front of the peas and they did well, very tastey too. Spinach didn't do very well at all but I planted some on 3/14, only 3 are up. Planted lettuce 3/14, tons came up in under a week, they like cool weather. Peas planted on 3/14, came up 3 weeks later, they like cool also. Planted store bought garlic, all I have right now, they came up in about a week. Heads last yr were smaller but juicy, not too late to try them. I read to plant potatoes when the dandelions bloom, doing that in 2 days. I am planting extra green onions and will freeze some. Last yrs were yummy. My peppers I planted in cups on 3/7 and toms in cups on 3/14. All doing well. They take a long time to grow. Last yr I planted everything we liked...this yr I am making all the learned adjustments on how to do it all. One tip I learned...tomato cages are a joke so get or make good ones.

it make sense that you start small, it's more in the first year about learning, and the second and forever :-) well that's what I am finding anyway, I am still small, just about doubled last year (2nd year), and oddly finding it harder, because I want to plant everything and want even more space, but I am being strict with myself as I don't want to crash and burn, hopefully I will double again next year, and also with a little one, you can't easily set aside a hour here and there to get on and just do, so I think you are being pretty sensible and will really learn to love a garden and as your son grows so will it.
Don't worry about a hand full of peas (it will be), I did about the same amount as you last year and this, and my sons just ate from the pod.
this year I seem to have so much information, I end up confusing myself LOL, reading this I realize I have made a big blunder! I am sure I read that you could do 4 pots per Sq foot! too late now, just have to hope the Pots grow on different levels to each other :-) in a sort of potato stacking system like you get at airports!
Good luck, enjoy it and you wee one, as my father in law says "bless this moment, it will only come once"

I'm thinking of expanding my beds to 4 feet wide per Cyrus' suggestion. How many rows of peas do you think I could realistically plant and still be able to reach?

Idaho, thank you for the info! It's helpful hearing from someone who has the same zone (different state) as me and what worked and didn't work for you! I'll keep all that info in mind! And I'm excited that garlic worked for you! I'm not too worried if they come out small, I'm sure I'll have more than enough for my small family! :] You'll have to let me know how your spinach ends up doing and how it goes with your potatoes!

before you expand the beds is cyrus a man or a tall woman? I am 5 foot 8 female and can get to the middle of my 4 foot beds but it is a struggle not comfortable working, and I find myself leaning on the soil heavily, crushed some carrots today! for me, I found my new beds of 3 1/2 feet are fab, but that is me, experiment with widths, sound to me, your intended is on board, so maybe he can do the stuff in the very middle, my hubby is 5 ft 10 and reaches without any problem, only 2 inches can make a big difference, (don't be rude:-))
but I do the majority so I deemed, beds to my reach.
gosh, you are just trying to build a garden :-) I use my height a lot in these debates on width of beds, as in I am just above average for a female, but not super modelish,(I wish!) but pretty much average height for a man.
the other consideration is men have better body strength, so a man my height, weight and condition would out preform me, sorry if that is sounding anti feminist, unfortunately, it is biological, I do know some women who can put preform men but just that they are in condition and the men are a little bit.
luckily us Ladies have sense on our side :-)
as in move the sofa, husband always carries, I slide it :-) he take's 2 to do it his way, I can do it on my own :-)

Someone else mentioned it, but I would really look into the square foot gardening methods (there is a forum here dedicated to those techniques). While following the whole regimen requires special soil prep, you can definitely follow the principles with regular soil as long as you prepare it properly (dug deep and lots of organic matter added in).

I have peas in an area under a small tree, it was an afterthought really as I had some leftover seeds so I threw them in there and pushed them into the dirt. This little 3 foot diameter area gives me enough snow and sugar snap peas to have a large bowl of steamed peas for myself, hubby and 2 kids every 2-3 days. It's amazing what comes out of small spaces.

heather38 has a great point. I'm 5'6" and can handle a 4' wide bed for most stuff, but some people taller or shorter can't. But I still find picking greens to be a real stretch at 24" away.

We're all different. The width of the bed needs to fit YOU, not a hypothetical okay width. Before committing to 4', you may want to mock up the bed width and see if you can reach in enough to work it easily.

These comments reflect my own personal preference for vegetables. I can't figure out how to avoid that bias.

I would probably grow more onions, and fewer carrots. You can grow a lot of carrots in a very small space. Onions need a lot more row space. Also, I use onions for more than I do carrots. That may be just a personal bias.

I would also not devote space to potatoes in a garden that small. I'm not growing them anymore, even though I have much more space. (too much work for a geezer, too cheap at the store, not enough difference between taste of home grown or store bought).

I might also consider growing my lettuce and spinach close together, then when it gets warm and they bolt, you could plant a few "short season" tomatoes and peppers (if you start them now).

If you are too late for peas (never grew them myself, 100 degree temperatures too closely follow the spring thaw), you might plant some bush beans, or put up a trellis (like I did) and plant pole beans.

Tom

omj
I am also in zone 5b (Chicago). This is only my 2nd year with raised beds. I tried a few of the same things you are planning so this might help. Because they do take up a lot of space in your bed, I did my potatoes in potato bags. The summer last year was rather cold and I think that affected the size of the harvest, but the plants did great. I think there is a huge difference between store bought and fresh organic potatoes. Just wish we had more of them.
I also tried watermelon. They take up a ton of space too, but you can trellis them, the vines anyway. The weather was way too cold and we never got a fruit. I think our zone is not warm enough in general, for melons.
Spinach also flopped, I would go with chard or some other kind of green. I grew beets last year and discovered beet greens are delish! This year I am planning to do all my salad greens in a lettuce table. Actually self watering containers atop a table. Also planning to do cukes and brussels sprouts in 10 gallon buckets, leaving more room for other stuff in the beds.
Be sure to check the height you can expect a mature plant to grow to, and spread as well. Many of my choices last year got bigger than expected and shaded out smaller things.
Whatever you do will be fun and a learning experience. People on this forum tend to be knowledgable and responsive, so there is some where to turn when disaster strikes!
Happy gardening!

My beds are 3'. I am only 5' and can't reach any further.