Have you planted these already? Z6 seems like it would be still another month or more to be planting out.
Or is this what what you WANT to plant?
Are you going to can/freeze? Is this for a family of 2?......6?What do you want in a "good crop"? There are 2-3 of us and I usually plant about 6 tomato plants. One sun gold (salads and snacking, VERY prolific!) and a variety of sauce and slicing tomatoes. I try to sauce and freeze enough tomatoes for the year for the 2 of us (which would be maybe 3 gal of sauce for the year) Peppers, I've not had a huge amount of luck with, 3 plant are enough to keep us in fresh and a few baggies of chopped to freeze for later. Cuke squash, and melon are summer stuff (unless you want to grate squash and use it later in baking)
Lettuce is usually a cooler crop, but can be tweeked into early summer in some areas. Not sure where you are?
I'm on the west coast in Z8ish, so this could be just a guess in your area.
Nancy PS, have to go cut up asparagus for quiche right now!

I think you may have too many plants for the size beds you have. Squash, watermelon, and cantaloupe take up a lot of space. Cucumbers can be trained up a support to save some room, and if you have sturdy supports, some types of (small)squash may be grown that way also. Most of your other plants should be at least a foot apart from each other to provide good air flow. Cucumbers and watermelons should not be grown together as they are closely related and will sometimes cross pollinate.

Position the beds to get the most sun.. Plant the tallest plants in the north, the shortest plant towards the south, so no plants shade out on another..

Position the beds to get the most sun.. Plant the tallest plants in the north, the shortest plant towards the south, so no plants shade out on another..

Good Morning Ladies, I have a very similar dilemma here in Baltimore, Md. Today I took my 5 year old out to a local nursery and purchased onions, bell peppers, garlic, spinach, romaine lettuce broccoli, cabbage, carrots, strawberries, and sage and basil. I have been eyeing the gronomics elevated garden bed, which measures 24wx48lx30h. We live in a row house, with very little room for gardening. I have a deck and potted some oriental lilies a couple of years ago and they do well. The deck area gets plenty of sun, so no worry there. My question is: What should I plant together in the elevated bed and what should I plant in separate containers? This is my family and I's first veggie garden and I am so anxious for us to get out back and get our hands dirty, but I don't want to ruin these plants. Thank you all in advance for any advice you can share.

Good Morning Ladies, I have a very similar dilemma here in Baltimore, Md. Today I took my 5 year old out to a local nursery and purchased onions, bell peppers, garlic, spinach, romaine lettuce broccoli, cabbage, carrots, strawberries, and sage and basil. I have been eyeing the gronomics elevated garden bed, which measures 24wx48lx30h. We live in a row house, with very little room for gardening. I have a deck and potted some oriental lilies a couple of years ago and they do well. The deck area gets plenty of sun, so no worry there. My question is: What should I plant together in the elevated bed and what should I plant in separate containers? This is my family and I's first veggie garden and I am so anxious for us to get out back and get our hands dirty, but I don't want to ruin these plants. Thank you all in advance for any advice you can share.

Aye Mama,

You could plant the vegetables together, keep the strawberry separate, they will spread and make their own bed.. You could also make one vegetable bed, herb bed, and one fruit bed.. Or one annual bed, one perennial.. I think strawberries should have it's own bed, as well as other perrenials(asparagus,etc).. But as far as perennial herbs, you could have one bed devoted to herbs but all different
Varieties of herbs(sage,Rosemary,thyme,chives,etc).. The only perrenials you have are sage and strawberries.. I would make a bed solely for strawberries, then a separate vegetable bed, and put the sage in it's own space.. Unles you plan on getting more herbs, then make another bed just for herbs.. Keep it organized.. Just a thought..

If you don't have much space just have one big long row, or however you could fit In a garden bed, and divide that up for different plants... All annual vegetables you mentioned do decent in containers, but I would plant the perrenials(strawberries/sage) in the ground... Or keep the sage in a pot in your kitchen, but definently plant those strawberries in ground.. Strawberries do well in hanging baskets as well! It's really up to you.. It's hard to guess you situation and know ecstcly what you would want.. Just some ideas..

Best of luck,
Joe

Hey Joe, thanks for the great advice! I decided against the elevated bed ad bought several large pots. I planted the berries alone, the cabbage alone, the romaine and spinach in a long planter together. The broccoli is,by its self, and the carrots and onions together. The bell peppers by themselves. Everything looks great and I'm super excited. The only bummer is, we've had some rain yesterday and plenty this evening, so now ofcourse I'm worried about them drowning. Should I cover them with plastic?

Newly Transplanted plants tend to be more weak and tender, lacking the root system to make them strong to battle the conditions.. Rain could flatten the seedlings.. Once they have good anchorage, they will be much better.. as you mentioned, in a container, they could be overwhelmed by water, soil washes out,etc... You could cover the soil with plastic.. I would just bring em to a shelter until the weather breaks.. You want them getting used to the harsh weather, but not killed in the process.. Dont baby them, but don't kill them at the same time.. It's a balancing game...

I had my excess strawberries in pots on my patio ledge, the gutter is few feet above it, when it rains they get flooded! Just have to watch the weather and pull them out before they getting beat up and drenched..

Everything should turn out great! You think your excited, your five year old probably loves watching things grow! Get them liking vegetables at an early age, nothing like some nutrition from your yard! Keep up the good work, your gardens going to be flourishing!

Joe

Thank you so much Joe :-) And you're right, she and the two year old are both super excited!! Thanks for the boost, I really needed that and I'll be back here if I encounter any problems.

Thank you much and Happy Gardening!

I loved reading this as I am going through the same thing. ESpecially the bit about the strawberries :)