What about those big plants???

15 years ago

Once again, I'm finding myself trying to decide where to put those big plants? You know the ones I mean...they don't play well with others, won't stay in their nice little potager space, and sometimes like to grab you, as you walk by!

Potatoes are a challenge, because they need an area, where I can keep digging and pile a lot of dirt over them...maybe a raised bed. Squash, cucumbers, melons and pumpkins...while some will climb or stay small (I'm trying a bush zucchini and small watermelon in the kitchen garden) others grow three feet in one direction...and ten in the other! Corn is always difficult, mainly because I have deer, but they do like to grow in a big square, rather than a row. And finally, tomatoes...I am trying some cherry tomatoes and maybe a few romas, but I need a shed or building behind the slicing tomatoes, or they'll never get enough heat to ripen, before frost. Those plants like to get huge, too, and grow over on top of something else.

So, where do you grow these? Do some fit in the potager, or do they have their own 'not so little' space? Do you use raised beds or big, flat areas, where they can roam?

This year, I'm thinking about making a separate garden, just for these plants and maybe some asparagus. If I put a taller fence around this garden, maybe I can even keep the deer out! It's worth a try and it would be fun to have a garden with less structure...one that will remind me more of a playground. No more sitting orderly in rows and little squares...now you pumpkins and squash can run all over the place and have some fun! :)

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Comments (6)

natal
15 years ago
Didn't you decide last year to move them to a separate garden?

best place for the squash bed

new vegetable garden layout
ali-b
15 years ago
Last year was a big flop for me with the big plants. I did manage to pick 3 decent pumpkins and a really good watermelon. Not much yield, given the space. Undaunted, (well, maybe a little), I am trying midget canteloupe in an edible container garden on my deck. I usually wind up spending way more than I planned on flowers for my deck planters. Inspired by a book on edible containers that's the way I'm going this year. I bought a bunch of patio sized veggie seeds (cukes, tomatoes, peppers, basil, and canteloupe). I'll keep you posted on the experiment.

I still would like to have some butternuts and pumpkins. That is still up in the air. I do have a 4 x 5' spot at the back of the hop trellises if I relocate the planned ground cherries. So maybe I'll just plant 'em and let 'em sprawl back there.
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lavender_lass
Original Author
15 years ago
Natal- Yes, but then my new garden area ended up being the patio/BBQ area...but I think I can find room for a long, skinny garden, along the back. Maybe that will make it less inviting, for the deer to hop over the fence :)

Ali-b, I like the idea of edible plants in your deck planters. Someone is trying that over on the cottage garden forum, too. Let me know how it works out!
lavender_lass
Original Author
15 years ago
I'm so excited about my new garden! My husband and I were outside today, and realized the perfect place for our 'patio' table and chairs (you know the four chairs and table with an umbrella) is in the kitchen garden! It's got the best view, the arbor is there (which is working out great, but has limited seating) and it will be perfect for sitting in the evening and enjoying a lovely beverage :)

The BBQ is going to be on the porch, where it will be shady and much closer to the house, for transporting food back and forth. This means the area behind the sheds will be my big vegetables garden! Anyway, I had to tell someone, I'm so excited...so I hope my garden friends will understand and smile with me!

I'll post pictures when I have something worth showing. Now I have to go get some blocks, to build a little 'patio' for my table and chairs! (LOL)

This will also give me a chance to use the blue/gray pickets, from my other post. I love this picture and I think it will be just right for the corn, potatoes, pumpkin etc. garden :)

Is anyone else planning a separate garden, for the bigger vegetables, this year?

{{gwi:18786}}
oliveoyl3
15 years ago
Our raised garden boxes get full quickly, so we plant all the space hogs in the open ground areas of the garden between fruit trees, behind strawberries, behind rhubarb, etc... zucchini, winter squash, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, & more peas then pole/runner beans. I "decorate" them with annual flowers. Everything fills out & it can get somewhat chaotic, but productive.

It gets tricky to find the spots to rotate them because I often interplant, so I sometimes plant some tomatoes directly in strawbales disguised with plants all around. This year I need to be very careful where tomatoes go because they got late blight last year.

Here in western WA we've had a rather cool, wet spring, so only potatoes & peas are planted out. It's going to be awhile yet for my soil to be ready for the others. We may need to skip winter squash simply because we're going to run out of time to ripen if we get too late a start. We may keep most of the tomatoes & peppers in the greenhouse instead, so then we'd have some more space for the rambling squashes.
lavender_lass
Original Author
15 years ago
Corrine- Your solution sounds really pretty! I love mixing flowers in with the vegetables.

It looks like we're doing the potatoes and a few squash/melons in the back of the kitchen garden. I moved the purple raspberries and blueberries to another part of the garden, to make room. If it goes well, then maybe we'll get the other garden ready for next year. There's been so much rain (especially for eastern WA) that we haven't been able to even start the new garden.

Good news...we're all supposed to have a warm, sunny weekend! Have fun gardening :)