Welcome Kym! I'm sure you've heard this, but anyone from the home of REM is cool by me, hehe.

A brief look at your garden plan left me with a few suggestions. I assume the area to the north of each bed is a trellis. If so, I'm not sure pepper plants need trellising. Cages normally suffice (though I'm no pepper expert). Similarly, bush beans would be a waste in front of a trellis, and they have a very short harvest period... I'd plant more pole beans myself if you like them.

As for the tomato row, it's going to be very tight. They will grow together something fierce. So I'd plant the cukes on the outside to give them a fighting chance.

Lastly, if these beds are all in the proximity to each other that you've drawn, your corn is going to shade that entire side when it's 6 feet tall. Of course so will all your trellises. And that may not be so bad to shade your lettuce and spinach around the time bolting would normally occur. It may stave off bolting a bit. Not sure.

Great looking plan overall, I love the variety and you've definitely gone companion planting to the max. My guess is you have pest problems there. I hope these companion plantings help!

Let us know how it's going and enjoy your garden!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

Welcome Kym. You're going to love this gardening method, and I wish you good luck with it!

EG

Here is a link that might be useful: EG's Garden Blog

Welcome Kym!

May I suggest you NOT plant popcorn with your corn? They would probably cross pollinate, and possibly render your sweet corn inedible. It's best to stick with only one variety of corn. You don't even want it close to a neighbor's corn patch, as the wind carries the pollen.

I'm with Sinfonian...move that cucumber to the edge of the garden, or the tomatoes will suffocate it. Also, if you do have trellises where it looks like you do, I'd plant all pole beans and no bush beans. The pole beans will keep producing, bush beans would need succession planting. Peppers can use caging or staking, but I wouldn't waste trellis space on them, as they don't vine.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I would choose popcorn over sweetcorn anytime. I grew yellow popcorn last year; won't have room this year but I found that homegrown popcorn is better than the store-bought stuff..

Hi Kym!! Great to see you. We're but 20 miles or so away from you outside of Winder, Ga. Small world, huh? Yes, Sinfonian, companion planting is a must. Pest problems are outrageous. And please don't forget the B52's when referencing Athens' greats. :)

GOOOO DAWGS!
(sorry, EG. Just not getting a War Eagle our of me....or is that Go Tigers? Have you all decided yet? Sorry, EG, it's all about the love, right?)

But your plan looks good, Kym. Just be careful that your sweet potato vines don't overgrow the lettuce and radish. It would be good if those two crops were done by the time the sweet potato really expanded (which your lettuce should be. It can't deal with the GA heat in July).

B 52s from Athens huh? I knew GA, but Athens, wow, how'd you all get so lucky!

And no matter what you say, the Dawgs reside in Seattle WA at the UW... hehe. And anything better than 0-12 next year will be a big deal, hehe.

Ok, now for something garden related. Yeah, I planted two different corn varieties right next to each other and they turned out HORRIBLE.

Welcome Kym! I'm wondering if the strawberries will overrun the borrage. I haven't grown either, so I'm not an expert. The strawberries I've seen tend to dominate their area.

Sinofonian - I purposely wanted the corn to be near the lettuce for shading, but I may go with wider paths. My 7yo wants a tomato plant in her garden, so I can rearrange my tomatoes to allow more room, and can certainly go with another pole bean. Maybe I'll plant a bush bean in the front of the box.

Granny, I'll definitely nix the popcorn. I just thought it would be cool as a science experiment for my 7yo dd, but we'll stick with sweet corn. Maybe do the popcorn next year... If I thin the tomatoes down to 2 plants, I will keep my fingers cross that the cucumbers will survive :) I'll probably end up rearranging the peppers away from the trellis, and find something else to put there.

Catman - maybe next year for the popcorn. I really want to try it!

Ribbit - I'm actually in Jefferson, but nobody knows where that is. They usually recognize Athens because of the Dawgs. Ok, REM and B52s. Have you guys heard of Corey Smith? He's not in the same category of popularity, but he's actually a homegrown boy from Jefferson, and his songs are about his life here and in Athens. My older boys introduced me to his music, and I must say I'm hooked. I love "Wishin I was 21."

Thanks again for your advice. I'll keep you updated.

Kym

Welcome Kym!
I think you would want to put your strawberries in their own space since they generally stay put for a couple years. Not that they need their own bed to themselves as much as I would put them all together.

I have also read not to mix the sweet corn & popcorn or neither will turn out good. I also agree with Granny, if you're only planting 3 squares of beans, I'd go with pole beans. I think you'll get a better harvest for your space.

Very nice layout!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

For the record, REM+B52's = Gay! What about Jackyl? They're from atlanta....Heh.

ribbit - you just had to go there, didn't you? wanna hear the fight song? Dawgs? Oh! For a minute there, I thought you were referring to the dogs that keep trampling your garden. Heh.

Kym - can't ya tell that we like to give each other a hard time in here? Hee Hee. Anyway, I only grew peaches and cream corn last year, and me and the boy just stood there eating them as we pulled it from the stalks. It was good!

EG

I know where Jefferson is!! My dog boarder is in Jefferson. We're off Hwy 211 on the Winder side of the Chateau Elan exit of I-85.

No, haven't heard of Corey Smith. Sad to say, but I'm on EG's side of the music world, so don't hate, EG. You know I was jealous of your GWAR events (I hesitate to call them concerts). Give me thrash metal any day, but none of that Norwegian death metal. That stuff's not right. One day I'll get you listening to Clutch. Best band on earth.

Do the popcorn! The boy wants to do corn, but I'm leaving it for next year. You do it first and tell me what I need to learn. :)

Do the popcorn or do the sweet corn, but just do one, not both. Only if one is really early and the other is really late (they don't tassel at the same time)you might get away with planting both varieties.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Just to be clear on the popcorn issue. If I grow them in seperate boxes in different areas, would that work?

Kym

Corn will wind pollinate up to 1/4 mile away. So it could be a problem. Mostly it depends on when they pollinate. You don't want the different varieties to mature within a few weeks of each other.

And EG, I don't care what orientation my musicians are. And old REM rocks! Hehe

Ahem....hey ribbit, tonight....tupelo....sevendust and disturbed....i'm going! Woo Hoo!

davesgirl - I think they're supposed to be at least 400-500 feet from each other.

EG

7yo is NOT happy to hear no popcorn. I may have to settle for grocery store corn this year and try the popcorn. Not sure how much to plant. Will have to do some research to see how long it can be stored...

I did have good luck today. I found my vermiculite at the feed store 3 minutes from my house for only $14.39 a bag (by far the cheapest I've found it), and while I was there I was able to score several pallets to make my compost pile!! I love free stuff :)

sorry, daves_girl, don't mean to hijack your post, but I need to tell EG that I'm totally not talking to him anymore. I hope he has a wonderful time so that I'm just further convinced and stalwart that he's earned the brunt of my ire and I'm not speaking to him. EG, it's just not fair. It's just not. However, I'm serious about the Clutch, EG. You'd love them. Let me know if you want and I'll send you an album cut (please note this last message has nothing to do with my unyielding resolution not to converse with you). :)

daves_girl, Totally do the popcorn. The boy here (4) is dying for some. He shows no interest in any other veggie but he keeps asking about corn. I don't have room for it this year, but it's certainly on my list for next. We'll just have to settle for watching the neighbor's corn grow.

Ha! sure ribbit, i'll take a little clutch.

EG