Posted: 4/11/2012 12:14:12 PM EDT
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Alright so we recieved a bunch of Heritage Seeds from a good friend last fall and decided to give it a go this spring with a garden.
Originally planted to beds. 4'x8'x8" Started with the original soil that was broken up in Dec to fix a broken leech field pipe. Then A layer of horse manure compost that had been on the heap since last May. Then some gardening soil from the HD. Big question Is....I think we're overcrowded on the one plot. I've got two rows of corn. 3 zuchinni plants and then 4 watermelon plants. The corn and zuchinni have taken off. The watermelon is getting over shadowed and I believe it has some root rot issues because of all the wet weather we have been having. Next bed is green beans, onions, red bell peppers, jalepenos, and spinach. I just made a third bed today and hope to put a couple tomato plants as well as some carrots in it. Made it the same way but in the manure found some gigantic grubs....about 2.5" long when they started running. Need opinions on what to do about them? I guess I'm basically looking for opinions on the setup and what you might do about the overcrowded bed. 
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Quoted:
New bed and how it looks now. http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h271/Photoflight/55a3d421.jpg Corn is a low-yield crop for small spaces. If you are going to plant it, I used the 'three-sisters' method last year and it worked pretty well. I am using the same method again this year. Zuchini and corn do well together. Add a couple of bean plants by each stalk of corn to make a natural trellis from a non-competing bean plant. Corn is supposed to have 10-12" spacing between plants and 24" between rows. So in your bed, you won't be able to put many plants. Watermelons are supposed to be placed 9' between mounds and on 6' rows. You are overcrowding them with the nearby plants. I'm new at this stuff too. Just got started last year, fwiw. Your corn must have been planted a month ago? Mine was two weeks ago and is only 6" tall. Edit, carrots are a root crop. They are a little late to be planting in Texas. The window for them was mid-Feb to early March. You might thing about getting a sweet potato plant or two for the third bed. They go in the ground in Mid-May and you still have time to grow your own sets in a windowsill for transplanting in about a month. What time of day were the pics? How much shade are you getting? TRG |
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Quoted:
Thanks for the info. I went ahead and moved two of the watermelon plants to the new box. One on each end. The pictures were taken about 2 or 3 oclock in the afternoon. The gardens basically get direct sun from about 1pm on. I saw a real difference in the growth of my melons last year. The ones that received morning shade were stunted. More sunlight is a good thing. FWIW, trees and grass are natural enemies. They are competitors and trees use their leaves to acidify the soil to keep grass from growing. Some of your plants, like corn, are grasses and will not do well near trees. I saw this effect in my melon patch as well. Those plants nearest trees grew much less and some failed to produce any melons at all. You might watch to see if that shade is affecting your garden, and remove any leaf litter that falls in the beds. TRG |
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I am in North Texas and have gardened there my whole life. The last 20 years has been in raised beds. The biggest problem I always see is the overcrowding people do with raised beds.
Watermelons, squash, cantaloupes and pumpkins all grow better separate from your regular growing beds. I put mine in tires off to the side where they have the room to spread out. There are some pics on Modern Day Redneck Good luck and if you have any questions just let me know |
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I guess I did something right.
Itll be corn soon 
Tons of Yellow Squash 
And lots of peas. 
Rest of the plants are catching up. I've got a dozen or so carrots that have really taken off. Cucumbers, Watermelons, and Peppers have all exploded this last week or two. Strawberries and blueberries are starting to show a little fruit as well. I sprayed em down a little today with some compost tea and will probably do it again in a couple of weeks. Just need to go weed a little bit |