Got bored. Planning my "dream homestead". Can't think of other crops to add. People for scale as this is meant to get us through the winter. Again just messing around. But thoughts would be nice. It looks weird because I'm using a floor planning app lol. Obviously I'd need more verity. This doesn't include fruit trees but that'll cover the perimeter. TIA
Yes! And cucumbers. Forgot tomatoes and cucumbers. Thanks!
Maybe squash and zucchini too.
Never been a big fan of squash or zucchini. Husband can't stand the texture
Try delicata if youre fine with sweet potato like flavour/ texture.
I second delicata. Slice it and roast it in the oven with some salt and pepper. Delicious.
Winter squash have an amazing shelf life; you should try to find some you might like with different recipes.
Fruit trees are great too; my 1 apple tree provides fresh/dried fruit, canned apple pie filling, apple sauce, and apple cider vinegar. Any fruit I don’t use boosts the compost bin.
You’re missing a “berry” section. Strawberry and blackberry
Gotta give blueberries some love too.
True, my bad.
Berries are great, but I'd use them as a border, because they rotate on a completely different schedule (like every 5 years if you are my MIL, never if you're my grandma) whereas the other crops here should be rotated yearly.
Literally the plan. Natural fence
You might try tromboncino. They have a somewhat firmer texture, they look cool, and they are basically immune to vine borers!
they are basically immune to vine borers!
I wish. Been growing it for decades and always lose a few vines to borers. Love it because of its flavor and climbing nature.
I'm growing Tatume this year which is also supposed to be immune but I've already had to get rid of some vines on my one plant. That being said it's easier to catch them before they do too much damage and I've discovered it takes more damage to kill the plants. If I lost my plant next week I'd be decently happy with the amount of squash I've gotten from it compared to getting mostly nothing from a bush variety.
Lucky you having a harvest already. Mine are far behind because the compost was infected with grubs that killed all my transplants. Had to start again.
My zuke barrel from a better year.
I am dead serious- sprinkle the bottom base of each vine with cayenne pepper. Bugs hate it. Also, Starbucks has always been awesome to me in giving me coffee grounds for free. you can put them there too.
Tried both, actually used Carolina reaper powder from my own peppers, and neither have worked. I've personally never found bugs to have a problem with capsaicin. They don't have the receptors mammals do that makes it so irritating. I've personally seen hornworms chowing down on super hot peppers.
i grow catnip and citronella interspersed within my squash rows and it tends to keep the critters away...
A fam member has wild turkey sniping his Pequin chilis 🦃🌶️ cracks me up how much they love them
They always have grounds for garden I have a five gallon bucket filled with there grounds and I throw the filters in my composter
I use cinnamon to keep ants away. I wonder of that would work for the cuke vines?
Have you had them grown fresh, just about every veg where "i dont like the texture" the texture is totally different when you grow it fresh vs "grocery fresh"
do a small section of Pumpkins or winter squash.... like butternut
Roasted and pureed.... Either are fantastic to "thicken" soups and stews
Zucchini is lovely in chocolate cake
Radishes? I love me some fresh radishes.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil are the Holy Trinity for me when it comes to the garden haha
i love to grow all sorts of other things but if i was forced to only grow three things, it would hands down be those three
You could add some flowering native plants to further attract pollinators, as well as give a pleasant splash of color. Plus they're adapted to your climate and usually perennial, so you'll have a nicely pleasant part of your garden that comes back every year that you won't have to water as much as the rest.
Lots of native plants with white flowers also seem to do a great job of attracting wasps. That might not sound appealing, but the vast majority won't hurt you. They are great garden predators either by straight eating pests or laying eggs in caterpillars.
No idea where OP lives, but blunt toothed mountain mint, narrow leafed mountain mint, tall boneset, and common boneset do a great job of attracting these predators.
I live braconid wasps! They're amazing creatures, and extremely metal. They actually inspired my user name. I have so many flitting around the garden. Many are very colorful, and they're basically a badass looking security detail.
Haha, I didn't notice your username! Yes, braconid wasps are really, really awesome. I love watching them and they are really misunderstood and they all have a bad rap because of a few outliers.
There may even be some native flowers that make good companions.
Also: breadfruit or paw paws depending on your zone.
Second this. Zinnias, cosmos and marigold are my go to. Nasturtium is popular as well.
TOMATOES
Also squash and salad greens
Yes!
You definitely need flowers to bring the pollinators around!
Thiiiiis. My flowers this year were different and got a late start and it's effected my vegetables for sure. They are only now coming around.
I planted lavender in the middle of my garden beds this year and it worked great :)
That must have made it look so lovely
It did! The pollinators love it too
¿Por qué no los dos?
Jerusalem artichoke aka Sunchoke aka Sunroot aka Helianthus tuberosus is an excellent candidate because it not only provides late summer too early autumn pollinator support but then also yields and excellent high fiber nutritious tuber.
Add some standard sunflowers for seeds (Helianthus Annuus) and bees.
Toss in some Monarda for teas, bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
And of course, artichokes (actual artichokes)! Half for the bees, half for OP. You haven't had a garden experience until you've seen bees swim through the purple shag carpet that artichokes produce when they flower.
How much wheat do you have to grow to make it worth it? What's the process of harvesting? Is there post processing needed to get the wheat berries (like dehulling?). Do they need to be at a certain moisture level for storage?
I've only dabbled in grains, mostly barley for making beer from scratch. They're pretty set-and-forget and pretty quick to grow, but you need to grow a lot to make it worthwhile. The post-processing also takes quite some time.
You need to get the stalks out and hulls off. Some people harvest their grains as high as possible and leave the stalks standing in the ground. If you also want to harvest hay you need to harvest from low to the ground.
Let them dry for as long as possible, then start threshing. Which is basically beating it with a stick to get everything separated. Automated versions exist, I put my grain in a bucket for instance, and get a chain tied on to a stick, then spin that using a drill in the bucket. The chain will knock off all the husks.
Next is winnowing, which is separating the what from the chaff. Wait for a windy day and throw your grains in the air. The wind will blow away all the husks and only the grains fall to the ground.
At this point you have grain, but you really want to mill it for it to be useful. You don't want to do this by hand, trust me, just buy a drill powered mini-mill. The type of mill will depend on how fine you want to mill it, which depends on what you want to do with your grains.
If you're doing this in a garden you won't have to care much for storage, just put it wherever you keep your flour now should be fine. Commercial grain farmers build grain silo's for longer storage, which blows hot air and mixes them around to prevent them from molding
I have a grain mill, but I imagine you'd need at least 1/2 an acre to make this worthwhile. I don't know what the yield is per acre though for various cereal grains. How much land did you need to grow barley for beer? (And you needed to malt it!)
I didn't even get to malting yet, I had a 2x2 meter patch last year but it was a terrible year for grain in my area so I ended up with half a bucket of tiny kernels. I'm trying again this year with a 3x3 meter patch. If this goes successfully I imagine I can get about 20l of beer out of it. So far they've been growing beautifully, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
It's a lot of fun, if I ever get my hands on a big field I'll probably 50/50 it with grain and potatoes. The golden fields of grain at the end of the season are absolutely gorgeous
I did 1/8th of an acre of wheat once, and ended up with 110lbs of good flour when it was all said and done. In the end, it wasn't worth growing it myself. My yield wasn't anywhere near what wheat farmers can obtain, but I also did everything by hand. A 50lb bag of wheat berries is $21 in my location.
I have a $60 Chinese grain mill(macerator). A 5-10 gallon container gets me enough for a 1 person meal. I use a 8'x4' raised garden for the family and get a good amount. You can plant more densely in a home garden wheat patch especially if you heavily fertilize. Someone said it's very "set and forget" which is close to the truth, but wheat is a heavy feeder. When I don't feed for a year I get tiny grains. When I feed high nitrogen I get fat swollen grains. I absolutely reccomend heavy feeding for home grown wheat.
Another consideration is if you're growing this in a backyard garden, put up a fence for cats. They like to knock down my wheat stand and tunnel through it.
Til silos blow air and not just a tall storage building
Yeah that surprised me too. SmarterEveryDay did a video on them where he helps some people building one up from scratch and learns about all the features throughout the way https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywBV6M7VOFU
I grow a grain garden almost every year and process by hand. Even small plots will yield a good amount of grain . I grow all of my oatmeal..
Berries of any kind? Strawberries are good in beds, but you may have bush (rasp, blue, black, etc) in perimeter plan already.
Perimeter. Strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries mainly. Any thorned verities for a natural fence
Trees will line the parameter as well. Apples, lemons, limes, oranges, pomegranates, not a huge fan of pears, mango, idk if pineapple grows in 8b.
8b? You need stone fruit!! Cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots. My cherry tree is my favorite
Pineapple will struggle in 8b, you need 9b at a minimum for pineapples, dragon fruit, tamarillo, most guava and most edible passiflora. You should be able to do have some success with ginger/tumeric and lemon grass but you'll have to get them out before winter and start over in spring whereas without dropping below 5c (41f) you'll be able to winter them insitu
I would inter-plant the garlic and onions along the edge of the other beds. They do wonders for pest control (until you harvest them)
Could add in squashs, eggplant, beats, watermelon, cantaloupe.
Agree, building a separate herb garden is not recommended and in my opinion feels like a waste. Grow basil between tomato plants, onions and garlic around potatoes or cucurbits etc…use those herbs to help fight off pests rather than separating them from the rest of your garden.
I wouldn’t have a garden without tomatoes. This would be my #1.
Are you sure you need that many beds for herbs? 1 of those beds should be enough.
Tomato variety is important too, for homesteading purposes romas would outnumber everything else to use for sauces and canning, then just a handful of heirloom varieties for slicing
I agree. Romas would be one of the best choices for storage since they are disease resistant, highly prolific, and perfect for canning.
An assortment of heirloom varieties would be a must for me, and I would also grow cherry tomatoes for snacking. I’d throw in a bunch of hybrids too, but in the case of homesteading, hybrids wouldn’t fit the theme.
I’m growing 2 bush romas this year for the first time and am blown away by how productive they are. I’m talking 50+ tomatoes per plant and it’s still flowering, I’ve never seen anything like it haha already told my family if they want any of the heirlooms they’re gonna have to help me sauce/can the romas lol
Yeah that’s how my experience has been with Roma tomatoes. They’re crazy productive. I mostly use Roma for salsa, bruschetta, salads, and grilling.
The Amish Paste and San Marzano are better for sauce, but they’re probably not even half as productive as Roma tomato plants. Sauce made with Romas is still great though. Its a little more acidic and there’s more seeds to deal with, but they are pretty easy to peel.
Grew San Marzanos and Amish Pastes this year for sauces. Already swimming in produce and am really enjoying the variety
I did san marzanos last year and this year and they are the best. Great for salsa, chili, pasta/pizza sauces. They freeze well, can well, and outside of a bit of blossom end rot were zero issues. They also volunteered a bunch of plants this spring. Big fan.
Nah, there are at least 30 herbs to be grown for seasoning and health benefits. And most grow big and bush like so they need space. Especially if you're drying them for winter use.
OP also needs beets, radishes, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, peas, carrots, and to switch the corn and potatoes. Taters overwinter much better than corn and if it's sweet potatoes offer higher nutritional value.
OP also needs to consider companion planting. Some things grow much better together. Like the three sisters in native plantings. Corn, beans and squash. Or in ops case cukes.
Great comment! I was like there's so many-cukes, carrots, peas, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts. A strawberry patch. Blueberry bushes. Black berry. I'm just now learning about companion planting
I have Asian herbs in one bed (ginger, tumeric, curry leaf, lemon grass, fenugreek, pandanus) and one for Mediterranean herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage, marjoram, oregano) another for alums onion, garlic, chives, garlic chives... And I guess my chillies are a kind of herb I have 5 or 6 varieties.... And another giant container which is like a raised beds for teas lemon balm, various mints, things I don't want running wild.
This is such an awesome way to organize them. Makes total sense!
That’s quite a list of herbs! I guess I don’t use them often enough in my cooking. I blame it on McCormicks!
Most of those things I grow off to the side in their own containers, or companion plant them.
I don't know what McCormick is I assume a dried herb company.... I just don't think Asian food can be made with dried herbs... There is nothing like fresh smashed lemon grass or a fresh Kieffer lime leaf... And the difference between young ginger and old ginger is unmistakable... And this autumn I had my first harvest of galangal and my first bowl of a simple soy chicken noodle was changed forever 😍
Yes McCormick is a seasoning company 😄they’re the shakers commonly found on the spice rack at grocery stores. My cooking is lazy compared to yours.
You’re absolutely right though, things like fresh lemongrass and ginger/galangal can’t be replaced. I don’t mean things like that because I wouldn’t dry those. I like to grow them in fabric pots that go anywhere, as opposed to adding them to garden beds.
Wheat is wasted space. Also, corn was never a great producer for me given the space it required. Potatoes last a long time so you can double, triple those up. Peas are popular with the kids. Turnip and parsnip are hardy as well.
For herbs I grow rosemary, basil and thyme, chives, fennel and dill. You can toss in greens too. They won't last but fresh greens are the best.
Don't forget tomatos. These can be canned and produce a lot in a small area. They do require some dedicated mantainence.
I thought that too. I'd go harder on potatoes.
More potatoes, and add squash
Why you growing wheat?
I'd add some beets, radishes, salad greens, egg plant, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash...okay you get the idea. Oh, and you'll want to figure out how to rotate crops to spare your soil and reduce disease pressure etc. So finding a size / layout that can accommodate a different combo every season is important.
No love for the brassicas? (Well OP says cabbage… ) but what about broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, bok choy/tatsoi etc.
Also from the leafy greens, needs at least some subset of lettuce, chard, arugula, mixuno, spinach, etc.
Doing the different sized beds for each crop is cute, but keep in mind you'll need to rotate beds. For example, the suggested rotation for tomatoes is 3 years, so you'd need 3 tomato sized beds.
Sorry to jump in, but would that mean using 1 plot with 2 empty for that year? I’m new to gardening so I’m learning as I go. I know you have to rotate the crops, but I don’t know much beyond that… Like, if you had tomatoes in a bed one year, what could or couldn’t you put there next year?
Theres two problems that you try to prevent with crop rotation.
One is available nutrients in the soil, which get used up more or less depending on what you plant. So if you plant something that needs a lot of nutrients like a melon the year after you already had something else nutrient-hungry like tomatos or potatos then your melon will struggle, unless you "refresh" the soil each year with compost and/or fertilizer.
The other problem you try to avoid is pests and deseases. If you plant the same crop at the same place every year it will attract more and more pests that target specifically that crop. Also the chance for bacterial and/or fungal diseases will increase with every year, and once you had it they can stay in the soil for a couple years. If you then plant the same crop the next year again it will get devastated by that disease already lurking in the soil.
So how long would a plot be “off” so it regains those nutrients? Or aren’t there some plants you can plant that replenish nutrients? Are there any resources like books or websites that you would recommend to educate myself on all this?
It depends on what you plant there. Some plants use a lot of nutrients, some use a medium amount, and some only need few nutrients. Those who need few nutrients might grow badly in high nutrient soil, just like a plant with high demand grows badly in soil with low nutrients.
Nutrients are several substances that plants need, but how much is needed of each substance varies between plant types. That also means that each plant type drains the soil more of the nurtients it needs more of. So if you have some vegetables in mind that you want to grow, look up if they have a high, medium or low demand for nutrients, wether or not they have a specifically high demand for some nutrients in particular, and plan your rotation accordingly.
Also keep in mind that many different vegetables actually are in the same family of plants, so their demand for nutrients is similar, and so is their susceptibility for pests and diseases. For example Onions, Leek and Garlic are all in the same family. Cabage, Kale, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower, Radishes and Turnips are also all in one family, so better do some research.
A common way of rotating is to start with plants that have a high nutrient demand, then plants with medium nutrient demand, then plants with a low nutrient demand. And after that you can plant green manure to have certain plants restock the nutrients in the soil for the next batch of plants with a high nutrient demand. Or you fertilize with compost and other additives, but be carefull with bought fertilizers, you can do a lot of harm if you over-fertilize. Once its in the ground it's not easy to get out again should you fertilize too much.
In the rotation I mentioned you would have a 3 or 4 year rotation, high, medium and low demand plants and a year of nutrient renewal. There are many methods to do it, and a thousand different guides (of which I've never followed one strictly 100%, so I can't really recomend something in particular). But the numbers I've most often read are 3-4 years between having the same plant in the same place to reduce the rist for diseases, so thats a good rule of thumb.
Alrighty, definitely sounds like I’ve still got a lot of research to do. Thank you so much for your advice. I kinda just threw everything in a spot this year, I didn’t think about all the rotation and stuff. I used raised beds though so hopefully that’ll make it easier.
If you have multiple raised beds then that makes it easier to keep track, yes. Good Luck, and don't get discouraged if things go wrong. It's nature, and there are many things that can go wrong that are out of your control.
What about gourds such as pumpkins or cucumbers? There’s also melons- honeydew, watermelon, etc
We didn't eat a whole ling of squash. Sugar pie pumpkins would be good for canning. Cucumbers absolutely. Watermelon and cantaloupe would be a good idea
If you get Merlin cucumber seeds, you can trellis those and let sugar pie pumpkins sprawl beneath without cross pollination and can concentrate pest control.
If you do canning then summer squash pickles great. On a whim one year I had a bunch of extra summer squash so I pickled them with a bread and butter pickle recipe and everyone loved them.
Squashes are usually recommended if you can grow them because even if you don't love them, if you're serious about living off the food you grow they're one of the few vegetables you can pick and throw in a cupboard for months, forget about and still have something to eat when there's deep snow out
What I'd recommend is, look up the plant family of each crop you want, ie. Cabbages are Brassicaceae and then spend some time on wiki browsing vegetables from the same family that you like, and dedicate the bed to a mixture of different vegetables from the same family. So in this case you could add broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, kale etc in to the same bed.
Carrots however are Apiaceae, and will grow better beside your parsley, celery, dill and fennel, they also like their soil much more tilled, and should be watered much less frequently and deeper than cabbages, or they'll grow all above ground and with very little roots.
Clumping them together in plant families like this will mean that you can rotate which plot you grow each group of plants in over the coming years, and you won't have such problems with recurring pests and diseases, and you will keep the soil healthier.
Also the biggest thing that's going to make a difference to you is the wildly different time scales these different plants will grow in. I think first time vegetable gardeners think that they'll plant everything out as soon as the season begins and then tend to the crops and harvest them at some vague time in the future as they wish, but you might plant beans in march, get your first beans off the plant in August and have a couple of months of them being pickable crops. Whereas if you plant spinach in march you'll be eating it in April and then fighting to stop it bolting and going to seed in may. If you plant 20 seedlings out for cauliflowers at the same time you will have one week some point later in the year where you've got 20 heads of cauliflower all ready at the same exact time, and you've got to pick them all and do something with them there and then or they'll flower, so staggering planting and preserving what you grow comes in to play.
Also consider where your sun is coming from and moving toward as you lay out these plots, because if it's the top of that image, for as long as the sun is low in the sky your 6 foot wall of corn and beans is going to cast a big shadow over your low growing plants and slow their growth
Peas
Native Wild Flowers to attract pollinators 🌸🐝
Where are your brassicas? Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, brussels, etc...
Fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries. Green onions, peas, sunflowers, lettuce. Think about the dinners you cooked in the last month. What was in them?
Reconsider the yields and how much you will eat. You probably wont eat that much onion and onion can be planted between other crops and it will repel some pests. Herbs I also plant as companions. Basil and parsley will elevate the flavor of tomatoes. Peas yield very little so they are worth growing a lot. They end in June (depends on zone) so I usually do a second batch of carrots after peas. Carrots take a long time and we eat a lot. Tomatoes I grow 12 plants where half are Romas for canning (family of 3). Lettuces I don't grow many but start new ones frequently. When they get bigger they get bitter. Is the whole yard full sun? Things like peas and lettuce do better in part sun.
Beets
Acorn squash. They store very well
Think of your diet and what you eat. Tomatoes, eggplant, okra, Kale? Lettuce? Cucumber etc etc etc
Have you planned for crop rotation?
Cannabis and of course ornamental flowers
I don't like weed. Can't stand the smell. Plus, it gives me anxiety instead. I'm not a fan of ornamental flowers. Edible flowers are better. Like for tea. Flowers are a good idea. I'll have a mushroom area, so I'll grow shooms in the back along with my oyster and lions mane
Flowers are also a good idea to bring pollinators, and friendly bugs that can control a couple of pests.
Marigolds. I’ve noticed that they help with pests too. Not that they keep them away, just seems like most garden pests prefer the taste of marigolds and will hit them first.
I use nasturtiums as a trap plant for aphids. They always get hit first so I just pull the whole plant and stick in a new seed or start to replace it. And they're edible so that's a bonus.
Nasturtium is ornamental and edible for example. You mention herbs, are so many besides the handful of obvious ones.
Also berries! Blackcurrant, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, strawberries. And if you have the space, fruit trees.
Nasturtiums are great edible flowers. They're a little spicy.
Plant a bunch of chamomile with your cabbage. Smells great, makes amazing tea, and it attracts the little bees that kill cabbage worms. But mainly for the tea. Fresh chamomile tea is amazing.
Fruit trees. You can dwarf them and walk by and grab fruit like you’re at a grocery store
How do you dwarf them…? I’m new to gardening so I’ve no clue lol. I’ve always wanted an apple tree but don’t have the space for a big tree, but maybe a little one?
Awesome! I’ve got so many ideas for you. Ultimately, just get started. Get a 1-2 year old potted tree now and figure out what to do with it as you go along by watching a lot of YouTube videos.
Apple tree success is all about the root stock. Are there any apple trees in similar soil/microclimate near you that are doing well? Maybe a neighbor’s? Maybe you can grow a tree from seeds or clippings.
But don’t wait. See if you can get a 1-2 year old potted apple tree right away so you can start experimenting based on videos you find. Maybe get 2 or 3 of them so you can try different pruning methods.
For dwarfing methods, there are tons of YouTube videos out there. I won’t recommend a specific method, but for inspiration I want you to google bonsai apple tree and see how they make them. Seeing that will make you realize you can do almost anything you want!
Whatever pruning method you pick, keep watching videos because you’ll learn a ton of other stuff along the way, like hygiene, soil and watering, and pollination hacks.
Just go for it!
Honestly I’m not even sure if I have room for a potted tree. It depends on how big it would get. I’ll definitely have to do some research though, thank you!!
Oh, then you definitely have room for bonsai. And it’s not as much work as people say. And you don’t need special tools. Use what you already have in the house. Like coat hanger to train the branches and restrain the roots. Just get started! You can buy trees that aren’t potted - just buy “bare root” and go for it.
Broccoli 🥦
Lettuce, beets
Also don't forget about succession planting, things that finish up early in the year (such as Garlic) can be great places to plant fall vegis.
Gardening? That sounds more like farming lol.
Is this for the forthcoming post apocalypse? If so I'd add sources of vitamin C.
A tall fence surrounding it.
I like tomotilloes. Two plants have a small footprint but are very vigorous producers. Same with eggplant.
Chickpeas!! So high in protein and versatile
why wheat and corn?
Plans for crop rotation in there. I'd put together a 3-4 year rotating plan.
I learned this, grow what you like to eat. Lesson from potato famine, to increase sustainability grow 2-3 different types that will have better chance to survive. You can also stack shortest plants that won’t impede sun of plants behind it on subside so it doesn’t cast a shadow like if you did corn on the south side, corn should go on north side etc
You can probably rotate your wheat and corn in the same field. It will benefit the soil for both
Marijuana
Looks like you'll need a chair after all that. It makes me tired just thinking of it.
Edit: Might as well grow celery so you can make mirepoix / sofrita. Bell peppers too.
Compost
Tomatoes
I would strongly suggest growing your onions between other crops and especially leafy crops as your onions will repel many pests. If you grow them in big beds where they are growing by themselves, then you won't reap any of their pest repelling benefits.
All berries
Tomatoes
Any sort of squashes? Brussel sprouts, cucumbers.
I'll add some sugar pie pumpkins. We don't eat much squash. Potatoes will include sweet potato as well. Cabbage includes the whole family. LOVE the whole cabbage family
Have you tried delicata? It doesn't store long, but it also tastes more like a yam than a squash.
Yes! They require less space, too, or are more OK with pruning back to constrain their size. And they are delicious.
Tomatoes squash, cucumbers, peas, melons, lettuce, kale, beets, herbs, flowers. Make sure to companion plant to reduce pest pressure.
Fruit, but you may have perennials in a different garden.strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc.
No tomatoes?
There's no melon or any fruit.
squash! important staple crop. tomatoes, melons, and cucumbers. and maybe some greens in a shaded area
Native plants that attract insects and pollinators.
And lots of flowers
Where you have sweet and spicy peppers just call it a “nightshade” section with tomatoes tomatillos, peppers( capsicum fructesense, capsicum Chinense, capsicum baccatum, capsicum annuum) maybe even ground cherries?
If you’re willing to give a space over to a perennial, asparagus. You won’t harvest for a year or 2, but after that it will grow for 30 years without you having to replant.
Wait, are those people?
That’s not a garden. That’s a damn farm!
Why wheat? This isn't nearly big enough to be self-sufficient and milling is a pain.
I think the wheat is wasting a lot of space. I would be adding tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, summer squash, winter squash, and greens such as lettuce, kale, chard, etc.
Zucchini and tomatoes!
Tomatoes and cucumbers. What made you think of wheat? Is that easy to grow in your area and in a small space? Or is it like corn where it just won’t work unless you have lots lots.
I don’t know the size of your beds but I’d say the herbs can be smaller and add in some salad lettuces. Tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers (the pickling cucumbers are also good to eat in salads). Also grow grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes in addition to the bigger kind. If you let some tomatoes fully ripen and fall to the ground, they will reseed your garden for the next year. I’d replace wheat with the corn and plant beans and squash with them (the three sisters). I don’t think wheat is worth the effort as you’d need a large wheat field to make it worth the work and the water. Modern corn keeps longer. If you plant an old variety you must eat the same day you pick as the sugars turn to starch quickly. You can also dry the corn for later use if you’re planting a heritage variety
Peas and beans can be side by side. I don't know why you don't like peas. All we are saying is give peas a chance.
Cannabis
Cannabis.
Tomatoes
tomatoes bro
Squash and melons
Beans, carrots, cabbage, potatoes are all cool crops. Do you have any plans to grow anything during hot months in those beds? Also, very rewarding to grow strawberries if you climate allows.
No room for Berries?
First thing I did when I got my new house was plant every single berry I could get my hands on. They are pollinator friendly, and give us a nice lasting supply for Jams and Preserves.
If I was planning they would be in there for sure.
Not enough space for each of the plants you're trying to grow
weed
This is a lot of area for gardening with some high-maintenance plants. This basically bordering on farming full-time.
Onions/potatoes are fun and easy, but do lower-density for corn and wheat. Fruit trees, pumpkins, ornamentals, or almost anything else would go better. The rest looks find though. Heck, if you combine the areas together you could have chickens.
Berries if you can. Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc. Couple fruit trees would be good too.
…. How big are these plantar boxes?
Beets
The 3 sisters!! If you grow your corn, squash, and beans together (they’re all companion plants and work together to thrive it’s amazing!) you’ll have an extra bed for other goodies!
I’d add tomatoes, edible / decorative / pest management flowers for pollinators!
Watermelon 🍉😊
Garlic, tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, kale, zucchini, cucumbers, celery, and squash
Berries?
Pollinator flowers
Flowers? Cuz bees can help your plants, I guess.
Peas, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, tomatoes corn
For the last space?
Tomatoes, zucchini, chard, spinach, lettuce, radishes, beets and cucumber.
Radishes get replaced with beets for hottest months of summer then more radish in the fall.
Spinach and lettuce get replaced by chard so you have greens because lettuce and spinach bolt in heat.
Trellis the cucumbers and zucchini to save space
Cage or steak tomatoes as you desire.
This should make sure there's no dead space once a crop is harvested.
Layout
(greens and roots) ( tomatoes) (Cucumbers) ( Zucchini)
Side note: you can build a trellis out of sticks. I like the look of natural wood so it's what I do. It's drilling holes and poking sticks through.
Flowers! Cut flowers are great in an veggie garden. They attract beneficial insects and pollinators. Also I didn’t see a lot of legumes in there, peas and beans are a joy to grow and will help improve your soil.
Umm … tomatoes??? And asparagus - the best crop ever lasts 20 years.
Maybe peas and edamame and similar? Other than tomatoes and squash which have been mentioned already, perhaps also consider things which come back every year like berries and rhubarb and asparagus? The stuff that comes back every year is some of my favorite.
Mater
Broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radishes, beets, watermelon? 😁
Strawberries.
flowers to bring in pollinators or to trap pests!
For wheat and rice, you'll need atleast a few acres to be self sustainable. Maybe replace it with some other carb? I don't know where this is, but depending on the climate, tapioca or sweet potato?
Marigold in one of the smaller beds. They are good for pest control.
Greens, a papaya tree, edible flowers...
Squashes, cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes.
Natives :)
I'm curious what the dimensions are for this dream garden?
I'd def add some kind of squash, in my experience they produce a ton and can also store for quite a while, fs a good option for lasting through the winter.
gourd
OKRA!
Squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, turnips, kale, greens, berries
Beans and corn should get planted together, along with squash. Look up, 3 sisters method and other companion planting ideas. It’s a real game changer
Tomatoes. Lettuce. Peas. Melons. Squash. Artichokes. Kale. Broccoli. Cauliflower. Eggplant. Chard. Parsnips. Celery. There are lots of things that could be included!!
Beets me?
Just chiming in, that amount of wheat may get you a loaf or two of bread total. You can grow a lot more productive things in that space. You'll want acres of wheat for any real benefit.
Lettuce, cucumbers, squash/zucchini, tomatoes
Tomatoa
Is this to survive off of? That’s a lot of veggies…
Anyway if it is, squash, corn and beans and more squash.
Zucchini/squash, fruit, pumpkins
Trees, perennials, and shrubs to give diversity to your plantings to protect and nurture the annuals.
more little people for scale
Tomatoes?