This summer I made a garden plan for the veggie garden. We now have two garden plots at our community garden, each approximately 15×20 ft (see layout map). They’re across the aisle from each other. In each plot, we have 4 rows of permanent beds separated by a main path and side paths. The beds are 3 feet wide by 5/5 or 6 feet long, depending on exactly how approximate the dimensions are. That leaves about 2 feet for the paths. We have 2.5 foot high rabbit fencing around both plots and we leave 6 inches of “buffer” space between the edges of the beds and the bunny fencing. This makes double digging easier since we are’t smack up against the fence.

The top row on the north plot is full of perennials, raspberries and blackberries both underplanted with strawberries. This leaves 7 rows for annuals. When I made the garden plan I listed all the stuff I want to grow and then grouped things into “families” based on which plants make good companions either because of pest prevention, feeding, or similar cultivation. Then I figured out the best rotation ordering for these, again, based on nutrient requirements (i.e. heavy feeders following nitrogen fixers) and other considerations. This gives me a 7 year rotation cycle. Hopefully, I’ll finish my degree before then so I’ll actually never get the full rotation cycle. Not in this garden, anyway. :-)

Below is a listing of families and ordering. I’ve tried to include the rationale for each pairing but it’s been quite a while since I developed all of this so I’ve probably forgotten a few things.

Family
A — Green beans, potatoes, and leeks.
Beans keep away Colorado Potato beetle and potatoes keep away a bean pest. Beans will be on the north side of the beds on trellises. Potatoes and leeks will be interplanted in the front sections of the beds. Rather than hilling dirt around my potatoes and leeks, I pile on mulch over the course of the season. Since these get the same deep-mulching treatment, it is convenient to put them in the bed together.

B — Corn, squash, and radishes
This is my take on the three sisters planting. Corn is a heavy feeder so it follows beans (a nitrogen fixer) in the rotation. Squash grows between the corn and, when the squash is young, radishes grow between the squash. The radishes are supposed to keep away vine borers and squash beetles. The squash leafs out, keeping down weeds that would compete between the corn. This is the family that I’m least sure about. I’ve heard that three sisters planting don’t work out so great. Plus I won’t get much corn, and ditching the corn would allow me to keep floating row covers over the whole bed until the squash start to bloom. This would keep the pests at bay while the squash gets settled into it’s new home. I’m going to try this this year, if it doesn’t work, I’ll ditch the corn of move it elsewhere.

C — Carrots and onions
Onions keep away carrot pests (carrot flies, I think). Plus both are small and can be interplanted well. These are also fairly light nitrogen feeders so they’re good to follow the corn.

D — Peas and greens
Peas will go on A-frame trellises that run the length of each bed. Greens will grow in the center of the A-frame. As the summer gets hot, the peas will grow providing shade to the greens. Peas are a nitrogen fixer so they will replenish the soil somewhat.

E — Nightshades and greens
Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants all grow well together since they are related. I use indeterminate tomatoes on a trellis on the north side of the garden. In front of this goes the peppers and eggplants. Hot peppers in one bed, mild peppers in another. At the very front go the greens. Since nightshade family plants are soemwhat heavy feeders, they are good to follow the peas which will fix nitrogen.

F — Garlic and melons
This pairing is, admittedly, a bit random. Garlic gets planted in the fall around Halloween. Our average first frost date is Oct 15th. Most things will be out of the garden well before garlic planting time but not everything will (leeks for instance). So I put the garlic after the Nightshades because those will definitely be dead and I can put the garlic in it’s home for the next year. Also, by the time spring planting time rolls around, the garlic will already be rooted and growing so I didn’t want to do a lot if interplanting with these because it would damage their growing root structure. So I picked a mate that would only get planted once (unlike greens) and wouldn’t require too much digging (like potatoes and leeks). Plus, when I put things in families the melons were left over. We’re planning to plant most of the beds in garlic and then either train the melons to a trellis on the north side or let them take over the pathways nearby. Garlic is also a pretty light nitrogen feeder so it’s a good choice to follow the nightshade family.

G — Brassiscas
We love broccoli and cabbage but so do the cabbage moths. Our broccoli this year looked more like swiss cheese. The advantage of having these in a bed by themselves is that we can put floating rows cover on the entire bed and keep the bugs out. This only works because there’s nothing in this family that flowers and would therefore need pollination.

Because of where things were planted this year, we actually have to start with family B in row 1.