Can someone please explain to me how spacing works.
Let's use onion sets as an example.
Why would you leave 2-4" between sets, but leave 12-18" between rows ? is it just to hoe in between the rows ?
in my limited space, if i left that much space between rows, i'd only get about 4 rows squeezed in a bed.
as it happens, i've just planted all the sets about 4" apart as i can nearly reach everywhere in the bed from the edges just be leaning.
i'm just wondering out loud before i plant my garlic.
many thanks as always.
;D
KP, yes I think your thinking's spot-on ::) and for the same reasons as you I do the same.
NB....you're going to need a bit more room for elephant garlic, tho ;D
i'm actually thinking one clove per pot ! (you know, the indestructable ones).
;D
Quote from: MrsKP on October 08, 2006, 09:02:44
i'm actually thinking one clove per pot ! (you know, the indestructable ones).
;D
bit constrictive with the size of garlic I grow 8)
:o, perhaps i should get dustbins instead!
;)
Onions and garlic are a continual experiment at mulchers meadow ???
To date, with onion sets which I space the same as garlic:
Year 1
Spaced 6" apart, offset. Grew well, high yield/m2. Tricky to weed.
Year 2
Method a)
Threw the sets all over a previously mulched bed, and mulched over them. This is Ruth Stout's method - the theory is that the onions will find their own way 'up' (like they do in your grocery bag). No sign of them yet :-[ and my neighbour's onion sets from the same shop planted a week later are 4 inches high >:(
Method b)
Broadforked undug area (clean - covered the previous year with black plastic). I stick the broadfork in at 4-6" intervals. The broadfork tines are 4" apart and they left handy holes :D Planted sets along the bed at 4-6" intervals, and 8" apart in every other handy hole, mulched the whole bed with 2" of loose straw, and covered with mesh.
Further experiments:
c) planting 6" offset and covering straight away with mulch - in theory, the sprouts will grow through the mulch so no need to weed. But it will make further mulching difficult.
The only reason I wouldn't plant offset would be to leave room either for hoeing or mulching. Depends how wide your hoe is - would have thought that 9" apart would be all you'd need?
never a dull moment eh ;)
I'll be even more confused next year when I get the lottie (I WILL I WILL I WILL .... hopefully), cos it will be a whole different ball game then.
;D
I put onion sets 6 inches apart each way, and put a couple of inches of grass cuttings over the top. They grow straight up through it, but anything more solid defeats them; it's no use using sticky masses of half-rotted grass cuttings, for instance. Garlic goes in nine inches apart, or elephant garlic a foot apart. If there are no grass cuttings available by the time I plant it, I use dead leaves, but again it has to be loose material.
what happens when you can't find a nice dry mulch (because it's been throwing it down all week) ?
and even if i could cut the lawn, which i can't, it would be a soaking wet mulch and i'd hate to think everything would rot.
KP, I'm growing in similar circs. to you - in my garden where space is at a premium. Off-set makes sense, but.....mulch? Don't and never have. Get great red Electra. Set them just below the surface. Elephant garlic - (Mrs. KP's received the runt of the litter from me - weighed in at just 8oz 8)) I planted all cloves in a line, so that obviated the need for spacing all round & you can plant something shallow-rooted, ie lettuces, quite near. Saves a lot of space......but hmmm....buckets, eh? Might give one clove a trial...
Quote from: MrsKP on October 08, 2006, 08:33:26
Can someone please explain to me how spacing works.
Let's use onion sets as an example.
Why would you leave 2-4" between sets, but leave 12-18" between rows ? is it just to hoe in between the rows ?
in my limited space, if i left that much space between rows, i'd only get about 4 rows squeezed in a bed.
as it happens, i've just planted all the sets about 4" apart as i can nearly reach everywhere in the bed from the edges just be leaning.
i'm just wondering out loud before i plant my garlic.
many thanks as always.
;D
You could walk between the rows. Righty-ho - the bed system allows you to plant closer together. However, instead of being planted x apart and in rows y apart, you find a compromise.
Am just looking up what it says in Joy Larkcom's GYO under onions: sets, plant 7-8 inches apart each way (another book suggests planting in honeycomb arrangement), or 3-4 inches apart in rows 12 inches apart (looks like the distance in bed system is averaged).
Another book suggests just planting 3 inches apart in all directions. I think I prefer a bigger distance apart if going in all direction.
i compromised ..............by shoving all my sets into the available space lol
thanks for the tips though. and i'm definitely having to rethink the garlic beds (now plural).
i can see the half-barrel housing some elephant !
;D
Depends upon the fertility of your soil?
I like small onions, so I put them in 2" apart & a hoe width between rows.
In general, it seems to be shown that most things can be tightly planted. But NOT brassica. Even 2' is often not enough!
Quote from: tim on October 08, 2006, 13:14:10
Depends upon the fertility of your soil?
I like small onions, so I put them in 2" apart & a hoe width between rows.
In general, it seems to be shown that most things can be tightly planted. But NOT brassica. Even 2' is often not enough!
I have two purple sprouting broccoli - a bit close together, but with other non-brassicas in the bed. They've got white blister on :( Close planting encourages pests & diseases :(
It doesn't matter whether you put the mulch on dry or wet; what matters is that it should be loose material that your onions or whatever can crow through easily.
thanks Robert. if i could get my act together, i'd get out there now and cut the lawn. the opportunities for doing so are becoming fewer and farther between and it badly needs a cut.
it has been raining overnight (absolutely threw it down when i got off the train last night) but it's been blowing a gale today so may have dried it off a bit.
if only i could be bothered ! :-\
It depends on how large or small you like your veg MRSKP,
If you like large onions space wider, if small onions are your thing plant them closer together, I grow veg in beds, in blocks, so you don't tread on the soil, and you can hand weed quite easily.
Rows as mentioned on seed packets in my opinion are for people who grow on a commercial scale ;D/shades x
Row planting was invented in order to allow a horse hoe to work between rows. If you don't use one, don't waste the space.
This year I planted my main crop onions 3" each way, giving 16 onions per square foot. The size of the crop when harvested was roughly 4 onions to the lb, but and it's a big but, this year also for the first time I got white rot. :( Due to the close proximity of the onions it spread like wild fire through the whole crop. My winter onions I'm placing 6" apart each way with one in the middle. i.e.
. . . .
. . .
. . . .
. . .
. . . .
Needlest to say on a different to that used for the main crop.
Sorry to hear about the white rot mike - last year I did 6" offset and only lost a few :-\ so good luck.
Broadfork planting pattern for this year:
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/supersprout/IMG_0262.jpg)
(http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/supersprout/IMG_0264.jpg)
Suppose I could pop a set in each hole, but like you I'd rather give them a bit more room to avoid rot >:(
How about gradually increasing the spacing?