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Help with my limited growing beds please

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  • #1

    Help with my limited growing beds please

    I have 3 small beds to grow crops, last year's still in use for the purple broccoli, a new bed ready with compost and the curved brick one already has peas and salad (lamb's Leaf/spinnach/rocket) separated by old roof slates.

    Now I understand that certain crops should not be grown together, or in the same place twice but again I don't really have that luxury of rotating. The bed with the broccoli gets the least sunlight with the brick one getting the most.

    I want to grow peas, onion (spring and maincrop), beetroot,salad,perennial tree and nero Kale, cucumber,courgette (although these squashes have not germinated since 17th April and all different seed packets),leeks and chard.

    I know the list seems large for the space but only doing small numbers. I tried square footing in the larger raised bed (added another level of wood this season to go deeper) but it was for me grossly overrated. Terrible results.

    Here are some pics to give an idea of what I am working with. ANy suggestions from folk with more knowledge than myself will be appreciated. It would be nice to get the brassicas back in the same bed if possible.

    The pests I have had so far are......

    Onion Fly
    Carrot fly (given up trying to grow them now)
    Beet leaf minor
    Thrip
    Cabbage root fly (used cardboard collars but slugs ate them so they attacked roots again)
    Sawfly

    Slugs are not so bad as we have plenty of frogs ,hedgehog and blackbirds.

    For the life of me I cannot understand who all these pests have got in my garden with it being completely walled. I thought the onion and carrot fly can only fly so high.
    Click image for larger version Name: IHA_5676.jpg Views: 1 Size: 103.4 KB ID: 2404509Click image for larger version Name: IHA_5677.jpg Views: 1 Size: 104.8 KB ID: 2404510
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    Last edited by Marb67; 12-05-2017, 10:14 AM.
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  • #2
    I must say I'm quite surprised by the lack of response.

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    • #3
      I think lots of us are really busy with our own gardens Marb, but I'm sure someone will be along shortly
      Nannys make memories

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      • #4
        Its very hard to advise without knowing the dimensions of the beds and so on, but it seems to me that you are trying to grow a lot in a very small space. Kale and courgettes in particular are big plants. It is getting a bit late for maincrop onions if you haven't yet planted them.

        It sounds as though you have a lot of flying pests. You could try keeping them out with some debris netting covering the bed.
        Last edited by Penellype; 13-05-2017, 07:56 PM.
        A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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        • #5
          I agree with Nannysally - its a busy time of year for gardeners and its the weekend!
          I've read your post several times and I'm not sure how to answer you as we know you have difficulty growing in your garden.
          All I can suggest is growing in containers that you move around the garden, into the sun when they need it and into the shade when they don't.
          Pot rotation rather than crop rotation!
          As for the brassicas, perennial kale stay in the same place for years

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          • #6
            Beds look small, not overly a problem but limits the options.
            I would basically put something to mark the beds into 2 halves then decide what you want to grow. in each section. So 6 sections, 6 things.
            Tomato's, peppers, parsnip, Summer Brocolli, spring onions, swede/turnip, celery, cucumber, squash. Will ignore courgette as they would swamp anything else.

            The market here has a stall that sells all the above so if you have similar it really is choose the ones you fancy having a go with. Equally seed is an option but at this time tomato, pepper, cucumber, squash is likely to be easier to buy ones that are 3 or 4 inches tall. As plants you at least get the option of picking different varieties for tomato's and peppers.
            I bought a single Mini cucumber last week, one is all I need.But 3 of the squash seeds have germinaed and grown, so now I need space for these.
            You could likely get one squash and one cucumber side by side, in one section.Just get a bit of netting and a couple of bamboo supports for the plants to grow/climb up.
            Peppers and tomato's say 4 each in seperate sections.
            Parsnips, guessing about 8 maybe 12, in one section - seed should be OK as they are an autumn crop.

            Have left carrots off as you seem uninclined to (re)try, otherwise I would have said one section of them.

            In there there seems 5 possibilities assuming the broccolli remains in.
            Plan, or think, also for later in the year as Oct/Nov is the time to plant out probably 8 to 12 garlic cloves.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Marb67 View Post

              Now I understand that certain crops should not be grown together, or in the same place twice but again I don't really have that luxury of rotating.

              The pests I have had so far are......

              Onion Fly
              Carrot fly (given up trying to grow them now)
              Beet leaf minor
              Thrip
              Cabbage root fly (used cardboard collars but slugs ate them so they attacked roots again)
              Sawfly

              Slugs are not so bad as we have plenty of frogs ,hedgehog and blackbirds.

              For the life of me I cannot understand who all these pests have got in my garden with it being completely walled. I thought the onion and carrot fly can only fly so high.
              [ATTACH=CONFIG]73422[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]73423[/ATTACH]
              Onion fly & others will overwinter in the soil waiting for your next crop rotating is important for brassicas,onions,carrots etc they haven't had to fly in from anywhere if they originate from there. Pests are in all our gardens,I had strawberry sawfly a couple of years ago so I decided to not grow them for a year,cut the cycle of sawfly generations & hopefully they flew far away last spring. I planted some this year in a different part of the garden because rotations really important.
              Last edited by Jungle Jane; 13-05-2017, 10:50 PM.
              Location : Essex

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              • #8
                it might be helpful if you list the size of all 3 beds

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                • #9
                  Thanks for the suggestions.The wooden raised beds are just over 3ft x 3ft and the brick bed is around the same.

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