small space gardening

This topic may be old beans for some of you, but perhaps you can point me in the right direction.

I moved into a townhouse in Greenlake that has an overgrown, out of use community garden. The bed is raised, surrounded by blocks and probably a 10X10. I want to make this plot alive again but I'm not sure where to start.

Does anyone have ideas or suggestions about making a garden plan, reclaiming old beds, seasonal grown schedules, etc?

thanks!

How raised is it?  A foot?

One big square?  So, to get to the veggies in the middle, you have to walk on the soil?

What sort of stuff do you wanna grow?

If it's all one big square, I would install a 'keyhole' in it, a walkway to the center, and as long as you're in fairly good shape, you should be able to reach most of the garden area from the keyhole or from the outside.  If you have trouble leaning over, divide the big square into nine smaller squares with one-foot-wide walkways.
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I would pull all the weeds and set them aside in a pile. Install some concrete paving stones as your interior paths (many places have them on sale this time of year). Then pick up your spading fork and work over each planting square.  Just stick the fork as deep as it will go, and loosen the soil by levering the fork. Lift the soil and then let it settle back, don't turn it over.

Do this with each planting square, backing up each time to the paving stones.  Don't step on soil that you've levered, or you'll compact it.

Take all the weeds you pulled up and lay them on top of the planting squares.  It probably wouldn't hurt to sprinkle the soil with a little dolomite lime (calcium), some alfalfa meal (nitrogen) or pellets, some bonemeal (phosphorus & calcium), some fireplace ashes (potassium) and some kelp meal (trace minerals).

If you have access to some mulch (leaves, old hay, straw, etc), pile it on top thickly.  If not, find some large pieces of cardboard (try furniture/appliance stores) or just use flattened boxes and overlap them.  Hold them down by shifting the paving stones.

Let your unpaid workers, the worms, beetles and micro-organisms work through the winter.

In spring, rake off what is left of the mulch/cardboard and plant. Just pile up the leftover mulch for now.  Once the plants are coming up well, put some of the mulch between the plants as they grow, and it will not only feed the plants as it breaks down, but will shade the soil, helping to prevent weeds from sprouting and keep the soil from drying out as much as bare soil would.

Sue

paul wheaton wrote:
How raised is it?   A foot?

One big square?  So, to get to the veggies in the middle, you have to walk on the soil?

What sort of stuff do you wanna grow?

Raised about 2 feet, and yes one big square. Its a very nice plot design-wise; there are smaller planters on each of the corners
(a is a smaller planter, raised about 1 foot, b is a corner of the main bed)
eg,        _____
      ___|__  a |
               |__|
        b     |
               |



    I'd like to grow an assortment-- I like everything, really. But ideas include beans, squash, tomatoes, broc, lettuce(maybe?), cucumbers, carrots., maybe some herbs  -- suggestions?
   maybe some flowers for a little color

    There is a piece of heavy fencing bent over in a dome shape, which I assume someone tried to use as the support for a plastic cover. There is also the remains of posts that held a trellis for climbers.
    This is a first attempt and an experiment so I don't want to overkill and be completely disappointed if it all goes south.

   Thanks for the post Sue, that is a fantastic answer to my 'what do I do right now?' question.

Maybe the fencing bent into a U was used for a trellis?  It would probably be great for your cucumbers.

You could probably start your herbs now, if you were planning on using seeds.  See the Winter Sowing thread on the Organic Practices forum here.

Your last frost date is about April 6, so you can plant earlier than I can.

You could start your tomato seeds in Feb/March if you have a warmish, sunny place indoors to get them started. 

You could plant broccoli, lettuce and peas in mid-March directly, as they don't mind cool weather, then carrots and more lettuce in mid-April. The broccoli needs to be planted about a foot apart, but you could sow lettuce seeds fairly close around them, and harvest them before the broccoli  starts spreading out.

Beans, cucumbers and squash could be planted direct after May 1, as they don't like much cold.  For your smaller area, either train the cucumbers and squash on trellises, or plant bush varieties that don't take up so much space, and place them on the outside corners so they can spill outward.

You could start your squash and cucumbers in mid-April indoors, but they're sensitive to cold, so you couldn't plant them outdoors until early May. Don't start them with the tomatoes because they grow too fast.  Putting some large rocks around their bases may help hold the heat from the sun.

If you want flowers, they might as well be edible. 

Nasturtiums are great and add a peppery taste to salads, but they bloom better in poor soil, so maybe one of those corner boxes, or a whole separate pot with unimproved soil? 

Calendula tends to have a spicy, peppery, sharp taste, something like saffron.

Borage has small, clear blue flowers that taste like cucumber in salads, and they really attract bees to help with the pollinating.

Pansies and violets tend to have a sweet, perfumy flavor, and they grow very easily here.

But just remember to have fun!

Sue

Hmmm .....  how much sun does it get?  If you are standing in the middle of the garden and your garden is in the middle of the ocean and the sun rises at 6am and 6pm ...  then houses and trees and fences and stuff all get moved in ....  how much direct sun do you get?  Three hours?  Nine hours?  In greenlake you aren't gonna get a full 12 hours.

Did you get all of your questions answered in this thread?  If not, feel free to contact us and we'll work something out with you!  What a great project for you to have right in your community!  We specialize in small space and container gardening and can really help you out with avoiding some of the pitfalls small space gardeners encounter.  Either leave a message for us here or email us directly at our email in our profile.