(P is for) Planted! First things in the garden

[aldersprig]

3 feet of carrots - the first of many in succession planting - half Red-cored Chantenay, half Short n' Sweet. They'll be ready at the end of June/beginning of July!

I've got a 4'x6' bed, and plan to plant a half-row every two weeks.

If I plant the rows 6" apart, that's 16 half-rows. /Does the math/ I'd be planting until November... that won't work (First frost is around October 15th here).

Okay, maybe I want to make some of those half-rows something else. Any suggestions?

Planting more at a time seems counter-productive, but I could space things every week instead.

Do you have any favorite varieties of carrot? (Or any other root crop that takes up a small footprint?) Anything I should dedicate half a row to?)

...I have a LOT of green onion seeds still...

Comments

[konsectatrix]

In the carrot department, the little round parisiennes are my current favorite. I'm hoping to try pusa asita black carrots next year.

[aldersprig]

I've been thinking about the Parisiennes, but it seems like a waste of a 12" deep raised bed full of prime soil. OTOH, I have LOTS of yard that's full of rock, and I could plant those anywhere else in the yard (we're at the bottom of the glacier-rock-dump. <.< It shows.).

The black carrots look awesome! I did purples last year (Note to self: carrots do not overwinter well in our climate. Too many thaws - they all rotted :-() But they're only purple on the outside.

[konsectatrix]

Yeees, that is definitely a waste. You could get away with anything that would enjoy the extra breathing room, root veggie or not. Peanuts? Kohlrabi? Cucumbers? Cukes would go ballistic, and they would work in a half row if you used a trellis. (I tried growing Beit Alphas, 'cause I was bored with the standard Marketmore '76's and they were delicious and fuss-free, ime.) Loose-leaf lettuces are easy, and you can just harvest leaves as you go and let them regrow. Same with rainbow chard.

Yeah, I tried the rainbow carrot mix before, and the purples were mildly disappointing like that. I can't wait to try the black ones.

(Yikes. A glacier dump would be hard to work with, yeah. Our yard apparently used to be entirely raked gravel. Not uncommon at the shore, but wow, they either should've kept with the gravel or removed it, not tried sorta dumping a bit of dirt on top and then growing a lawn....)

[aldersprig]

Half our yard is glacier dump and the other half is, ah, farm dump. We've pulled out like 6 or 7 brake pads, gears bigger than my head, an old jack...

Cukes have a dedicated bed, because we really like our cucurbitaceae ;-)

The white carrots were pretty awesome. Bummed I used all my seeds last year. Hrrm. Parsnips. I can grow parsnips!

And maybe yeah, lettuce if I hide it behind the carrots so it doesn't bolt...