Working to transition the annual beds all to the “West” beds so that we can fence them in to protect them from last year’s doe disaster. I’m also hoping to downsize a little– with only 9 beds in annual rotation. This will take rebuilding the old raspberry bed and building one more raised bed down below, but I hope to transition the “south” beds to perennials that need less care. I’d love to have more space for the thornless blackberries and asparagus.
We have had a LOT of activity on the game camera, even though there’s not much planted. Lots of bunnies and raccoon, and the occasional opossum.
I think next year we’ll need to build a sheltered garden area. I’m assuming we can’t get all 11 beds in on the action, so here’s some note on how we might rotate half the beds. *Plants are deer favorites.
Protected Beds
solanaceous
cucurbits
legumes
alliums
Tomatoes*
Squash*
Runner Beans*
Garlic
Tomatoes*
Green Beans*
Safe (?) Beds
solanaceous
legumes
alliums
Tomatillos
Fava Beans
Garlic
Peas
Onions
From the Farmer’s Almanac, for reference.
Here are the major family groupings:
Alliums: Onions, shallots, leeks, and garlic.
Legumes: Green beans, green peas, southern peas, peanuts, soybeans. All legumes are soil “fixers” and share the benefit of adding nitrogen back to the soil.
Brassicas: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, turnip greens, radishes, collards, Chinese cabbage, mustard greens, and collards. Share pest issues and often need to be netted to block cabbage moths. Need nitrogen-rich soil. Plant after the legume (bean) family.
Nightshades: Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes. All heavy feeders which need rich soil. Affected by the same diseases. Never follow tomatoes after potatoes.
Umbellifers: Carrots, parsnips, fennel, parsley, and dill.
Cucurbits: Zucchini and summer quash, cukes, pumpkins and winter squash, melons (watermelon, cantaloupe), and gourds. All heavy feeders that grow best in rich soil.
I’m hoping to put in two new (final) beds this summer to round out my solid 11. There’s a chance that we’ll pull out the raspberries instead, and/or use the rocks for runner beans for the time being, but this is the ideal plan this year.
Hopefully I’ll have at least one extra bed next year, since we’re planning to tear out the two “Upper” beds. It would be nice to get down to an even 3 beds per type to make rotation easier… but the hummingbirds like the scarlet runners so!
Ordered some seeds today and worked on some planning. We will be putting in at least one new bed with the plan to remove the “upper” beds when we can. (=
