Garden planning 2021!

[Tornado]

Despite living on 13 acres of land for the past 10 years, 2021 will be the first year I finally have enough open space to put in a proper garden, which will get proper sun everyday. My land was wooded, and the ~3 acres or so we had in a small pasture was occupied by our horses. The past year I changed all this around, and took back about 1.5 acres of that pasture, and tilled in a garden spot. Right now its only about 120' x 50' (6,000sf roughly) but I could easily make it much larger. I have good grass planted in this area so didn't want to till it all up until I knew more what I plan to do with my garden. Up till now I've had little potato patches and grew tomatoes in small areas where I had average sun, but I plan to put in a proper garden this year, and so I've been planning. Ill be surrounding the garden in electric fencing, with a solar charger, all from Premier 1. I also plan to go with drip / micro sprinkler watering system. I'm curious how some of you lay out your gardens, or what your plans are for 2021. Any favorites? Any special verities of your favorite vegetable/fruit you recommend? I also enjoy pictures if anyone has picture of their gardens.

I'm trying to decide now what to plant and how to lay it all out. I've decided to not grow stuff that my wife and I simply don't eat much of. Staples like corn, and tomatoes, I don't plan to grow. I love growing them, but I find we just don't use those items enough to grow them. Things I really want to grow are blueberries, watermelon, potatoes, Okra, Squash, and I'm still thinking about the rest. I'm in north Florida, so our soil is very sandy, and typically very nutrient poor, so I'm thinking a lot about my soil as well. I need to get it tested and see what I'm working with, but I haven't done that yet. I'm a little behind where I should be considering I had this garden spot tilled in since middle of last summer, but I have a lot of other hobbies I do as well.

Tell me about your garden plans for 2021. I'm really open to ideas of layout, new plants to try, etc. etc.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Better pre order your seeds and starts now, I heard because of the WuFlu thing, supplies are short. Just ordered 90% of mine from Jung Seeds.

 

[Creature Meadow]

Check out Hoss Tools on youtube, I really like his garden layout. His is divided up into a number of small gardens which allows him to drive between them and do excellent crop rotation. He has a lot of good videos.

The blue berries, black berries, strawberries and the like I would keep separate from the annuals you will have in the garden.

I have 2 main gardens that are about 40'x 80' and I do traditional raised rows. I just like them.

The soil test will be your bestest friend as without knowing if your ph is right and what fertilizer to use could be a lot of work and little yield. It will take somewhere around 6 months for the lime to change your ph so sooner is better for applying it.

For me I put as much compost as I can get into my garden. Everything except maters, cukes, and squash I chop up and disk into the garden each year. I put all the leaves I can get in it as well. I have chickens so I broadcast the composted poop in it couple times a year. I plant wheat as a cover crop each fall, helps on erosion and I'll cut it soon and disk in in.

Near my wood edges 10' or so from garden I plant sun flowers to attract bees and they are pretty as well. Many birds enjoy them also, a sea of life surrounds them come late August and September when they start drying out.

Be sure to rotate your crops to minimize on disease, I burn they mater, cukes, and squash plants as they will develop mold on the leaves sometimes when it is real wet.

I'll be planting the following; corn, squash, flat beans, peas, potatoes, watermelons, beets, peppers, carrots, lettuce, kale, okra, and have a sparagus bed established.

I like to plant say squash 10 plants, then once they are up and blooming plant 10 more as they fizzle out before they get weak and disease takes over I can pull them and have more coming along. Always leave some open ground to plant second and third rounds of favorites.

Good luck.

Jay

 

[michigander]

Wife has already purchased all of our seeds from Super wally world.

Sweet potatoes starts need to get closer to spring. If wife doesn't get some to work here.

 

[random]

Better pre order your seeds and starts now, I heard because of the WuFlu thing, supplies are short. Just ordered 90% of mine from Jung Seeds.

Agreed, order NOW if you want to get what you want. Things are pretty crazy. Johnny's is currently selling only to commercial growers, no private sales until some time in February.

What we did for our garden is look at what we use regularly and try to focus on growing that. Then we try a few other things here & there. We use a LOT of tomatoes so we grow those. Peppers, cucumbers, squash, etc. - all based on our regular eating habits.

For carrots, if you want the big ones like the store, get Imperator. Although I'm trying Giants of Colmar this year, supposed to be as big and more "carroty".

For summer squash the standbys are things like straight-neck yellow and black beauty zucchini, but if you havent' grown them before, be aware that they're prickly. My arms get really itchy when picking. I'm trying Smooth Criminal and Spineless Beauty this year.

What works for me here in NC won't necessarily work for you - I would contact your local Extension office and see if they have any recommendations.

Good luck and keep us posted

 

[PoTreeBoy]

OKRA - Grow it like cotton. It's related and thrives on hot sun. My favorite way to eat it is cut the pods small (like 1-1/2") and steam it with Seasonall or equal about 5 minutes.
Don't plant too much unless you're planning on canning or freezing. Twelve plants will feed a small town.
Harvest every day or two.
At the end of the summer, let it grow 'til it dies and the pods dry. They turn dark grey with silver lines and make good fall decorations (then you have next year's seeds).

 

[JimmyJazz]

Despite living on 13 acres of land for the past 10 years, 2021 will be the first year I finally have enough open space to put in a proper garden, which will get proper sun everyday. My land was wooded, and the ~3 acres or so we had in a small pasture was occupied by our horses. The past year I changed all this around, and took back about 1.5 acres of that pasture, and tilled in a garden spot. Right now its only about 120' x 50' (6,000sf roughly) but I could easily make it much larger. I have good grass planted in this area so didn't want to till it all up until I knew more what I plan to do with my garden. Up till now I've had little potato patches and grew tomatoes in small areas where I had average sun, but I plan to put in a proper garden this year, and so I've been planning. Ill be surrounding the garden in electric fencing, with a solar charger, all from Premier 1. I also plan to go with drip / micro sprinkler watering system. I'm curious how some of you lay out your gardens, or what your plans are for 2021. Any favorites? Any special verities of your favorite vegetable/fruit you recommend? I also enjoy pictures if anyone has picture of their gardens.

I'm trying to decide now what to plant and how to lay it all out. I've decided to not grow stuff that my wife and I simply don't eat much of. Staples like corn, and tomatoes, I don't plan to grow. I love growing them, but I find we just don't use those items enough to grow them. Things I really want to grow are blueberries, watermelon, potatoes, Okra, Squash, and I'm still thinking about the rest. I'm in north Florida, so our soil is very sandy, and typically very nutrient poor, so I'm thinking a lot about my soil as well. I need to get it tested and see what I'm working with, but I haven't done that yet. I'm a little behind where I should be considering I had this garden spot tilled in since middle of last summer, but I have a lot of other hobbies I do as well.

Tell me about your garden plans for 2021. I'm really open to ideas of layout, new plants to try, etc. etc.

Google Neversink Farm and all of your questions will be answered. The guy is amazing.

 

[BigG]

You need to talk to your neighbors about what to plant and when to plant. Find some new friends at the feed stores/ garden center to get info. The old timers like to teach us kids at 60 plus years. FL is a little different then growing things up north. You should be able to get 2 growing seasons. The summers are too hot to grow many things. Build yourself a large compost pile and keep adding it to the soil.

 

[Poohbear]

I'm further north than OP but allready have onions, cabbages, & peas planted. Potatoes also.
Go ahead & plant some corn then when it's up a few inches plant pole beans & squash in the corn rows

 

[SidecarFlip]

No planting here. Ground is frozen like concrete.

 

[Creature Meadow]

I tried over wintering my red new potatoes, planted in October and they just made it out of the ground before the cold cold hit. Plan to add some fertilizer to them and hill them up some more soon as garden dries out. If it goes will should have a batch ready couple months after I plant this years.

I saved new potatoes from last year for seed this year. Took a old cooler placed wheat straw in it and layered till full, covered with some old blankets and stored in barn.

I like to plant taters in late February, so I will be opening the cooler soon to see how they made it over the winter.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

My late aunt lived in Frostproof, FL ,always wanted me to bring down Carrots !! Local ones have zero taste..no minerals in sandy soil...lotsa rain....
So, add compost, organics, anything and everything ! Mor eis better and EVERY year !! Slick system I saw 35 years ago consisted of 12 starw bales( 6 on 6, stacked like bricks. ALL 1st year compostables went into 1st 'bin, 2nd in 2nd bin, etc... 3rd year, 1st bin contents went into garden.
Plant taller veggies on the north side of the garden, short ones on the south. All veggies need lots of sunshine. If you like beans or cukes, try trellises.. simple A-frame, 2 rows of plants grow onto the frame. You can walk inside, out of the sun to harvest.

 

[Tornado]

I'm late replying to my own thread here. Been really busy. Based on some of the replies I feel I should add that I'm not new to gardening. I was born and raised in rural north Florida here and have had gardens off and on all my life, and many family members are big gardeners. When I was a kid we had a garden every year, and I got really into it as a kid. I haven't had a proper garden in several years however, as I just never had a good spot for it. Too many trees, no good spot that got proper sun. I finally have a nice open spot however and so I'm jumping back into gardening. I have followed various popular youtube channels that cover gardening. I kind of use them as inspiration. I do not plan to put in raised beds and walk paths and all that stuff. I'm just not interested at this point in that level of ornamentation if you will. I like a good ol' standard garden plot, tilled in the ground, where I can use my tiller and tractor. My main concern really is the soil. I've not done a whole lot to amend it.

Ive never grown blue berries, but that is one item I want to try my hand at this year. We have a few wild black berries on the property, but the berries disappear before you can pick any of them, I assume birds or squirrels or who knows what else gets to them first, so ill see if I actually get any berries. Potatoes typically get planted here around Valentines Day, so I need to get on the ball. I've been too lazy at getting it prepped honestly.

 

[MSG H]

Not found

www.waypointanalytical.com

I would separate the the blue berries from the main garden, they like acidic soil (ph around 5). They rest of the garden should be 6.5 to 7 ph level. Way Point Analytical charges about $16 dollars to run your sample and email you the results in about 2 days.

As stated above, it takes about 6 months after amending the soil to see the results for PH changes.

 

[Darlityle]

Congrats on reclaiming your land for gardening. For garden layout ideas, consider grouping plants by their water needs and growth habits for efficiency. Raised beds can help with drainage and organization, while also making it easier to tend to your plants. You might also consider incorporating vertical gardening elements, like trellises or hanging baskets, to maximize space.
For more inspiration and ideas, you might want to check out oakleighmanor.com garden design services in Tunbridge Wells. They can help you create a beautiful and functional garden that suits your needs and preferences.