2016 Master Plan: The Workshop Quadrant

Another section of the garden plan for spring is the quadrant near the workshop and chicken coop:

The right-hand bed of this section is under a small maple tree, which we keep around because it shades the chickens nicely in the summer. It definitely limits our options in that bed, though — no full sun to be had. We've found that salad greens (spinach, arugula, mesclun lettuces, beet greens) started in a cold frame do well here, since they get sun until the tree leafs out in May. If they're reasonably sized, the shade then works to our advantage to keep them from bolting. Weedy cilantro and dill also do well here, so we amend with lots of compost and just have the herbs and greens switch places each year, and it seems to work well.

Along the top are still perennial grapes and herbs, which will remain in place (give or take a few small shake-ups of the herb garden that I'm mulling over).

On the left at the top is a section for potatoes, though we'll also grow potatoes in one of our cranberry beds as well. I'm calling it: we've officially given up on backyard cranberries. They've never done well and take up way too much real estate for their teeny-tiny yields (and to be honest, we eat cranberries but once a year). The bottom section of the left side has pole beans (this is the other side of the arch that will span the center path). The squash companions on this side are spaghetti squash (new for us!) and pumpkins (which we're cutting back on, because they don't last nearly as long in storage as butternut squash do).

Along the bottom are cabbages and broccoli, which we're giving plenty of sun to make sure they do well — they're a major staple for us.

In the center C is garlic that we planted last fall, as well as sweet potatoes, red cabbage, and a single Sungold cherry tomato plant. This bed is somewhat shaded by that maple tree, so we put things here that can benefit from the shade in the summer (cabbage) — or things that we'd actually like to diminish (Sungold and sweet potatoes) so they don't run rampant.