Plans Verses Reality

Last fall I created my first official garden plan. Years before, I would just draw it out on graph paper by hand and then lose the paper somewhere. This garden plan was created using Territorial Seed's garden planner and can be found here.

 This is my front yard plan. It's the main area of the garden. Every year we add about 16 square feet to it. Let's see how the plan stacked up to the reality as of July.

Tomatoes with their protective flower buddies.  The flowers nearby serve many purposes.  First, Marigolds repel man insects, and attract slugs to the marigolds, and not the tomatoes.  I also planted alyssium and borage near the tomatoes to encourage pollinators.  Originally I planned only borage and basil, but I honestly forgot the basil and I always had great luck with extra marigolds.  The alyssium is good for pollinators, and it's the first year I've grown it successfully from seed.  Last year I tried and planted it next to the potatoes but they quickly overshadowed and buried the alyssium.

The peppers and beans look good too!

I'm pleasantly surprised by the size of the beets and how many tomatoes are growing already.  The peas were amazing too!  I wish I'd thought about the best place to put the peppers and the carrots; some of the peppers are not doing well because water from the beans landed on the leaves.  I had to buy a different type of sprinkler and the carrots are overshadowed by the parsnips.  I had no idea parsnip greens could get 2 feet tall!