Garden Plans > 2014: Susan's Garden

About this Garden Plan

This garden is at the bottom of a glacial valley at latitute 64 degrees. This plan was designed by Cindee Karns, AlaskanEcoEscape Permaculture Center

Plan Type, Soil and Location

Garden Location: Matt and Susan's garden
Garden Size: 37' 11" x 35' 11"
Garden Type: Home garden
Garden Layout: Square Foot Garden
Sun or Shade: Sunny
Garden Soil Type: Good soil

Plan Notes

4ft.x4ft. Carrot/Radish Guild--- This guild is meant to use space wisely---no bare soil. Plant carrots and radishes at the same time. While your carrots are coming up, the radishes will be nearly ready to eat and make more space for the carrots. You can do this easily in the winter by making your own seed tape with toilet paper, or assuming you know what the seedlings look like, you can trim the carrot seeds with a scissors if they come up too close together. I recommend 16 seeds per square foot: 8 carrots and 8 radishes. So a pattern on your seed tape of 1 carrot seed, 1 radish seed, 1 carrot seed, etc. It's possible that some of the seeds won't germinate and then you'll have a hole. :-( Plant 8 carrots (bolaro is a good variety for Alaska) and plant 8 radishes. In any design, however, I'd add at least 4 marigolds on the corners and a chive plant (such pretty purple blossoms) to the center. In the next square foot, I would plant 8-10 daikon radishes, with a marigold in the center and the chives at the corners. I would make a pattern rotating squares. 4ft. x 4 ft. CABBAGE GUILD In one square foot, plant a cabbage in the center, (chinese cabbage have a lot more vitamens and nutrients) Plant 2 musard plants in the corners and 2 onions in the corners (if they are small onion sets, you can add more). The onions and mustard are strong smelling. They will keep the cabbage worms away. In the next one square foot, plant Borage in the center with 3 chard all around. Borage has edible blue flowers, they are a dynamic accumulator of Potassium (that means their roots attract it and the plants do some trading with the roots of the borage to get that potassium they need. Keep the leaves and make a tea to spray on other parts of you garden, or add it to your composts. Or just drop the leaves on the ground and the microorganisms will flock to them. Alternate squares for beauty. And because there's a pattern and it has rules for Matt. 4x4 CAULIFLOWER/Lettuce GUILD For one square foot: Plant a cauliflower in the center. Add 4 spinach in the corners. The Califlower leaves will keep the spinach from bolting in the heat. New Zealand Spinach is good for harvesting all summer --- cut and come again. In the next square foot, plant a head of lettuce in the center and then plant calendula at the top, bottom and sides. Calendula petals are tasty, they beautify the garden and attract bees. Support Susan's honey! :-) I would also put several cloves of organic garlic from the store in next to the lettuce as they protect the lettuce from bugs. Alternate squares. 4x4 BROCOLI LEEK GUILD In one square foot, plant 1 broccoli in the middle (we like Waltham because they give is broccoli after the snow comes). Add 2 nasturtiums to the box. Nasturtiums are nitrogen fixers, meaning they gather nitrogen from the air and move it to their roots so that the plants can make some trades with them. Plants like nitrogen. In the next square foot plant 9 leeks. If you are brave, you could put a ground cover of clover in there. If you do, choose crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum) because that supposedly doesnot survive the winter here. It makes great tea AND it's a nitrogen fixer, so the leeks would like that. Alternate squares. 4x4 BEET GUILD In one square foot plant a bush bean in the center of the square and put 4 beets around it. Beets benefit from bush beans but not from pole beans. Beans are also nigrogen fixers. Add an onion or small onions to each corner to keep the root maggots away. Note: onions and garlic don't like each other, so don't plant both of them next to eachother. In the next square plant a beet in the middle with bush beans in the corners. Add onions as needed. Alternate Squares. 4x4 TURNIP GUILD In these one foot squares alternate red nasturtiums (for variety) with turnips. Turnips are prone to root maggots, and sometimes nasturtiums keep them away. You can eat the flowers and leaves of the nasturtium. Add onions if you like. Recommended if you want to make sure you turnips survive, go and get ROW cover from Mill and Feed. They sell it in 50 foot roles. Cover your turnips until you can anymore (about the 1st of July) By then most of the flies have laid their larvae and if you edges were buried well, they won't have found their way into your turnips. THREE SISTERS GUILD: Corn, Squash and Beans You can plant corn if you want to, but it's such a heavy feeder, it might not be worth it for you. If you ever choose to do it in the future, just keep piling the compost all around it---like once a week. So I chose sunflowers for this guild. The pole beans can climb up them, but they really like their roots cool, so it's important to add a zucchini to the base of the sunflowers. You could plant one sunflower at ever post on the back fence---or even closer. If you planted 4 pole beans per square foot, you would need some willow sticks for them to climb on. Cut the willows so that they will slant from the front of the 2 foot wide section to the fence post. You could string strings from the willow down for the beans to grab hold. PEA GUILD If you build a TeePEE from willow sticks and throw some netting around it, the peas will grow very tall. Leave one side of the 4x4 open so that you can reach inside to pick peas. Make the opening on the north side of the garden and grow spinach inside the teepee. The spinach won't go to seed as fast---especially if you get New Zealand spinach.

Garden Plan

Plant List

 PlantNumberSpacingSpacing in RowsNotes
Apple (Dwarf) 36' 6"6' 6" x 6' 6" 
Beans (Bush Snap) 89"5" x 1' 1" 
Beans (Pole) 409"5" x 1' 1" 
Beet 155"3" x 7" 
Borage 41' 1"11" x 1' 11" 
Broccoli (Purple Sprouting) 41' 11"1' 11" x 1' 11" 
Cabbage (Fall) 22' 9"2' 7" x 2' 11" 
Cabbage (Spring) 12' 5"1' 11" x 2' 11" 
Calendula 511"9" x 1' 11" 
Carrot 173"3" x 5" 
Cauliflower 21' 7"1' 5" x 1' 11" 
Chinese Cabbage 11' 3"11" x 1' 11" 
Chives 67"5" x 9" 
Chives (Garlic) 115"5" x 7" 
Cilantro 637"5" x 9" 
Horseradish 41' 1"1' 1" x 1' 1" 
Leek 327"5" x 11" 
Lettuce (Crisphead) 29"7" x 11" 
Lettuce (Leaf) 483"3" x 5" 
Lovage 11' 11"1' 11" x 1' 11" 
Marigold 167"7" x 7" 
Mustard 165"5" x 5" 
Nasturtium 7511"11" x 11" 
Onion 115"3" x 7" 
Onions (Green) 123"3" x 3" 
Peas 533"3" x 7" 
Radish 303"3" x 7" 
Spinach (New Zealand) 201' 7"1' 5" x 1' 11" 
Strawberry 211' 7"1' 5" x 1' 11" 
Sunflower 2111"11" x 11" 
Swiss Chard 161' 1"11" x 1' 3" 
Turnip 127"5" x 11" 
Zucchini 101' 11"1' 11" x 1' 11" 

Planting Times

Plant List key



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