How do you organize your planting scheme?

[Delora]

Originally Posted by jenn_sc

Last year I planted along two fences in my backyard, and put the plants in alphabetical order.

Then I had trouble with my neighbors along one fence swiping tomatoes.

So this year I came up with a plan: I put the green-when-ripes along the fence that they have access to!
I'm sure they don't know that there ARE green-when-ripe tomatoes! Hee hee...let them wait on "ripe" ones to pick!!!

Jennifer

LOL, that's hilarious Jennifer.

Let us know later in the season if the neigbors ever figure it out


-Delora

[jenn_sc]

John, they were blatant. They had even started referring to them as "our" tomatoes

Funny how they had been "my" tomates while the digging, weeding, watering, etc. went on.....they sat on their lounge chairs drinking beer and making "farmer" jokes across the fence while all that happened

Jenn

[TheDens]

How rude! I'd be foaming at the mouth.
For next year, you should take a survey on the absolute worst-tasting tomatoes in existence, and plant the "winning" varieties along the fence.

Denna

[Tomstrees]

back of the garden will be PL this year ~
Followed by colors ...

Red / Green / Red / Yellow
Orange / Black / Brown / Red
Yellow / Red / Red / Red

~ Tom

[Tomaddict]

Interesting posts here, I like some of the ideas, but have to admit I appreciate that of Reign the best. And that'll explain why the row get crooked-er as you go!

Since I'm a fanatical seed saver trying to crowd maximum stuff (including beans, peas, lettuces, peppers, etc. - all for seed) into limited space, I have three arrays of tomato plants. (You see, 100 tomato plants is about right for a family of two. Hey, why not? Tomato juice baths, anyone?)

One bed is the "production area", where the plants for canning go - very little seed saving from there. A second bed is regular leaf tomato varieties for seed saving, where I plant multiple varieties together, and spread them out a little more than in the first bed. (Well, not much more. At least for me, I get very little crossing.) A row has alternating colors/types, and adjacent rows also have offset staggered colors/types, on the basis that if i get crossing it is more likely to be with a close neighbor, so if a pink crosses with a cherry I'll get something unlike its parent (vs. if a pink crossed with another pink).

BTW, this actually HAS helped me discover crossing, on the rare occasion when it's happened to me (for instance, I had a Kellogg's Breakfast that probably had crossed with an adjacent Zapotec pink ribbed - it was an ugly pink pleated critter, and tasted lousy. One for the scrap heap!)

My third group, the potato leaf varieties, are in separate "islands" by themselves from the rest of the tomatoes, "isolated" by peas, peppers, beans, etc. So my garden map looks like a smattering of stuff everywhere.

Jeff