We probably grow around 80 different varieties (10 varieties of lettuce alone). So deciding what to plant,  how much, and when,  takes up a lot of space in my brain.

I don’t yet have an effective way to plan out the beds we have.  Some areas have already had two crops harvested and are being planted with a third (arugula, radish, then zucchini),  while others (tomatoes) have only had one so far.  As I’ve mentioned before,  I can’t plant anything all at once because I need to harvest things weekly throughout the season, therefore,  they need to be planted weekly. So our growing areas is starting to resemble a patchwork quit: ten feet of turnips are harvested and 3 of the 20 or so zucchini we need are planted in its place, with the remainder being put in where space allows.

Sometimes I hesitate planting things because I’m not always sure we will have space for all we have planned.  Occasionally we remove a crop from the lineup completely.  Spring broccoli is a good example.  We had a ton of spring stuff planted and I was worried about space for summer crops. So we planted a couple for personal use (they ended up being pilfered by a groundhog).

Green beans went in late because originally I didn’t think they were worth it given our limited space.  During a mild panic a few weeks ago,  I realized there would be a less abundant harvest window approaching, so i planted some, had I put them in when I should have,  it would have eased the transition from spring to summer crops.

I’m working on some better planning tools for next year,  but this is going to be an ongoing struggle given our limited space and our need to maximize production.  Hopefully we will be better prepared in years to come.