A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Vegetable seeding question?

I start most of my vegetables from seed, lettuce, carrots, beets, parsnips etc. Normally I seed in rows, but maybe someone here will know if scattered or patch seeding is better than row seeding? I'm wondering how to do that with my carrots this year?, just throw them to the soil and see what comes up? Problem being that some of these seeds are to be covered with soil?????? it's easy to do in a row, but a little more difficult to do when they are all over? What do you all think?

I'm for rows. They don't have to be straight rows. I've heard that a bed with continuous curved W type rows hold more plants to the square foot than straight rows.
I mix fine seed like carrot with fine, dry, white sand and put it in a glass jar with a hole drilled in the lid. Then just pour it along the little trench. It shows exactly where the seeds went in. If they didn't cover well, a light sprinkle of seived worm castings on top works wonders for germination.

I do rows easier to weed than a patch just hoe the weeds in the row and your done.

Thanks Longy and Joe. I'll keep both tips in mind. I am very limited for space in my garden so Longy I like your W idea to get a higher yield, yet as you mention Joe, I do assume that it would be harder to weed. Oh well, it may be all worth it.....

I like rows. Much neater.

I have always had too little space and have experimented with rows and patches. I think it depends on the type of plant. Peas are best in rows but I put carrots in a big patch and toss a little dirt on top to cover. I thin out the ones too close together throughout the summer. As long as you have somewhere to walk you don't have to do rows. i think they waste too much space. For onion family I do rows but sometimes do two wide instead of one. For carrot patches I make them narrow enough to step over but they can be as long as you want. Just leave a little space around the edges to walk.

I prefer rows for the weeding and also easier for me to water with my soaker hoses and drip systems which has cut my water bill by over half. I also have the luxury of plenty of room so that helps. Elkwc

Hi,
I have/had a great book called SQUARE FOOT GARDENING.It's all about using 1sqft of garden to plant let me think 16 carrots, 1 cauliflower 9 bush beans 16 spring onions 1 egg plant 4 lettuce 16 beets. Found it, its by Mel Bartholomew.
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Quote
Here's how much you can grow in two months in just one garden block(a often by 4ft area)
32 carrots
12 bunches of leaf lettuce 9 Japanese turnips
18 bunches of spinach 5lbs of peas
16 radishes 1 head of cabbage
16 scallions 4 heads of romaine
16 beets 1 head of cauliflower
1 head of broccoli
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I found this to be a good book and i use some of his ideas but not all.
Dave

Thanks Dave, sounds amazing. LOL, I probably use more than half of my garden to grow what you have mentioned. It sounds like you would have to grow your vegetables alot closer than what is recommended for spacing on the seed packets.

Hi,
Don't know how that got in the brackets It should read
(a 4foot x 4foot area)
sorry
Dave