wrote in message
...

Also consider abandoning rows and plant in blocks. The plants will form
a
canopy and the shade will prevent many weed seeds from germinating.



I have a book, "The Joy of Gardening," that talks about planting in
"wide rows."

I've had the book for years and never had the nerve to try the wide
rows. So it really works, huh?

Rows are good if you have a large garden and use mechanized means to
cultivate, but the space between the rows is easily 'wasted.'

Square foot gardening is the best method for me. Planting in blocks make
the best use of limited space. It's better to tend a small plot intensively
than struggle to keep up with a large plot.

My garden has three, four-foot wide beds about 40' long with strips of
'grass' in between. The grass strip is about one and a half times the width
of the lawnmower. Some plants are set on a diagonal line and others are
straight down the center-line....as the following ASCII art shows...

Romaine...
|.......4'......|
x x
x
x x
x
x x

Tomatoes...
|.......4'......|
x

x

x

x

x

Squash...
|.......4'......|
.. x
..
..
.. x
..
..
.. x

Bush cukes...
|.......4'......|
, x
,
, x
..
.. x