SteveB wrote:
I just tilled my garden, the culmination of a long time of work, a
little at a time.

Now, I'm not sure as to how to lay it out. How far apart should the
rows be?

I am assuming that you want to grow veges or cut flowers so that you need
access to work on the plants. It is important that you do not compact the
soil of the bed by walking on it or puting anything heavy on it. Make the
rows as far apart so that you can comfortably reach to the centre of the bed
without standing on the bed. For most people this is about 3 to 4 ft where
you can get to both sides and half that if only one side. The narrower the
beds the higher the proportion of wasted ground used on paths. The wider
the beds the more difficult it is to work on them. It is handy to make the
paths wide enough to take a wheelbarrow, for most barrows this is about 1.5
to 2 ft as the tray can overhang the beds. You can maximise the growing
area with some sort of stepping stones instead of paths but this makes
maintenance more difficult and precludes the barrow.

Should I make level trenches so the water flows into the
trenches and goes into the plants, or make a tubing setup with
emitters?

Flood irrigation is very wasteful of water. Tubing with drippers or
sprayers is very efficient but can be awkward to manage when you have
annuals as the tube gets in the way when you are pulling out old plants and
replanting but it can be pulled up and re-laid. If the area is not large
hand watering with a hose is easy and efficient and this gives you the
chance to observe your garden in detail whcih is very useful.

The garden plot is on a slant. I had thought making the
rows along the horizontal plane so the water just doesn't run
downhill. Am going to put weed barrier all around, and then cut in
where I want to plant things.

Before setting up the drainage you need to work out whether your plants will
need to be well drained (high rainfall area, heavy soil) or if you need to
to collect as much water as possible (low rainfall area, sandy soil), or
something in between. Very few vegetables or flowers will tolerate being
waterlogged for long. If you need drainage raise the beds and set the
pathways so that they drain the area, this doesn't mean that must face
directly down hill but enough to run away during rain. If you need to
conserve as much water as possible don't raise the beds and allow water to
accumulate so that it will soak in.

Just not sure how to lay it out, keep enough space for walkways, and
get it half way right from the get go.


See above. Also if possible orient the beds north-south in full sun, this
will give the best coverage of sunlight for the plants.

David