"DH" wrote in message ...
Any good reference books/sites/software out there how to plot out a
vegetable/herb garden? I am moving in about a month, and am currently
really trying to get a wonderful parcel on ten acres. (Wish me luck - I'm
second in line depending on if the first potential buyers can drop their
contingency.) I'd like to devote about an acre to a vegetable garden to
start, but was wondering how best to plan it out. For example, I know that
some vegetables grow well side by side, but others shade out lower-growing
veggies. What distance should veggie types be from each other, what side of
the garden (i.e, north, west, south, east) should particular plants go, etc.
How far apart should individual plants be from each other. (I know this is
on the seed packets, but I'm looking for a more comprehensive tool to plan
out the garden in advance.)

I love just about every veggie (except radishes), so I want to plant quite a
variety, but I've never been good at placement and figuring out what to
plant early enough so that I can plant a second crop later after the early
crop expires.

I have a lot of good gardening books, but nothing that really covers
planning out the layout well, except for a little book I have about
postage-stamp gardens

Rodale just came out with a new encyclopedia of organic gardening
which is the first truly advanced book on home gardening I have seen
(at least at B&N). Territorial Seeds also has an advanced home
gardening book.

If you have that much room, you should consider growing, like I do,
potatoes under wood chips rows. No watering, no feeding, and low
yields, but I do nothing except planting and harvesting them. Ditto
for Jerusalem artichokes, and of course you should also consider a 5
sqyds asparagus bed. Both asparagus and JA are perennial. There are a
few other perennial crops, ask if interested and specify zone.

Another thing i would do is to have maybe 50 sqaure yards under cover.
You plant them with winter vegetables and start harvesting in
november. It could last you into february. I cover approx. 15 square
yards, and they last into mid-january. Right now I am miserable at the
lack of truly fresh veggies.

Other than that 1 acre is too much. My family gets half its veggies
for the year out of 30 sqyds. The great advantage of large gardens is
in extending the season, and in having plots devoted to low yield, no
work crops. If I were to double my garden size, I would put all the
new area under cover.