Being a total novice doesn't stop me from wanting to question all the
established wisdom of gardening. Every book, manual and seed packet has the
instruction to plant in rows. What is the point of that? It sounds like
agricultural practice to me and I can't see why it should apply to my little
8' x 4' beds. Couldn't I plant a sort of patch of carrots and a patch of
lettuces and use the small space more efficiently and not have strips to
weed between the rows?

Tim W

On Sat, 30 Sep 2006 18:56:29 GMT, "Tim W"
wrote and included this (or some
of this):

Being a total novice doesn't stop me from wanting to question all the
established wisdom of gardening. Every book, manual and seed packet has the
instruction to plant in rows. What is the point of that? It sounds like
agricultural practice to me and I can't see why it should apply to my little
8' x 4' beds. Couldn't I plant a sort of patch of carrots and a patch of
lettuces and use the small space more efficiently and not have strips to
weed between the rows?

It's all a question of how you keep down the weeds.

ie hoeing between the rows being somewhat easier than bending over and
hand-picking between unevenly spread plants.

--
®óñ© © ² * ¹°°³

"Tim W" wrote in message
...
Being a total novice doesn't stop me from wanting to question all the
established wisdom of gardening. Every book, manual and seed packet has
the
instruction to plant in rows. What is the point of that? It sounds like
agricultural practice to me and I can't see why it should apply to my
little
8' x 4' beds. Couldn't I plant a sort of patch of carrots and a patch of
lettuces and use the small space more efficiently and not have strips to
weed between the rows?

Tim W


depends what you are growing, things like onions which do not tolerate weeds
grow in rows so that you can hoe rather than hand weeding things like
carrots which may actually improve from a few weeds I tend to scatter rather
than row. (I grow them in smallish raised beds)

Gill M

On Sat, 30 Sep 2006 18:56:29 GMT, Tim W wrote:

Being a total novice doesn't stop me from wanting to question all the
established wisdom of gardening. Every book, manual and seed packet has the
instruction to plant in rows. What is the point of that? It sounds like
agricultural practice to me and I can't see why it should apply to my little
8' x 4' beds. Couldn't I plant a sort of patch of carrots and a patch of
lettuces and use the small space more efficiently and not have strips to
weed between the rows?

Tim W

It makes hoeing easier.
Tip: see if you can buy an onion hoe (no hole and very narrow)
Failing that hacksaw an old hoe down as narrow as you can without weakening
it.
--
Jim S
Tyneside UK
http://www.jimscott.co.uk

"Julian" wrote in message
...
It's magnetism. Plant according to the earths magnetic field and you will
get better yields. Align your rows according to the local magnetic field.

A few animal sacrifices and dancing naked virgins would probably help too,
while of course remembering to plant in conjunction with the phase of the
moon ;-)

--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk
.... Blog at http://dlts-french-adventures.blogspot.com/

"David (in Normandy)" wrote in
message ...
"Julian" wrote in message
...
It's magnetism. Plant according to the earths magnetic field and you
will
get better yields. Align your rows according to the local magnetic
field.

A few animal sacrifices and dancing naked virgins would probably help too,
while of course remembering to plant in conjunction with the phase of the
moon ;-)

I am planting onions today. Is there anything in particular i should chant?

Tim W

"Tim W" wrote in message
...

"David (in Normandy)" wrote in
message ...
"Julian" wrote in message
...
It's magnetism. Plant according to the earths magnetic field and you
will
get better yields. Align your rows according to the local magnetic
field.

A few animal sacrifices and dancing naked virgins would probably help
too,
while of course remembering to plant in conjunction with the phase of
the
moon ;-)

I am planting onions today. Is there anything in particular i should
chant?


"Ia, Ia Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" should do the
trick. )
--
Rhiannon_s:
Just a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong.

"Rhiannon S" wrote in message
...

"Tim W" wrote in message
...


I am planting onions today. Is there anything in particular i should
chant?


"Ia, Ia Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" should do the
trick. )

That's easy for you to say.

Tim w

"Tim W" wrote in message
...

"David (in Normandy)" wrote in
message ...
"Julian" wrote in message
...
It's magnetism. Plant according to the earths magnetic field and you
will
get better yields. Align your rows according to the local magnetic
field.

A few animal sacrifices and dancing naked virgins would probably help
too,
while of course remembering to plant in conjunction with the phase of the
moon ;-)

I am planting onions today. Is there anything in particular i should
chant?

Tim W


Grow you *******s grow (passed on to me by my granddad no idea if it work
but certainly makes me feel better

Gill M

Tim W wrote:
Being a total novice doesn't stop me from wanting to question all the
established wisdom of gardening. Every book, manual and seed packet
has the instruction to plant in rows. What is the point of that? It
sounds like agricultural practice to me and I can't see why it should
apply to my little 8' x 4' beds. Couldn't I plant a sort of patch of
carrots and a patch of lettuces and use the small space more
efficiently and not have strips to weed between the rows?

You don't need to plant in rows. See if you can get hold of "Square Foot
Gardener" or look for the website for ideas. This is my first year
gardening, and I've got two 1m x 3m raised beds, each divided into squares,
each with different crops.

--
Linz
Wet Yorks via Cambridge, York, London and Watford
My accent may vary