What happens if you plant veg too close together?

fimonkey

I'm a novice garderner and trying to grow a few bits of veg this year. I sowed seed for carrots, onions and tomatoes and bought a couple of courgette plants.

I ended up with too much for the space that I have in my raised bed planter so as an experiment I have planted a few spaced at the recommended distance, and the rest are buched up pretty close. I've also put a few onions in at the side of the large pots I have my tomoatoes in.

I'm curious as to what will happen to this bunched up stuff, will I just end up with smaller fruit and a smaller yield?

Thanks

Sambucus_Nigra

Some will grow smaller veg, some will grow fine and push each other apart, some will perhaps just look a little ill. It depends more on the soil and the feeding IMHO - as I grow things too close together on purpose so that I can harvest some earlier and smaller and leave the others to grow on....

wallbash

I am guilty of cramming my veggies, but as I 'pull' them early , never have any problems.
Small is best .

Jnelhams

You will get smaller veggies, but you do run an increased risk of disease (especially mildew and boytris)

Sally_A

...or they will go leggy, as they will compete with each other for light.

Tomatoes need good air circulation, and I tend to nip out about half of the leaves once they are about 3 - 4 ft tall, and the first few trusses have formed.

valk_scot

Or they will bolt early due to being stressed.

There's little point in cramming most veg together. The yield doesn't go up and the quality usually goes down. You can grow some veg like beetroot, carrots and salad leaves at close spacing then thin them out as they increase in size, eaing the thinnings as baby veg, but it doesn't work for bulbing onions...you just get stunted onions. Tomatoes and courgettes will set less fruit and be more prone to mildew and disease.

splodger_seedswapper

i grow certain things close together - but i know what i am ding and the logic behind it - and i don't mean that it any disparaging way at all - i do because i know i can - is really what i think i mean (sorry very tired today)

as an example - i purposely put onions sets closer together - but i thin them out over the season - to get fresh green onion (similar to spring onion) this then allows more space for the other bulbs to bulk up

i grow my spuds closer together too - but i don't use the traditional method for earthing up - i have my own way of doing things

lettuces etc the same - i like to take young plants and leaves - as they are full of innocent flavour and don't need to mature

if you are just going to chuck the thinnings - then don't sow the seed so thickly / plant things too closely - but if you want to eat the young plants - then plant them as close as you think you can get away with (at the end of the day - it will be you and you only that will really know if that technique works for you personally - so just go with your gut feelings - and if it doesn't work out quite as you had imagined, try and change the set up for next year)

harib0uk

I'd advise geting a copy of square foot gardening from your local library and having a read of that... it's great if you don't have much space or want to make a measured choice between the size of the end product and the quantity you get.

This year i'm sowing my onions closer together as last year they took up a 3rd of my allotment (I was happy as I'd only just got it and wanted to get something in) the resulting onions were larger than average and really too big for one onion recipes so I often ended up wasting some (freezer isn't big enough ) so thi year my plan is one use size onions but more of them!

Beetroot is also closer together, and rather than in a row it's in a block and sowed in succession so I can crop for longer without them getting woody.

splodger seedswapper I'd be interested know your way of doing potatoes as this year I'm growing in differently, that is not in long rows but short "widths" so that when I harvest I have a nice block space to start sowing again.

fimonkey

Great answers, I've learned a lot this evening! Many thanks. .. Off to Google boytris and mildew... but what's 'bolting'?

Nest year I plan to plant in succession with better planning,... this year is very much a pre-draft proto-type.

Thanks again!

PS I plan to grow potatoes in a grow bag, using supermarket ones which have grown roots! .. I know shock horror some of you may balk at this but I've had a successful crop last year .. what;s so wrong with it?

[Deleted User]

I planted lots of onions last autumn and they were pretty close but far too many for me to store, so we started lifting some a month ago, leaving more space between the others. The lifted (green) onions are absolutely lovely for eating, tops and all. First of all just chopped in salads and one between two of us was enough, then stir fries and chopped in all sorts of dishes. I also planted some spring sown onions as we want to get onto a proper rotation as we have a new plot so we do have loads of onions and eating the thinnings is the answer and it helps in the hungry gap. So yes, onions work planted close together as long as they are thinned along the way.

I have 6 duncan cabbage in 1/2 sq m raised bed and they look amazing, interplanted with radish, lettuce and turnips

My first earlies are planted too close together but the foliage looks good so we`ll see, small potatoes would be nice end of may

re shop potatoes, I wouldn`t grow them. I have had several in the last few weeks which look fine but are black in the centre. They go out and not on my compost either as I don`t want blight on my potatoes or tomatoes

[Deleted User]

harib0uk wrote: »

splodger seedswapper I'd be interested know your way of doing potatoes as this year I'm growing in differently, that is not in long rows but short "widths" so that when I harvest I have a nice block space to start sowing again.

I would like to know too please. I think blocks is a very good idea and something I will do next year, maybe 4 in a block. I need the space too