Catalyst Magazine - 2012 Planting Guide

2012 Planting Guide

Written by Greta Belanger deJong

New and updated!

This year’s planting guide reflects some of the changes occurring in the city garden. With the popularity of raised beds, intensive planting and trellising, the old planting charts that recommend planting 200 feet of lima beans in rows two feet apart are not so useful.

In this chart you’ll find these improvements:

Planting dates are geared toward the Salt Lake Valley, not all of Utah (see “Salt Lake City area—first and last frost dates” for even more useful detail).
Fewer seeds to plant per foot (resulting in less thinning).
More plants remaining after thinning (more intensive planting, possibly to accommodate vertical strategies).
The space between rows is less (less unnecessary space to weed, more space for gardening).
Based on the assumption that the gardener is using raised beds.
Offers some interplanting suggestions. Fred Montague says interplanting makes fuller use of garden resources (e.g. shallow-rooted plants with deep; short shade-loving plants with tall sun-loving ones). It also offers some protection and encourages plant yield.