Are your garden rows straight and even ?

I wish mine were. I just cannot seem to make my rows straight. I don't suppose it really matters to anyone but me. I tried using my garden hose this year to make them straight. Ha. Now that the corn and beans and melons are sprouting, it looks like I was drunken when I planted them. I never drink.

Do you make your rows straight ? HOW ?

 

Funny that you mention this. My hubby insist that we use a little peg and string to keep HIS rows straight. I got a kick out of it because this year it didn't work. And I did have a glass of wine.

Now I laugh because every year I tell him it doesn't matter. Now we will see this year if they grow even better unstraight rather than straight.

I tell him the real world doesn't care how symmetrical things are. It's in his mind.

 

I know it is only me [and a few others] who like them straight and even, and the veggies will turn out the same. When I am driving around, I see other gardeners with nice straight rows, all nice and even, and HUGE veggies.. And mine is all crooked and uneven, and not very big veggies...

 

Sweetie, I don't think being crooked will keep the veggies small. Being too close may....

 

I plant "broad rows" whenever I can. Beans, peas, lettuces, all these adapt well to being planted in "rows" about 2' wide. The less space dedicated to paths, the more veggie space you have and the rows don't have to be straight.
My husband tills the garden. The tiller makes straight rows, and if I need to plant a row, like for corn, I simply use the row lined out by the tiller. If you don't till, using two yard-sticks works. Just lay one yardstick down with one end at the edge of your garden, and do the same at the other side of the garden. Put a stick at the end of each yardstick, stretch a piece of twine, and make a line/row with a hoe. By repeating this, you get rows 3' apart that are straight.
The huge veggies come from the soil type and fertilizer, not from straight rows.
I've also seen nice gardens that are weed-free. Now, THAT I haven't figured out!

 

Red clay soil is also not as fertile as dark loamy soil... I am working on improving my soil, but it takes lots of rotted manure, compost, etc to do that.

 

We use a string ( a masons line to be exact) to keep the rows evenly spaced and straight. Not just because it looks neater, but the tiller needs a set amount of space. If we make it too narrow in one spot... there goes part of the row. We also plant in plastic mulch which is USUSALLY a straight row also, but sometimes we mess up since it is hand work putting it in. We also pull a wagon through the rows...can't be too crooked for that, either. Barb is correct...straight rows do not make for large vegetables. Great soil and nutrients do. Just keep on amending yours. You can never have too much manure and composty stuff in there. Have you ever tried trench composting? this is where you make a furrow for all the kitchen scraps and waste. As you take it out you put it in the furrow all summer long. then next year you already have the "compost" in the garden and til it right under.

 

AA, I forgot to mention...maybe those varieties are being grown because they are large fruited, not because they taste great. There is a reason some people grow big veg. varieties....usually for competition or just bragging rights. That does not mean they are exceptionally yummy. I want my vegetables to taste great.

 

Oh, yes, Carolyn! I was given a baseball size tomato from a neighbor's garden--he was bragging on how big his tomatoes were--and the thing tasted like library paste! I like my smaller, juicy, tangy, luscious tomatoes (some even with a bit of a ding or damage).

 

Crooked Gardens Or Straight

My hubby drives me crazy every year, its because of the tilling, I am afraid there is going to be a murder around here LOL, OH he gets crazy about it,,We use a stick and string. and some time still doesnt come out right for me, you get tired, and the more tired I get the more crooked my lines get. LOL You all have fun out there, Margie

 

I have to think of the tomato contest that I failed at last year...I accidentally planted a "Huge" tomato variety. It happened to be a world record holder variety at 7 pounds....Called *drum roll, please* Burpees Delicious.... NOT at all. Not large nor delicious. BURP and spew.

 

I prefer flavor over large and fancy looking veggies too.

Thankfully, the veggies I do grow usually taste pretty good. Even if they are few in number, and not as big as melons!

Bonnie Plants brand tomatoes [and other veggies] are very good and NO GMO junk. That is what is sold around here. I checked their website to be sure. Last year, by July my tomato plants started having problems from the cucumber beetles. They got my squashes and other stuff too. I HOPE I do not have probs with them this year. I did scatter marigold seeds out there, and hopefully they will soon be up and blooming and chasing away the bad bugs.

 

AA, We kept our zukes and cukes covered until this weekend. The zukes are HUGE. We planted them early since we do farmers markets and covered them due to a frost warning, but didn't uncover them until now to keep the bugs off of them. We are hoping that the stems are now hard enough to prohibit the vine borers from being able to bore into the stem...I would recommend getting some light weight floating row cover over them until they flower, then remove the cover to let the pollinators in.

Edited to add a thought:

AA, I had to laugh as I was walking through the garden this morning. My husbands rows look like he was drinking a few too many alcoholic beverages as he was planting the peas. NONE of the rows are straight. He tore his achilles heel this winter in the shop (but he saved the $200.00 wrench in his hand . the wrench would have been much easier to replace than the trouble his foot has been) when he missed a step on a ladder as he was doing some work. He didn't go to the doctor for a month afterwards so it was beyond doing anything more than allowing it to heal on its own. Any row he put in was curvy.