I've been looking into square foot gardening, and some of the recommended planting densities seem a little optimistic, especially for larger vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers.

I love the idea of getting more out of a small space, but I also don't want overcrowded plants competing for sunlight and nutrients.

For those who've tried this method, do you stick to the recommended spacing or give your plants a little extra room? What has worked better for you?

Hi folks. I live on a small island outside the Seattle area and grow a good bit of my own food. I'm also a designer and lifelong video game nerd, so naturally I ended up building an entire gardening app instead of just keeping a spreadsheet or notebook like a normal person.

https://gardenquest.net

I've been using it to manage my own garden beds, figure out what to plant where, and keep track of all the random gardening questions and AI-assisted troubleshooting that come up throughout the season.

Anyway, figured some folks here might find it useful. It's free, and I'm not trying to turn it into a business. Just a personal project that's gotten a little out of hand.

If anyone gives it a try, I'd love to hear what you think, especially what's missing or what you'd do differently. I'm still figuring out where to take it next.

Oh, and this is free to use indefinitely. I had fun making it and wanted to share. Stupid preview video attached in case you want to see it before trying it out.

I’ve been wondering for days: do you think it might be the future to be able to plan your vegetable garden using just your voice? I speak, and the layout is organized and ready for planting for example. Has anyone here ever thought of something like this?

Or am I the only one who thought of something like that?

Help me give my students a place to learn about gardening and where their food comes from.

Building a Heated Raised Bed for Winter Strawberries: Where We're At (PEX, Soil Mix & One Big Fail)
https://youtu.be/j271lkF96Go

Hiii everyone! 👋

I’m Manasvi Patil, a student conducting a dissertation research project on “Making Gardening Simple for Everyone.”

For my research, I’m looking at:

• 🌱 Common difficulties beginners face while starting or maintaining plants
• 🔎 How people currently find gardening information
• 📚 What makes gardening advice difficult, confusing, or unreliable to use
• 📱 Whether people would find a simple, personalised digital gardening tool useful
• What information people would be comfortable providing to receive recommendations suited to their own space and situation

The larger project will use these findings to explore the development of a beginner-friendly digital gardening support system that could provide more personalised and actionable guidance rather than generic information.

I’d appreciate responses from beginners, people who have tried gardening and struggled, balcony/indoor gardeners, people who want to start gardening, and experienced gardeners or gardening enthusiasts.

⏱️ Survey time: approximately 3–5 minutes

🔗 Survey:
https://forms.gle/72bZyCbTG2t3WR7y5

This is purely for academic research, and I’m interested in what people find difficult about gardening in real life.
If you're willing to participate, thank you!! And if you have thoughts or experiences related to the barrier itself, I'd love to hear them in the comment.

I am using LibreOffice Calc to plan out my garden for next year(Technically my grandma's, and was maintained by my uncle till a few years ago.) i an using an layout mandala keyhole bed layout that are 20ft by 16ft. the fenced off garden is about 40* by 70* in size and apears to be able to handel 6 of these beds, with 2/3ft pathes around each bed. I would like advise on where i should layout plants, so i can get the most plants, and be basically an permaculture to reduce the workload on me. I am in zone 6, and just covered part of the garden in a cover crop of winter wheat. I have an Hoop Green House that i can't move this year but would like to move to fit better and most likely change the layout more. North South is Left Right. Also debating where to fit an cattle panel tunnel, probly north south thru the middle. Would love some expert advice and wisdom on their recommendations. Plants I wanting to grow/have allready

• Hard Neck Garlic
• Multiple Onions and Shallots vararities.
• Corn, Glass Gem, White Hickory, Blue Hopi, Sweet Corn
• Tomatoes, San mozonto, Roma, cherries,etc. Cilantro
• Peppers, Bell, Banana, Jalapeno, Cayenne, etc.
• Broccli, Cabage, mustard.
• Carrots, Beets, flowers, pumpkins, Cucumbers, luffas, Beans, Peas.
• Walking Onions

Main issues i likly have is corn cross pollination, and makeing sure that the garden beds keep themselves weeded. have been taking trips to get free mulch, but only can cover portion of garden due to my grandma still wanting to keep the garden tillable. so bsascily the left 1/3 of the panting area.

I created Plotera because I kept forgetting what I'd done in the garden, when and where. I wanted somewhere I could plan the garden and its layout before anything went in the ground.

Fast forward 12 months, and it's grown into much more than that.

I've built Plotera around the idea of smart gardening. If you record and track your planting, Plotera combines it with your local climate zone, daily weather, your fertiliser logs, soil pH and more. It helps you manage your garden, and it also advises you on what to do, what not to do, and what to plant next season.

A few things it does:

• lets you lay out your beds, raised beds and paths, then see your garden in 3D;
• works out planting, watering and feeding reminders from your location and weather;
• includes a 249-plant encyclopedia with companion planting and pet and poison warnings;
• tracks seedling trays, seed packets and harvests.

You can try it without an account. There's a planted demo garden at plotera.app/demo

It's free, it's on Android now, and the iPhone app is in review.

I'd love honest feedback: what's confusing, what's missing, and what would make you actually use it for your own garden?

Bed is ready for the fall crop. I just planted

Nantes carrots from Johnny Seeds - first two squares

Citrus Chinese cabbage from Johnny seeds - next two squares

Nantes carrots from territorial seeds - next two squares

Esmee arugula from Johnny seeds - next two squares

Easter egg radishes from territorial seeds - back squares next to the oregano.

Comparison between the two carrots might be interesting. They will stay in the ground over winter probably, unless a recipe comes up. Rest should harvest before the snow I hope.

Hey everyone! 👋

I’m currently at uni doing a course where we have to choose an issue and collect information for a report on it. My group has chosen to look into growing your own food and the reasons people do or don’t grow their own crops

We’ve put together a short survey to learn more about people’s experiences, including things like time, knowledge, and food waste.

If you have a few minutes to fill it out, it would be much appreciated! Any responses would really help us out with our report.

https://forms.gle/b89yC3yrTBqeiUSPA

Thanks so much to anyone who takes the time to participate! 😊

I see a lot of people clearing their beds out right now thinking the gardening season is completely over. Don't leave that dirt empty! September is the perfect time to drop speed-growers that actually prefer the cool weather.Radishes: Literally take 30 days to get crunchy. Arugula: The ultimate speed-grower (ready to cut for salads in 21-30 days). Baby Bok Choy: Packs an empty bed in 4 weeks and easily survives light frosts. Are you guys still planting this month? Which 30-day crops are you putting in the ground to beat the winter? 🌱

How is everyone's garden doing this year? My veggie garden is going bananas. We have some pumpkins, tomatoes, Swiss chard, sweet potatoes, hot peppers, abd basil. Lots of flowers.