05/29/2026
Every plant in this system earns its space. Four beds, 128 square feet, and nothing is in there just because it looked good at the nursery. 🌿
Bed 1 — Tomato system: Four staked indeterminate tomatoes down the center. Basil within 12 inches of every stem — it confuses whitefly. French marigolds at each corner — their roots produce a compound that suppresses soil nematodes. Lettuce underneath as living mulch, keeping soil cool and using the shade the tomatoes cast anyway. Carrots interplanted to break compacted subsoil. One hard rule: no peppers in this bed. Same family, shared diseases, and you will spend the season managing problems that shouldn't have been imported.
Bed 2 — Pepper system: Sweet peppers centered, bush beans along both sides. Beans fix nitrogen directly into the soil — peppers are heavy feeders and will show the difference by midsummer. Onions along both edges deter aphids and thrips. One variety rule: sweet or hot in this bed, not both. Cross-pollination will not affect this year's fruit. But if you save seeds, next year's plants come up hot.
Bed 3 — Cool season system: Broccoli and cabbage grouped together so one row cover protects the entire brassica planting. Beets along the edges — spring crop and again in fall. Kale at the corners as a perennial anchor. Dill at both ends, allowed to flower — the flat flower heads attract parasitic wasps that work the entire bed. Spring crops are done by June. Replant the same bed with fall brassicas in July.
Bed 4 — Vine and vertical system: A trellis along the back edge. Cucumbers and pole beans share it — tripling the usable growing surface in the same footprint. Beans fix nitrogen as they climb. Summer squash spreads forward into the remaining space. Nasturtium trails along the front edge as a trap crop — aphids actively prefer it over the vegetables behind it. 🌱
Strawberries stay in their own dedicated bed or containers. Runners colonize shared beds within one season.
Four beds. No passengers.
