Features and Occasionals

2014 Annual CATALYST Planting Guide

By Greta Belanger deJong

This planting guide reflects some of the changes occurring in the city garden. With the rise of raised beds, intensive planting, vertical gardening and no-till methods, planting charts of yesteryear are less 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 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.

References and influences:
Fred Montague, Gardening: An Ecological Approach (Mountain Bear Ink)
Mel Bartholomew, Square Foot Gardening (Rodale)
Toby Hemenway, Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Homescale Permaculture (Chelsea Green)
Louise Riotte, Carrots Love Tomatoes (Storey)

CLICK HERE to get the planting guide!

This article was originally published on May 4, 2014.