The Crunch

Multiple times every year, and not always at the same time, I feel The Crunch.  It's not a time crunch, but a space crunch.  The last rows are filling up in the garden, and I have to look for the small, overlooked areas where weeds are creeping in, or I forgot it was there so I can make the best use of all my garden area.  Here are my main concerns at the moment:

- I planted too much garlic.  I planted a good amount more this year than last year, and it takes up almost an entire row, with an inefficient space left over on either end of the row.  In another month or so, scapes will be upon us, but we still have maybe 100 heads of garlic in the root cellar. If it's not 100, it sure feels like it!  I should have marked down every head of garlic we used this winter, but didn't think of it until a few weeks ago.  I will do that this coming year.  My baseline for garlic and onions each is to have one bulb for every day of the year.  I figure that this is overestimating how much we need, but it's a safe bet.  I'd rather too many than not enough. 

-I planted too large an area of peas, and I also planted them too late.  The good news here is that I will have time to replant this row with a storage crop (or a few!) in mid summer.  

-Last year, I had moderate success with growing onions from seed germinated in the last week of December.  What didn't grow to efficient eating size was saved and used as sets this year.  There are over 100 of these sets.  That room is taken up now, and can't be used for this year's first-year seedlings.  I need an extra row for this.  Same goes for leeks, but those overwintered on their own (good job guys!).

-I possibly allotted too much space for corn and squash- one row each.  My plan last year of alternating square blocks of each didn't do so hot, so I went back to a row formation.  I can effectively grow enough winter squash in maybe 1/3 of a row, however, I wanted it to run under the corn stalks.  That might be redundant because this year I'm going to sow half-running beans between the corn stalks, once the corn gets established.  Perhaps I can use some of that squash row for other things. 

-I still don't always have realistic expectations for space allotment during the planning/pre-sowing stage of the year.  Some things take up significantly more room that I had planned, which reduces space for other things.  I also didn't account for overwinterers like leeks taking up space in May, which is happening big-time. 


-I need to make sure I think very carefully about my succession plans to maximize space and yield. 
This includes starting first crops early enough so they can finish in time to plant second crops.  I should try to intercrop a little more to squeeze even more into my space. 


This is all I can remember at the moment.