The Vegetable Site Map
GIVES YOU DIRECT ACCESS TO the plant description with its photos for ALL THE 8 VEGETABLES detailed in this Gallery IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.

When creating a vegetable garden, the most common method of reducing the likelihood of disease and pest problems caused by planting the same plant in the same place every year is to use a rotation system:-

• 4-Year Rotation: Potato, Legume, Brassica or Root
• or
• Gertrude Franck's Companion Planting: Spinach is sown in the spring and the rows between the rows of spinach are split into: Main Crop A, 0.5 Year Crop B, Short-lived Crop C or Perennial Crop D as shown below.

 

Gertrude Franck Companion Planting Vegetable Garden

Companion planting cultivation is concerned with which plants will respond well to a certain environment, and in which environment, pests can be discouraged and diseases prevented. In order to make such mixed vegetable cultivation possible, monoculture in beds is replaced by row-crop cultivation, in which the right plants will be properly spaced. The companion-planted garden has to be considered not only in relation to its plant material above ground, but also the affects on the soil and the biomass of that plant's roots. Ten ways that companion planting works is provided in the garden design section.

Companion Planting can also be used for pest control rather than chemicals.

The book "Companion Planting - successful gardening the organic way" by Gertrude Franck (based on her 35 years of practical experience in Germany) Thorsons Publishing Group 1983, ISBN 0-7225-0695-3 states the following:

Spinach is sown in spring in rows 20 inches (50cm) apart over the whole vegetable garden area for the following purposes:

• these rows divide the vegetable garden up for the whole year,
• the spinach roots prevent erosion, so the usual paths between beds are omitted,
• young spinach plants provide protection and shade for the vegetable crops to be grown between them,
• spinach provides ideal material for sheet surface composting, which becomes an intermediate space, a footpath, and
• it is in between these lines of spinach that the other vegetable varieties are arranged.

The Garden Layout below shows that the rows are given letters. The main crop in the A rows is planted in May, but can follow an early crop almost immediately. They are 6.5 feet (2 metres) apart and are intended for:-

tomatoes,
runner beans,
cucumbers,
late cabbage,
broad beans,
potatoes and
courgettes.

 

Halfway between 2 A rows there is 1 B row, which is intended for plants which are going to require this space either in the first half or in the second half of the growing year. Each of these rows will yield at least 2 full crops. These are:-

leeks,
onions,
black salsify,
cauliflower,
celeriac,
kidney beans,
spring beans,
beetroot,
peas and
parsnips.

Halfway between the A row and the B row there is the C row, which is set with short-lived plants with a comparatively small, low growth. Each of these rows will produce 2 or often 3 crops one after another. These are:-

carrots,
lettuce,
endives,
kohlrabi and
fennel.

 

The perennial crops in Row D stay in the same place and the others are not planted in the same place for another 2 years:-

annuals

asparagus

chives

herbs

perennials

Gertrude Franck's Vegetable Garden Layout with Companion Planting
Fence with Flowers and Gate
D. All kinds of herbs, ann- uals and perr- enials	Path					D. Chi- ves and Rhu- barb
	P A T H	B. Cauliflo- wer and B. Celeriac	P A T H	C. Late Carrots	P A T H
		C. Lettuce
		A. Cucumber		A. Tomatoes alternating with C. radishes
		A. Cabbage C. Lettuce (second sowing)		C. Late Carrots
		B. Caulifl- owers and B. Celeriac		B. Onions followed by C. corn salad
		A. Cabbage C. Lettuce (third sowing)		C. Late Carrots
		A. Late Cabbage and B. Celeriac		A. Tomatoes alternating with C. Radishes
		C. Carrots (second sowing)		C. Late Carrots
		B. Black salsify		B. Onions followed by C. Sugarloaf
		C. Carrots (second sowing)		C. Late Carrots
		A. Late Cabbage and A. Celeriac		A. Beans alternating with C. Kohlrabi
		C. Carrots (second sowing)		C. Endives or other salad crops
		A. New Potatoes		B. Spring Greens alternating with B. Celeriac then B. Kidney Beans
		B. Beetroot		C. Various Salad crops
		A. Brussels Sprouts B. and Kale		A. Beans alternating with C. Kolhrabi and C. Radishes
		B. Beetroot
		B. Leeks		covering 3-year-old Straw- berries
		C. Carrots		covering 3-year-old Straw- berries
		B. Marrowfat Peas
		C. Carrots
		B. Onions		covering 2-year-old Straw-berries
		C. Lettuces and radishes		covering 2-year-old Straw-berries
		B. Peas followed in August by Straw-berries (new planting)
	Path
To avoid crop rotation problems the gardener : changes his crops 2 or 3 times in the same row and in the following year displaces the rows 10 inches (25 cm) away from where they were before, so that it is extremely unlikely that the same or a closely related plant will occupy the same place again. Surface composting ensures a constant supply of nutrients and water to the soil, gives it protection and enriches it in humus. The strips where the compost is laid down this year will become the places where vegetables are grown next year, since the rows are displaced 10 inches (25 cm) sideways.

 

 

This plant gallery has thumbnail pictures of vegetable foods in the following colours:-

• Blue
• (o)Green
• Orange
• Other Colours
• (o)Purple
• (o)Red
• (o)White
• (o)Yellow

This plant gallery has thumbnail pictures of vegetable foliage in the following colours:-

• Black
• Blue
• Brown
• Bronze
• (o)Green
• Grey
• Purple
• (o)Red
• Silver
• Variegated White (or Silver) and Green
• Variegated Yellow and Green
• White
• Yellow

This plant gallery has thumbnail pictures of vegetable varieties in the following vegetable list:

• Artichoke
• Asparagus
• Aubergine
• Beans - Broad
• Beans - Climbing French
• Beans - Dwarf French
• Beans - Runner
• (o)Beetroot
• Beet
• Borecole
• (o)Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cape Gooseberry
• Capsicum (Peppers)
• Cardoon
• (o)Carrot
• Cauliflower
• Celeriac
• Celery
• Chicory
• (o)Chilli Pepper
• Chinese Cabbage
• Corn Salad
• (o)Courgette
• Cress
• (o)Cucumber
• Endive
• Fennel
• Garlic
• Green Manure - Mustard
• Green Manure - Phacelia Balo
• Green Manure - Red Clover
• Green Manure - Spinach
• Herbs - Basil Gecofure
• Herbs - Basil Minette
• Herbs - Basil Red
• Herbs - Basil Sweet
• Herbs - Celery Par-cel
• Herbs - Chives
• Herbs - Cilantro
• Herbs - Coriander
• Herbs - Coriander Confetti
• Herbs - Dill
• Herbs - Dill Bouquet
• Herbs - Garlic Chives
• Herbs - Lemon Coriander
• Herbs - Lemon Grass
• Herbs - Marjoram Sweet
• Herbs - Mint
• Herbs - Oregano
• Herbs - Parsley
• Herbs - Rosemary
• Herbs - Sage
• Herbs - Thyme
• Horseradish
• Kale
• Kohl Rhabi
• Leaf Beet
• Leaf Salads
• Leek
• (o)Lettuce
• Marrow
• Melon
• Mushroom
• Mustard
• Okra
• Onion
• Pak Choi
• Parsnip
• Pea
• Pepper
• Potato
• Pumpkin
• Radicchio
• Radish
• Rocket
• Salsify
• Scorzonera
• Shallot
• Snap Pea
• Spinach
• Spinach Beet
• Spring Onion
• Sprouting Salad - Alfalfa
• Sprouting Salad - Fenugreek
• Sprouting Salad - Lentil
• Sprouting Salad - Mung Beans
• Sprouting Salad - Radish
• Squash
• Swede
• Sweet Corn
• Tomato
• Turnip

If you click on a thumbnail another window opens with 9 larger images (Food Colour, Foliage and Vegetable Shape - for Food, Foliage and Vegetable List pages) and the following plant description:-

1. Common Name
2. Botanical Name
3. Growing Instructions
4. Distance between Plants
5. Sowing and Harvesting Times
6. Plant in Rotation Type
7. Height x Spread in feet
8. Foliage
9. Food Colour.
10. Good Plant Companions, which aid this vegetable.
11. Bad Plant Companions, which are antagonistic to this plant.
12. Culinary Use
13. Comments and where you can buy the seed or plug plant.

Please close that window before clicking on another thumbnail.

The Site Map for Individual Vegetables gives you access to the above 9 larger images and plant description for all the plants detailed in this gallery in alphabetical order.

This plant gallery has pictures of vegetable beds with description.

Together with the Plants, Companion Planting and Offbeat Glossary sections of this website, these photographs should aid your choice of plant for your garden.

These gallery photographs were provided by Suttons, Woodview Road, Paignton. TQ4 7NG