Viewing post #2481237 by Blazersin7

Thanks for the detailed response! I wish I saw this earlier but I can still use most of your advice. Photo was taken from the South looking North.

I'll search for some balanced fertilizer and compost to add. I already planted butterhead lettuce and bok choi at short side because it was going to waste. Before planting, I dug out the weeds, soaked my plot with water and went to town on the dirt/soil.. Pleasantly surprised by the results and attached is a current photo of my plot. I haven't added any soil, compost, etc yet.

Weedwhacker said:@Blazersin7, I'm a little surprised that no one else has replied to your post, but I'll have a go at it for you...

So, it appears that the dimensions of your plot are about 5'x10', which isn't a lot to work with, but at least it's something! The very first thing I would do is dig out all of the clumps of grass and weeds, getting as much of the root systems as possible. Then dig in some compost and balanced fertilizer (I use 10-10-10, but of course an organic fertilizer would be fine too, depending on your preferences). Ideally, for the way I picture laying out your plants, the long side on the left of the photo would be the north side - but unless it's actually the south side, I would still do the following.

I would put 3 or 4 tomato plants along the middle of that long side, either caged (preferably) or staked. I would put the pepper plants along one or both of the short ends, depending on how many peppers you want to grow. I'd leave a path 18" wide in front of the tomatoes and in front of the peppers, and going from the center of the right-hand long side to the tomatoes, and I'd plant your greens in the patches left over. If you aren't familiar with "square-foot gardening," you might want to check that out for an idea about spacing for the greens.

I think you could comfortably put 4 tomatoes and 8-10 pepper plants in (4-5 along each end), plus the greens. If that left-hand side of the plot happens to be due south I think I would put the tomatoes on the other long side so they don't shade the other plants too much. I don't think I would try to use loose bricks, stacked or otherwise - it seems to me that they will just take up room that you could use otherwise, and will be more hassle than help. I might put a low "border fence" around it, though, to kind of separate it off from the other plots. I hope this will be of some help to you, and wish you the best of luck with your new garden!