Epiphany: Thinning is an attempt to correct a planting error

Seed packets often give instructions to sow heavily -- say, 1 per inch-- then thin the plants to the proper distance for the plants to mature -- say, one every 4 inches.   The goal is to compensate for failed seed germination and still attain a full planting area at the optimal spacing that matures at the same time.    I dutifully followed the instructions and sowed heavily back in early Sept.    The results are the picture below, taken on Oct 31 after our first frost of the season.

Lots of plants, which smothered most of the weeds, but individual plants are too close together for optimal development.  So let the thinning begin . . .

But why?   Why not sow each seed at the proper distance for mature plants and just fill in spots with ungerminated seeds?   Let's say there's only a 50% germination rate.   You'll know which seeds don't germinate within 2-3 weeks, so just re-sow seeds that don't germinate and wait another 2-3 weeks.   Rinse and repeat until plants are growing every 4 inches or whatever the proper distance is.  The crop won't mature at the same time, but for home gardeners that's a feature, not a bug.

Goodbye thinning, hello re-sowing!

Landscape status - Oct 2, 2011

Lantana is the only thing in full bloom from this angle.  Sporadic blooms on crossvine as well.

Different view, but still the same Lantana and crossvine blooms.

Side bed looks pretty barren.

Garden 2.5 -- planning begins

After 2 years of doing Very Little in the garden as we tried to sell our house, it's time to start digging again.  Unfortunately I tore my ACL a few weeks back and the surgery and rehab will put a serious damper on my shovelling for several months.

So for the time being most of my gardening will consist of planning my upgrade from the current 2.0 garden to the new and improved 2.5.  The first upgrade will be to my standard garden bed.  Square Foot Gardening is a bit gimmicky, but the method does incorporate a few very important insights for home gardeners:  (1) Long rows make sense for mechanised cultivation and harvest, but not for home gardening.  (2) Planting a small amount of many different crops is more appropriate for fresh eating.

Here's the current prototype-in-progress:

It's 12' x 4' and made out of whatever knock-off of Trek decking boards my local DYI store had when I got it.   I've arbitrarily divided the bed into 2' x 3' sections and planted spinach, onions, beets, broccoli and carrots.

Since this is a Fall/Winter garden in central NC (zone 7A) I have to protect against frost and freezing.  I have bent an 8.5' piece of 1/2" PVC across every 3 feet and secured them with pipe straps on the top and bottom of the boards thusly

Near the end of October I'll cover it with 6 mil plastic to minimise frost damage.  In my growing zone, keeping the frost/freeze damage to a minimum is no problem.  The real problem is building a cold frame that can protect the plants from 25 degrees and night, then keep them from overheating when it's 55 and sunny that afternoon.  Without some way to vent off the heat, cool season plants burn up pretty quickly.   My solution is to create ends out of plywood and automatic foundation vents.  But that's another post.