Extra Garden Beds Never Go to Waste

This year's garden plans had called for two beds of onions, but when I planted all of my sets in one bed, I realized that I would have a whole extra bed to play with.  There were a couple of crops I had never grown before, and this was the perfect opportunity to try them out.  A friend of mine also had some leftover kale seedlings that she didn't need for her garden, so she graciously donated them to me.  I also didn't have a place planned for the celery that I had started, so that will make it's way into this bed as well.

I ended up dividing this bed into five sections.  The section closest to the house will be for celery since this should make it easy for me to harvest.  The second section will be the future home of the donated kale.  The third section will be home to six short rows of a variety of beets.  Beets have never been a favorite of mine, but I read that you can eat the leaves and I know some people that will take the beets that I don't like.  The fourth section will be for six short rows of turnips.  Turnips are something that I have recently discovered that I like, and if they do well, they may earn a permanent place in my garden rotation.  The final section will hold a mixture of lettuces and spinach, with a few rows of carrots thrown in too.  If everything grows well, this will be a great salad bar bed!

Before I planted this bed I laid out my drip irrigation, so I can make sure that the newly planted seeds get plenty of water.  The beets, turnips, lettuce and carrots are all in rows - one on either side of each irrigation line.  The celery and kale will be planted in close proximity to the lines when they are ready to go in the garden.  This will ensure that everything gets adequate water even after I add mulch to the bed.