Ditto to the above. There are several strategies that can be employed. Intercropping is one, where you have, for instance a leaf crop, a fruiting crop, and a root crop all growing together - for our purposes, lets say arugula, snap peas, and turnips for the early season. Of these, the arugula will be ready for harvest first, then the turnips, then the peas. You could time your planting so that everything is ready at the same time, making the entire bed ready for a new crop. Or, you could plant everything at the same time, meaning you would have a succession of harvests, perhaps overlapping slightly, of 3 different crops. Or, you could stagger your planting dates, so that you get a longer harvest, but less yield on a weekly basis. Each strategy has advantages, depending on your long term plans. For me, staggered plantings of the arugula and turnips make sense, because i want to eat them in a few meals every week, but because the peas will provide a continuous harvest over a longer period - because we're harvesting the fruit, and not the whole plant - I would put in that row all at the same time, and in another bed put in a second row a few weeks later, or establish a succession by planting a variety with a different maturation period. The arugula MAY provide multiple harvests, depending on your method, and will be available first. It is also least tolerant of heat, so will benefit from being shaded by the peas as the season progresses. Because it will see the most attention, I would plant it at the outside of my bed, where it is easiest to reach. The turnips, being root crops, will cause some disturbance when they are harvested, so I will make sure that they are not too closely spaced, to the other turnips, but also to the other crops in the bed. The peas will be comparatively tall when they are ready to harvest, so the shade that they produce will need to be accounted for in the layout of the bed - not only in terms of North-South-East-West, but if the row is in the middle, with other crops on either side, or on one edge, where the effect of shading is reduced. Assuming 70 days for the peas to mature, and perhaps 2 weeks of harvest, it's possible that you could have the entire bed emptied and ready to plant on 3 months, but that would mean a significant amount of space was being underutilized where the arugula and turnips were removed. You could choose to reseed those areas with your second crop, but it would be more time-efficient to transplant. In the interest of rotation, and taking into account the season, you might put in cucumbers, to climb the trellis soon to be vacated by the peas, or eggplant, or squash. Broccoli would work, but it's a heavy feeder, and it's related to turnips, so less ideal. Greens could work, but you're getting into the warmest part of the season, so kale would be a better choice than spinach. And ideally you want whatever you plant to be ripe and ready in time to get a third crop into the ground - and ripe - before winter sets in, so maturity dates become even more important as you do your planning later in the season. Otherwise, you'll get to the end of the growing season, and unless you have some kind of season-extension tactics, the only thing able to grow to maturity in your garden will be 25-day radishes, and really, how many of those do you want to eat? Another consideration is how you will deal with the harvest. If you are growing only to have fresh vegetables for the length of the growing season, successions are the way to go. But if you want to freeze pesto or can tomato sauce or make pickles, you want a large harvest all at once so that you can efficiently process your produce. Personally, I don't want to be stuck in a hot kitchen on August, so I schedule some of my plantings so that the canning can take place, as much as possible, in the cooler months, and the foods that can be enjoyed raw are coming ripe in summer. That means not only making choices about crops, but about varieties - slicing tomatoes to ripen early, but plum tomatoes in September, or Hakuri turnips to eat in summer, and purple-tops, which taste better cooked, for fall. As you can see, the process of multiple cropping is wonderfully complex. This is just one example, with only a few crops, and doesn't fully incorporate the varying needs of water, nutrients, and sunlight that a detailed plan should include. Short maturity crops like radishes and salad greens can often simply be tucked in wherever space and time allow without much planning, and having seedlings always on hand to transplant will provide you with a denser harvest schedule, but a successful plan for multiple harvests is a multi-dimensional puzzle, involving space, time, species, cultural requirements, season, and use. Personally, I enjoy the complexity, it's like a game of chess, or planning a perfect heist, but for some people it can seem daunting. It is probably best, in the beginning, to follow one simple rule - plant something every week, and when you harvest one crop, renew the soil (I add lots of compost, and nothing more) and plant again. Lastly (for now), although you are growing in the same space, it is never the same soil. It is important to renew the soil regularly, to replace all of the nutrients that multiple cropping removes. Lots of compost, and fertilizer when needed, will go a long way towards providing a good succession.

Seriously, Honestly? I go to the Gallery and spend hours and hours going over all the latest pictures that Oceanna posted. Today, a little over 3 hours at the Gallery (Gee, thanks Oceanna! *wink*). Got nothing, zippo, nada done. Way too many ideas doing Funny Car crashes in my grey matter for me to make a firm decision on my projects so might as well go look-see everyone elses projects. Actually, truth be told there is no name for my 'style'. Believe me, I've searched. No way to describe it online so that I can get a decent search going. Because there is no name for my style, I come to a point where I get stuck ----- (the fact that my ideas have to be done on a miniscule budget makes it all that more difficult.) Kitchen not finished --- going on 15 months. Backyard/Garden Decor not done --- going on 7 months. Family Room not done --- going on 20 months. Sunroom not done --- going on 28 months. Master Bedroom not done -- going on 9 months. (Won't count the Master bath because in all fairness, we just started it. But I'm sure I'll come to a grinding halt there, too.) Why? Because I'm stuck, can't make a decision and stick to it because I can't find ideas for what I see in my mind's eye. I know there's got to be inspiration out there for what I'm trying to create but so far, haven't found it. I get ideas, tips and opinions from all the talented folks here and put them into play and all starts looking good but to head to the finish line? Nope. Isn't happening. So, I go to all the neato new photos on the Gallery side, thanks to Oceanna, kill a ton of time and not get a thing accomplished. Then I feel guilty for not accomplishing anything and I start the whole process over again. Amity, who is heading over to the gallery, again. lol

Beautiful kitchen!! I am just starting or should I say 6 months in the designing phase of a remodel. I have changed my mind so many times & very in decisive. I was sure I would go with a contemporary walnut slab cabinet. Changed my mind to white cabinets with the Calcutta marble with a wood island. It is really funny that I ran across your kitchen cause it has the x glass cabinets that I just decided on a few days ago and wood floors. I am meeting with the cabinet maker in a few days to go over the changes. After seeing your kitchen I am now sure I am making the right selections. I just voted for your kitchen, of course, it is the most stunning kitchen!!! Good luck!

I hope it's not too late to write here, but woke up this morning very worried, and came across this about sealers. I just had my marble island countertop installed yesterday and the fabricator sealed it 3 times. Once at the shop and twice at installation, an hour apart. He is from Ecuador and barely speaks English. He used something I've never heard of. I saw the name on it. It said "Adria Protection" it was made in Italy. It doesn't come up in Google, so I'm worried if it's safe for putting food on? I like using natural products and now this has me worried. It had a very strong smell...I had to open every door and window while he applied it. When I first shopped for Marble everyone I first talked to said "You don't want marble in a kitchen, etc., but when I met this guy and said I wanted marble, he didn't blink an eye, just said he would seal it and that I would never have any problems. The sealer did slightly change the background color of the marble (maybe like a polish would?), but I'm worried about food safety. I am wishing that I didn't have him seal it. (He said that he wouldn't if I didn't want it.) Do all of the sealers smell strong. Does anyone have an opinion about this for me?