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.

Jenny, beans need a strong light source; under most artificial lighting (such as fluorescent) beans will quickly become leggy, topple, and die. The Vignas (including Vigna radiata, the green mung bean) are particularly sensitive. You might have better results growing a cool-weather legume that can safely be placed outside in the sun. Besides, most mung beans sold commercially grow to become large sprawling plants, poorly suited to pot culture. If you intend to grow beans, I would recommend adzuki beans instead, since they are usually a smaller bush... but remember, like most beans, they will need protection on cold nights. Are you using the plants to observe their early growth, or will they be grown to maturity? If growing to maturity, you might be better off trying a cool-weather legume for your experiment, such as favas, garbanzos, or peas. They can all take a light frost. - Favas are tall plants, so depending upon the pot size, you might want only 1 or 2 per pot. They are interesting, though, with black & white flowers. If you will be observing immature plants, they might be the best choice for strong Winter growth. - Garbanzos are a short bush, and are attractive pot plants with feathery foliage; so for observing mature plants, they might be a good choice. - If using peas, be sure to grow a short variety. Decide how large you want your plants to be at the conclusion of your experiment, and plan your planting time accordingly. Many of us here on GW can help you with that, as can your local Master Gardeners, who would be especially knowledgeable about growing beans (and the others above) during California winters. To answer the question accurately about how many seeds per pot, I would need to know the size of the pots. Beans have large root systems, so they will need larger pots if grown to maturity; I would recommend 12 inch pots, although I realize that might not be practical. In that case, you might grow 1 fava, 2 or 3 garbanzos, or 4 or 5 peas. For beans, 2 or 3 per pot. As a rule, for smaller pots, plant less; if the plants will be used immature, plant more. And plant a few extra in each pot in case some fail to germinate, then thin to the number you want... otherwise, a few dead seeds could ruin the experiment. I agree with Sue's comments regarding Miracle Grow potting soil. It contains fertilizer, so if your experiment is to test the effects of different fertilizers, it will influence the results. It would be better to use a potting soil without fertilizer, or a soil-less mix. "Plug mix" often comes in large bulk bags, and since it is already pH balanced, there is no need to add lime. It is also sterile, so you are unlikely to have disease problems. You can get it from some of the larger nurseries or garden stores... and if you tell the manager about your experiment, they might even be willing to sponsor you. As for the fertilizers, I would like to make a few suggestions. Sue's suggestion about pots with- and without compost is a good one, so you would have 2 for each fertilizer tested. It just depends upon how many pots you intend to grow... especially if you intend to try different waters as well. If you want to limit the number of pots to a smaller number, you might drop the water tests, or use compost in all pots but one (see the "control" comments below). Technically, the egg shells, fruit skins, and tea leaves would need to be composted before they would be considered to be a fertilizer. They will break down very little during your experiment. In addition to the chemical fertilizer, I would make the following suggestions: - A balanced organic fertilizer, mixed in before planting. I would _not_ recommend "Milorganite", which is composted sewage waste, and could contain chemical contaminants. - Composted manure, mixed into the soil before planting, OR... - Manure tea, made by soaking composted manure (_NOT_ raw manure!) in a large tub of water. You would measure this solution & dilute it with a gallon of water to feed the plants. - Kelp/sea weed emulsion, diluted as per instructions. - Vegetable teas, made by boiling a plant (such as green grass, alfalfa, spinach, or Swiss chard) and straining the juice. Like the manure tea, you would measure the amount you add to each gallon of water, preferably using the same amount. - Coffee grounds, which require very little composting, could be mixed into the soil. - Corn meal, or soy meal, mixed into the soil. Note that both the manure tea & vegetable tea should be kept as cool as possible to retard spoilage. They can be boiled - outside! - if they begin to spoil before your experiment is over, or you can just make a fresh batch. For all solutions, use small quantities (perhaps a tablespoon or two per gallon) every time you water the plants chosen for them. Remember to have 2 plants with no fertilizer (one with compost, one without) as your "controls", to compare with the fertilized plants. Good luck with your project! If you have a hard time finding seeds, email me through my member page, or contact me through this thread, as I probably have what you need (except for the favas).

I actually have a long 8'x80' to grow all the tall garden plants, from sunflower, sweet corns, to cucumbers, pole beans, Okra, Brussel sprout, and maybe peppers. I allocated 50' for sunflowers and corns. That may be too much. For support, I'm thinking of using some soft netting, like fish net. This is strong, but still flexible to move to another location after the season. So, for trellis, some iron steel posts, metal wire at the very top. Then attach the net to the very top. I may have to add most posts if the plants are heavy.

After many, many trials and errors I no longer use Jiffy Peat Pots. They are a marketing gimmick and a waste of my hard earned dollars. After soaking in water over night I start all my seeds in a homemade mixture of coconut coir, perlite and mycorrhizal inoculant (for root development). The most important time in any living things life is when it is just born. So the more focus on the seedlings health in early development the better chance of success later on. Yours look a bit 'leggie' and I would suggest replacing if you can. If not then you can separate them and plant them deep, about a half inch till the top of the seedling. That way they will develop a very nice root structure. I would highly recommend a florescent light three inches from the tops of them. Just curious, what type of tomato's are these? Eric This post was edited by LeafEricson on Sat, Jan 26, 13 at 21:24