Reduced plant density is the essence of dry gardening.  The recommended spacings in this section are those I have found workable at Elkton, Oregon.  My dry garden is generally laid out in single rows, the row centers 4 feet apart.  Some larger crops, like potatoes, tomatoes, beans, and cucurbits (squash, cucumbers, and melons) are allocated more elbow room.  Those few requiring intensive irrigation are grown on a raised bed, tightly spaced.  I cannot prescribe what would be the perfect, most efficient spacing for your garden.  Are your temperatures lower than mine and evaporation less?  Or is your weather hotter?  Does your soil hold more, than less than, or just as much available moisture as mine?  Is it as deep and open and moisture retentive?

To help you compare your site with mine, I give you the following data.  My homestead is only 25 miles inland and is always several degrees cooler in summer than the Willamette Valley.  Washingtonians and British Columbians have cooler days and a greater likelihood of significant summertime rain and so may plant a little closer together.  Inland gardeners farther south or in the Willamette Valley may want to spread their plants out a little farther.

Living on 16 acres, I have virtually unlimited space to garden in.  The focus of my recent research has been to eliminate irrigation as much as possible while maintaining food quality.  Those with thinner soil who are going to depend more on fertigation may plant closer, how close depending on the amount of water available.  More irrigation will also give higher per-square-foot yields.

Whatever your combination of conditions, your results can only be determined by trial. I’d suggest you become water-wise by testing a range of spacings.

When to Plant

If you’ve already been growing an irrigated year-round garden, this book’s suggested planting dates may surprise you.  And as with spacing, sowing dates must also be wisely adjusted to your location.  The planting dates in this chapter are what I follow in my own garden.  It is impractical to include specific dates for all the microclimatic areas of the maritime Northwest and for every vegetable species.  Readers are asked to make adjustments by understanding their weather relative to mine.

Gardeners to the north of me and at higher elevations should make their spring sowings a week or two later than the dates I use.  In the Garden Valley of Roseburg and south along I-5, start spring plantings a week or two earlier.  Along the southern Oregon coast and in northern California, start three or four weeks sooner than I do.

Fall comes earlier to the north of me and to higher-elevation gardens; end-of-season growth rates there also slow more profoundly than they do at Elkton.  Summers are cooler along the coast; that has the same effect of slowing late-summer growth.  Items started after midsummer should be given one or two extra growing weeks by coastal, high-elevation, and northern gardeners.  Gardeners to the south should sow their late crops a week or two later than I do; along the south Oregon coast and in northern California, two to four weeks later than I do.