How close do you space your plants?

I am hopeless plant collector I it is not unusual for me to be walking around my property looking for a place to plant my latest find . So I Voted I cram them together : )

I voted to try and space them so they have room to grow-although that's partly so I can get the roto-tiller in there!

I try and space the perenials and shrubs out with room to grow and then infill the gaps with annuals and short lived perennials that won't be a problem when the main plants get bigger. BUT then I take a trip out, see another must have, and of course it has to go in somewhere!!

Right now we have a new large garden so loads of space. Next year and the year after will be fine but after that I shall be back to trying to find a few inches of spare ground again.

This message was edited Jun 2, 2008 12:33 PM

Oh good. I'm not alone. I am a hopeless crammer. I KNOW it will be more work later when I have to dig them up and move them somewhwere else because they're too crowded, but I just can't help myself!

I cram them in so that it will only be a short time before I have to divide them. What a bummer to need to start a new garden at that time!!!! (YIPEE!) It also helps keep down the weeds and need for mulch.

I cram those buggers. Consider garden a catholic family at supper. No elbow space!
More flowers= less weeding. ^_^

I think that I'm giving the plants plenty of space but it never works out that way. They always grow bigger and fuller than I expected. I decided last winter that I was going to be a diligent pruner to get everything in order. It turns out that when I prune stuff it just comes back even bigger and more out of control than ever.

I also sometimes think that a plant is dead, and I put something else in that spot and then the original plant comes back.

Crimsontsavo, if the weeds do make an appearance, I tend to think they're pretty and I let them grow too!

Laura, I dont' know how many times I've asked if there is a 12 step program for plant collectors! Your garden looks beautiful and it looks to me like you could still cram some more stuff in there!

We have mean weeds here, they like to eat the lovelier plants. LOL

Wish I had the wisdom to space my plants out - but my need for instant gratification wins every time and eventually I end up with things so overgrown, on top of each other, etc., that I have to dig them up and start over somewhere else. Cramming them together, of course.

I should be cramming mine together to give the weeds as little space as possible but I like giving the plants a little elbow room.

Would you believe, I voted Other because it is all the above for me. and there is one more category I could include. I don't have the slightest idea as to how to make a show stopper arrangement for all the plants I would like to have. I have an acre to play with. about 1/4th is veggie garden. That I do know how to space. I am working on a shade garden and every thing in there is kind of hap hazard. I keep hoping it will look nice on its own. LOL

If they're not smearing their DNA on each other, they're too far apart.

I voted crammer... Seems like a lot voted for space, but only us crammers are posting...LOL Do you think that means something, like crammers talk too much also?

I do a good bit of foliage bed in shade and they just beg to be crammed together. They just look better that way.

I am a bit of everything....

I start out my new beds like I should.... lots of space for them to grow. Then I make a run to the garden store and some how come home with a plant (or 2, or 3) that I just have to have and don't have room for and I'm back to cramming.

If it isn't smooshed then i dont consider it a garden haha.

Companion planting = close planting! My tomato bed right now is without question the best single bed I've ever had -- STUFFED with tomatoes, monarda, basil, carrots, and marigolds. I'm picking at least a half dozen tomatoes a day. And this is a 2 x 6 bed! But I voted "other" because I don't feel I planted things that closely.

Well, I voted "TRY to space them out" because I really do TRY, but if I stepped back and took an honest look at my garden, I'd have to change it to "cram" because those things that used to have plenty of room have grown until they're all mixed in together. I think I got a "cottage" look without even knowing what it was!

This year was my worst, as far as coming home with more and more plants. My DH even noticed (and complained) and it takes a lot for him to notice that anything outside has changed! It started last fall when I spent all my birthday money on bulbs, and just escalated from there.

I'm a crammer.

Victorgardener- ROFL!! I agree :D

I voted "Other", because I worry to much about what's written on the seed packets and plant tags. In the flower garden, I try to live by the recommended spacing, but then stand back, look at it, envision a season or two of growth, and go ahead and cram some more in anyway. In the vegetable garden, I have been freed from the yoke of seed packet spacing by the fact that I am gardening in raised beds. Most of the available writings on the subject say that you can use much tighter spacing in raised beds. I hope they're right, because my pepper and tomato bed is quickly turning into one giant tangle of vines, onion and carrot tops, blossoms and young fruit.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have holes in my back yard perennial beds that I just can't seem to fill. Either I can't make up my mind what to use, or something I try fails, or I see the expansion of one grouping and feel the need to leave it some room for further growth.

Some day I'll get it all just right....maybe next year.

i have the best intentions of leaving some space but then i look at that "space" and think, "shoot, i could get two more plants in there easy", so obviously i too am a crammer.

closer they grow--the less they need to be weeded

I do not think the weeds around here are at all attractive, so I definitely don't want to give them an inch of room to grow

It is so comforting to read all of your replys. I agree with everyone! I voted "proper spacing" because the school teacher in me thinks by the book. This is the way I start my beds and this is the advice I give to friends who ask. However, the plant-a-holic in me can't stop bringing home new plants! I don't have one of everything yet and new a new plant makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :) I may need an intervention but the reality is....I cram. Should I change my vote? My justification is that cramed plants have shaded roots which help them to endure our smoldering southern Louisiana summers. Hey! That sounds like a book!

If you still have lawn areas, you still don't have enough plants! Also, if you can walk between your plants without a machete, you've got way too much space in there!

I voted "spaced them out", but to look at my yard you can't tell that. But it did start out that way. Lately there is always that one plant I don't have that I really need/want everytime we have a swap I try to hold back, but it is just too tempting. Right now I have about 14 flower beds most are over 20 foot long one wraps around two sides of my house and another 80 foot across the back of the property. Still looking to put yet another one or two in I am ashamed to say. After two back surgeries for me and one for DH you would think we would be wiser.

Are you supposed to follow the spacing directions for plants and seeds? I thought that was a tee hee like the comic that comes with bubble gum.

Dahlia nut
aka 'cramming is my life'

A little of each of the first two choices. I'm cheap, so I go with quart size plants when they're on sale and let them fill in over the course of a few years, but I like the cottage look and have gotten my patio and side garden to look more like a meadow than a formal garden over the past 5 years.

I'm a crammer. I have a small, sunny front yard and a small, shady back yard. When things begin to look unhappy I thin them out. If I get any space I am excited because I can fill it. I always have refugees in pots to give out to other crammers or newbies!

Unfortunately-I CRAM THEM. Some grow over the tops of others.

Crammer : }

Some things...I cram. I think it makes them bloom sooner. Then again, some things I space out.
Annuals = Cram
Perennials = Space

I cram! But mostly due to having gotten too many free plants at once and I had to get them in the ground. Now I will be dividing and creating new gardens for years to come!!! Like alot of people have said, I hate weeds and we have some big weed problems. Cramming gets the spots filled faster and shades out weeds of the future.

Cram..........


early_bloomer

I generally grow enough to cram them together, then yank some out when they get too thick!

Sasha

I admit it...I'm a crammer. I rarely follow the spacing guidelines with plants. When something crowds something else I get out the shovel or trowel and move things around. I'm not opposed to digging. My only failing is trying to remember what I'd decided last fall that I should move come springtime. When spring arrives I'm usually staring at my beds going, "Now, what was it I thought I should move?"

I'm a crammer. I don't give a second thought to digging up a crowded plant and moving it to another location.

I cram them together but certainly not to create a lush look, but that is all the room I have... had a unlimited room I would surely space them out.

I even had to brick pathways to forceably leave myself places to walk

Here's another shot showing more crammed plants, with many hanging in pots since I ran out of room