Spinach will not grow inside. I've tried different temps and light and it doesn't come up. It should be direct seeded. Carrots are a taproot plant and any plant with a tap root hates being transplanted. They should be direct seeded. Most seed packets tell what the row and plant spacing should be. There are far too many plants to try to tell that info.
I used to do the recommended 12". 18" 24" and 36" row spacing. But I am not longer 18" wide so all my rows have gone to 24" or larger as required.
I would STRONGLY urge you to only grow any mint or plant from the mint family in pots. Mint is extremely hard to get rig of once it invades. If you grow herbs in small pots you will get small herbs. All plants need plenty of room to grow. And if you are growing herbs for medicinal purposes, they MUST have soil teeming with biology to make the needed essential oils you seek. That is only found in properly prepared soil in the ground.
Fencing should be buried a minimum of 9" deep and PLEASE don't use chicken wire. It won't last 5 years and leaves hundreds of very sharp rusted points everywhere, tetanus hazard.
Hay should NEVER be broken up from the leaves that come in the bales. For more infor:
https://steemit.com/gardening/@goldenoakfarm/about-using-hay-for-mulch
Wow, ok! Thank you for that tip! As of right now, the spinach is looking pretty good but I still haven't seen any carrot sprouts yet :(
As of now, since all my plants are kind of staggered, I'd say I have about 12-18 inches between each plant, but my rows themselves are only 12 inches between the plants, which I hope is enough room, but again, trial and error is the best teacher in my opinion!
After reading this, I definitely need to go out and check the chocolate mint we have outside and see just how far it's spread because it's been there for many years, my fiance's family planted them a while ago for decoration haha. As for the herbs, I'm really glad that I didn't buy own of those starter kits that you put inside on a window sill! Those may definitely have there own spot in the garden then!
I personally didn't want to use the chicken wire, but we had a good sized roll here at the house that was the perfect size to put up to temporarily keep critters out. I definitely don't want rusty metal hanging out in the garden, that's for sure, so I'll definitely start making some plans to build my own fence soon! (I really enjoy DIY projects!)
Holy cow, I'm glad I found you on here then! I wouldn't have even realized that you couldn't mulch hay from the bale! Thank you so much for all your help! I'm learning so much already and am so excited to apply all this knowledge to the rest of our gardening this year, as well as the many years to come!
I am glad to be of help. If you have other questions about gardening, just ask. I don't mind answering, as i'd like everyone to be successful at gardening. :))
Well thank you very much for that! I truly appreciate all of your help! And I hope that you have a very bountiful season as well! I'll make sure to keep you updated on how things are going! :)