Designing Your Vegetable Garden

1. Draw Your Plan

Draw a plan (to scale) of the earth where your garden will be. Graph paper is the best way to do this. Make allowances for paths, borders, etc… Most gardeners are moving away from multiple long rows and designing garden beds instead. This allows for an efficient use of space, a less complex irrigation system, and allows you to concentrate your compost and fertilizing on the area where the plants are growing rather than wasting it on the paths between the rows. Walking between the rows also ruins the soil structure, so beds are a better way to go. The beds do need to be small enough so that you can easily reach in to weed and harvest all the plants without stepping on the bed itself – this is usually about two and a half to three feet across. Also, if you raise your beds about 8 to 12 inches, you will have improved drainage and the soil will stay warmer in colder weather, such as early spring. These beds can simply be fluffed, mounded, amended soil: Garden beds do not have to be boxed in with expensive redwood and cedar! Note: NEVER use treated wood for garden beds. Treated wood will likely be illegal to use in the coming years, as it is loaded with carcinogens.

2. Research Your Vegetables

Write down every vegetable you wish to grow. Which vegetables do you want a lot of? Herbs? Find your USDA zone, and explore what vegetables grow well in your area. The Vegetable Garden, at www.thevegetablegarden.info, is an excellent resource for not only finding your zone, but downloading suggested planting calendars, and information about growing particular vegetables and fruits.

Study the characteristics of your vegetables and utilize them in your design.

How tall will they grow?

How far apart should they be for optimum production?

Are they easy to start from seed or are you going to purchase starts?

What is the timing from planting to harvest?

Which vegetables need lots of nutrients/water? Group vegetables with similar needs, together.

Some vegetables thrive even in partially shaded positions, while others require lots of sunshine for best results. Some of the finest lettuce I ever saw was grown between rows of early peas. The two-foot tall pea vines, rows running east and west would shelter the lettuce from the sun, and form perfect heads. Make sure you plant the tall plants towards the back of the garden, and smaller ones towards the front, in general, to minimize shading that is not wanted.

Work these into your garden design on your graph paper.

Also, succession planting should be planned for in order to get the most from

your garden. There are four basic approaches that can also be combined:

Two or more crops in succession:

After one crop is harvested, another is planted in the same space. The

length of the growing season, climate, and crop selection are key factors.

For example, a cool season spring crop could be grown and harvested,

then followed by a heat-loving summer crop.

Same crop, successive plantings:

Several smaller plantings are made at timed intervals, rather than all at

once. The plants mature at staggered dates, giving you a continuous

harvest over an extended period. Lettuce and other salad greens are

common crops for this approach.

Two or more crops simultaneously:

Non-competing crops, often with different maturity dates, are planted

together in various patterns. Intercropping is one pattern approach;

companion planting is a related, complementary practice. Find more

information about the benefits of these techniques below.

Same crop, different maturity dates:

Several varieties are selected, each with different maturity dates: early,

main, then late season. Planted at the same time, the varieties mature one

after the other throughout your growing season.

A sample row/bed combination garden plan

Note the tall plants at the back!

3. Make a Calendar!

Once your garden plan is created, taking these things into account, make

yourself a calendar! Note when to start seeds, when to set out transplants,

when you are going to plant for succession, etc….

A Sample Seed Starting Schedule:

A Sample Succession Planting Plan for Spinach

4. Prepare your Soil

Prepare the soil with compost, and other additives according to your soil’s needs and the needs of your plants. Remove as many rocks and weed roots as you can, and fluff it up nice and soft – you’re making a bed for baby plants!

5. Plant and Set Transplants

Make sure you learn the needs of your seeds – note what depth to plant them at, and how moist they need to stay to sprout. When setting in transplants, or ‘starts,’ dig a nice hole, pour water in the hole, maybe add a little fertilizer or compost, and ‘tuck in’ the plant, caring for its roots. Water it in, and press it down firmly.

6. Give them Space!!

One of the most common mistakes beginning gardeners make is planting their baby plants too close together. Read the seed package or look up how much space your plants will need, and allow them that much space! When your plants have enough space, they will produce the best.

On that note, if you have planted seed, make sure that 1. You don’t plant all your seed in one go. It is just wasteful, and you will need your seed for future succession planting. Two or three seeds per plant is sufficient. Also, 2. THIN YOUR SEEDLINGS!!! It can be heartbreaking to rip out the little baby sprouts you just nurtured, but if you don’t do it, the plants will not grow properly. And thin gently, making sure you disturb the roots of the neighboring plants as little as possible. Water your garden well after thinning, as this will help the roots revive.

Interplanted Lettuce and Onions