How to Plan Your Garden

I am a novice gardener and have only been at it for 3 years. If you are an advanced gardener there won’t be anything hugely insightful about my process. I am hoping it will at least be an interesting read. Enjoy!

Deciding on Your Crops:

Before you even get out your shovel you need to decide what your goal is when starting your garden. Some people grow herbs, others grow flowers or other non-edible plants. I grow plants that are edible and allow for many uses after harvesting. Once you have decided on the kind of garden you want, you need to pick the specific plants you want to put in your garden. There are a few factors to keep in mind when weighing your options:

1. What growing zone you are in

Growing zones are geographical regions defined by their weather, elevation, and temperature. This is a good map showing growing zones in the US. Pay close attention to your zone as it will make a difference in the types of plants you can have in your garden.

2. How much space you have

Having a rough estimate of how much space you will have to plant your garden will help with picking your plants. Some plants can get quite large and take up space (Such as pumpkins and watermelons). You will also want to take time to consider if you will be planting on the open ground, in a raised garden bed, or in pots/planters.

What You Need

Now that you have a good understanding of what kind of garden you want, make sure you have all the supplies to start your garden.

1. Shovel
2. Hoe
3. Trowel
4. Watering Can/Hose
5. Compost, Dirt, Fertilizer
6. Seeds

Planting

Now you are ready to plant. The most basic garden consists of tilled ground in rows side-by-side in a certain amount of space. Think about how your plants will grow and how large they will become and place them in your garden accordingly. For example, planting your vining plants around the outside would save space by directing the vines away from your other plants.

Something to consider before planting your seeds is a plants’ lifespan. If your plants don’t produce throughout the season, you may want them in a different spot than those that bare fruit all season long. Consider if the plant is perennial because it will grow back year after year in the spot you originally planted it.

My Garden

I have a ‘U’ shaped raised garden bed that is around 15’ on each side and about 2’ wide giving me about 90sqft of garden bed space to work with. I plan on building more raised beds, but I will cover how I plan for my ‘U’ shaped bed as an example.

Last year I grew radishes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, spring onions, cherry tomatoes, nappa cabbage, okra, green beans, potatoes, corn, cucumbers, catnip, lemongrass, mint, basil, jalapenos, bell peppers, zucchini, pumpkins, and watermelons all in this garden box. Here are some things I learned last year about those crops:

1. 4 Cherry tomato plants was too many

Turns out tomato plants get large and having 4 was not only a massive waste of my garden bed space, but also a waste of tomatoes. I am not an avid tomato eater so I didn’t eat as many of the tomatoes as I would’ve liked.

2. Nappa Cabbage was a mistake

The nappa cabbage I grew didn’t do well. It got eaten up by several pests and withered in the hottest parts of the summer. I wasn’t actually able to salvage more than 1 head of the 6 that I planted making it a no-go for next time.

3. Corn is a waste of time/space/resources for my garden

Never growing corn before, I wanted to see the tall stalks shoot up and to taste the sweet corn after grilling it in the middle of the summer. To my dismay, I discovered that corn only produces 1 or 2 cobs per stalk and takes a good amount of time to grow. Not only did it take long to grow and give small yield, but it also took up more space than I had anticipated. After finally getting some corn in late July - Early August, I discovered that the corn I had grown had no flavor.

With these main 3 things (and a few others) that I learned last season in mind, I can now start planning my garden.

Plants

I enjoy using the vegetables to make things that I can keep for longer than a few days. I pickled a lot of my cucumbers, jalapenos, okra, and green tomatoes. This year I would like to continue doing that as well as try to make salsa.

Another plant I enjoyed growing were the potatoes. They are a ton of fun to dig up and to see how many potatoes multiplied from 1 eye. I plan on planting more than I did last year.

Since some of my plants are planted later in the season than others I am going to plant early season plants like onions and radishes. I also plan on planting garlic the winter before in preparation for the growing season.

I still want to plant a pumpkin this year but I am going to plant that in a separate pot away from my raised bed. It took up far too much space for getting 1 medium and 1 small pumpkin.

Buying Seeds

Now that I have a good idea what I want to do I can write down all the seeds that I will need and prepare to order them for the coming growing season. I will wait until around February before ordering my seeds. I buy my seeds from Stokes Seeds they have a huge selection. Shipping can sometimes take up to 2 weeks, so prepare and order them before planting time.

Conclusion

I hope this was insightful for everyone who took the time to read through my process and how I plan out my garden. Only gardening for 3 years tells me that I am likely to adapt my methods many times in the growing seasons to come, nonetheless I hope you enjoyed the read. Have fun planting and enjoy the fruits of your labor! 🍅 🌽 🍓

An Ozarker writing about self-reliance, doing things that are meaningful, and staying connected to reality in a digital world.
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