So you’re starting a garden? Expanding what you already have?! I’m so excited for you! Gardening is so many people’s happy place. Not only can you grow healthier, cheaper food than the offering at the grocery store, it’s also cheaper then therapy……or Lawyer retainer fees. 😉
No matter the reason for your journey, whether you have questions or just don’t know where to start, I’ve got your back! From figuring out what to grow to drawing a layout. This is the post for you!
You can learn what you should plant as well as how to easily sketch out the garden or beds and where you will put plants. It sounds so daunting, I know, but it really is much more simply then you think. Why pay for expensive courses and ads when I’ll explain it right here!
Check out the Frequently Asked Questions section a the bottom!
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Start Small if your Learning
So you’re new to Gardening and Homesteading? No worries! Just pick a couple of things that you like and perfect them. There is no need to grow a 100 plus square foot garden that you have no idea how to tend and prune.
Start with just 2 or 3 of your favs and become an expert on those. If you have issues, this gives you enough time to research and fix it while still taking care of everything else in you life!
Starting my expansion!
How Much Space Will You Have
Do you have a yard? How big? Are you renting and if so will the landlord be ok with an unground garden? Answer these questions and then determine if you will be container gardening or starting a small in ground/raised bed garden.
Once you figure this out, walk outside and check out the outdoor space. You can even map out a garden using stake and twine. Measure and figure out how many square feet that will be. Now on paper you can see how many rows that will get you.
Remember that it’s pertly fine if you need or want to have a container garden. Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, root veggies, herbs and others plants do great in containers!
Just remember that if you are in a warmer climate, you will likely need to water more often to keep the soil from drying out.
What To Plant
Only buy and grow what you or someone else in your household will eat. Sounds like a no brainer, right? I’ve seen people get so excited about gardening that they grab a ton of seeds and plant things they don’t need or want. Later they’ll be looking at the harvest thinking to themselves, “I don’t even like peas”.
Just make a quick list of this herbs and veggies that you do use on a regular basis. This will give you a starting point on what you may be able to plant this season.
Keep your zone & the season in mind
Don’t assume seeds at the store in Spring are good to plant right now in your area.
So you walk into the local garden center in your area and grab a few seeds. Nothing crazy, just what you know you like and have space for. Winning is great! However, not every seeds on the shelf is good for your climate and the season they are selling it in.
This frustrated me to no end when I was still learning. You will easily think you’re doing something wrong but it just bad timing!
For instance, I’m in Zone 9b in SE Texas. We get 100 degree plus weather every Summer. Broccoli doesn’t like the heat. At all. For us down here, it is one of a few Fall crops we plant to keep it as far from the heat as possible. I still need to look for heat tolerate varieties because Fall and even early Winter it’s just not that cool.
However, you can bet your paycheck that every Spring, I waltz into a garden center for one thing or another and BOOM, broccoli seeds for sell and some are not the heat tolerate varieties.
Once you have your “To Grow” list, do some quick internet searches on when to plant each one in your zone. Luckily most things will still be in Spring.
Not sure what zone you’re in? No worries! The USDA has a map and you can search for your zip. Click here see what zone you live in by zip or check out the map below for a more general overview.
How Much Space do the Plants Take?
Every plant has a minimum spacing that it needs to thrive. Cucumbers for instance are a bit greedy. If you like green or black beans, pick pole varieties that climb and have a smaller foot print in your garden than the bush variety.
Check out the back of the seed pack. If it’s not there or you haven’t purchased yet, run a quick research such as “Green bean pole spacing” and let the google machine tell you. No worries.
You may be in love with the idea of a certain crop just to find out it will take WAY too much space. For me, that’s artichoke. Absolutely love them! But the space greedy little brats take up a 4 foot by 4 foot area and I’m just not cool with that much space on one veggie. Especially one that produces in such small amounts. Sadness.
Note the spacing requirements for each plant on your list and take look. Don’t mark anything off yet, unless there is a drastic space requirement like the mean artichokes.
How much will your family consume
Look up yield per plant vs how many plants per person. Plant accordingly.
For example, if you would like to do green beans, the pole variety takes very little space. You can plant 4 plants per sf. and it take roughly 5 plants per person per year. So if you have a family of 3, you will need 15 plants for the year.
This may sound like a lot but in a 2’ x 6’ space you can put 2 bamboo teepee each holding 5 + plants! Plus you don’t HAVE to plant a years worth. Just as much as you can.
Get the Lay of the Land
Take a good, long look at your yard or planned garden area. Are there low spots, small hills, etc.? If so, don’t get frustrated. Take advantage! If you have a slopped yard, for instance, put water loving veggies like cucumbers and carrots in the lower lying area(s). Higher spots? Plant peppers, lavender or other plants that can handle or even need drier soil.
You may need to put some things into raised beds to get them out of clay or rocky soil or take advantage of your land/yard. I’m putting root veggies into raised beds to prevent them from hitting the harder clay areas in my newer rows. I’ve been supplementing, but it can take awhile.
Just a hint: Try to keep annuals and perennials grouped together if possible. It’ll just make your life easier when it’s time to plant, plan and winterize everything.
Will you need to supplement the Soil?
Take into account the quality of your soil. If you know you have sandy or clay fill soil that will require some work, we’re back to starting small. Don’t try to do a huge area all at once. It’s a lot of work and can be expensive.
I suggest starting in fall on bigger expansions that will need supplementing. Do one light till or soil turn with good, organic compost and cover with mulch or wood chips. This will gives you the Fall and Winter to add fertilizers and let the ground recover, creating a better environment for your garden the following grow seasons.
You can then add layer after layer as the seasons go by. Within a few rounds, you’ll barely remember the rough time you had with your soil!
Companion Planting When Possible
Companion plant as much as possible! It’s a great space saver and can help the garden too! I suggest the 3 Sisters. This is corn, squash, and pole beans growing together and helping each other. In one area, you can have 3 crops growing!
Pole beans pull nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil, the corn needs the nitrogen, so you get to fertilize less. Corn returns the favor and give the beans a stalk to grow on. Squash helps shade everything to minimize weeding.
You can also put smaller items at the base of your tomatoes. Garlic and herbs are a great and super common option. Garlic even helps control the pests! I also seen people put small onion and carrot varieties at the base of them.
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Sketching it Out!
Nothing fancy is needed but you should be sure your plans will work. It may even surprise you and show you have more space than you realized!
That happened to me this season when I was more than doubling my growing space. I suddenly realized there were gaps in multiple rows. Well hello okra. Hello cabbage. Welcome to the party!
I’ve tried different apps over the years and didn’t really care for them. The free versions seems to be designed to frustrate you into paying for the upgrade. No thanks. I just stick to pen and paper and it gets done pretty quickly. Don’t worry about making mistakes!! It’s completely fine and you don’t need to show anyone.
This is just for you to put your mind at easy with a firm plant and layout of want your what to accomplish this season!
Here are simple step-by step instructions on how to easily draw you garden.
- Measure your bed(s) or garden area(s) length and width with a measuring tape.
- Write everything down with the length in feet.
- Now grab paper, again nothing fancy is needed. You can totally use lined notebook paper. If you have multiple ares, you will likely need multiple sheets of paper. I don’t suggest using the backs, your lines will show through and if you make a mistake, you loose multiple bed layouts.
- Using a ruler draw lines to present your growing area and make it to scale. Make each foot equal an inch or half inch in the line. For instance, if you have a raised bed that is 6 feet by 3 feet, you can draw a box that is 3 inches by 6 inches or 1.5 inches by 3 inches.
- Now you should have a list of what you are planning to grow and know how much space they take. So use the same to scale changes and apply it to the veggies. For instance, tomatoes are supposed to be at least 2 feet apart and I keep them about a foot from the edge of the bed. Using a ruler, mark the inch aka 1 foot in real life and put a circle. Then mark the space between and put another circle.
6. Keep doing this from plant to plant, required spacing to spacing until you are done or run out of room.
7. Label the plants as you go. It’s ok to scribble them out and make changes later.
8. Now take a look. Did you run out of room? Or do you have room to spare? Now is the time when you can really see what is going on. Mentally moving extras to containers is always an option!
It’s not fancy, but it’s effective!
Now Get to Work!
Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start. Once the soil is prepped and ready, take a look at your drawn layout out. Do you need teepees for beans, trellis for cucumbers, are your seeds planted…. Shoo! Why you still sitting here!!
Good luck and happy gardening!!
Until Next Time!
PJtxGirl
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Frequently Asked Questions
When should I start planning my veggie garden?
If you want to start planting in Spring, you will need to start planning in January at the latest. This will give you time to get everything situated, seeds planted and germinating before your last frost date.
How do I arrange plants in the garden?
Check out the sections above labelled “Get the Lay of the Land” & “Companion Planting When Possible”. These will help a lot.
How do I draw a garden easily, step by step?
People ask sometimes, How to design a garden layout? I go into detail about this above in the section labelled “Sketch it out!” and even have a couple of photos of mine as an explain. Just remember, it doesn’t have to be pretty or perfect. Just functional!
How many years does it take to establish a garden?
Simple answer…one! You can start right now in containers. Inside if the weather is wrong where you are. If your soil is a bit on the rough side for one reason or another, you may struggle the first year, maybe two, but you should still be producing something to get you pumped!
What is the best direction for a garden?
It really doesn’t matter. As long as the area is considered in to be “full sun”, 6 + hours of sun a day, your rows will be fine. It’s actually more worrisome what veggies may cast shadows on others. Like an entire wall of pole beans could easily put tomatoes into shade, but the time should be made up for as the sun goes back down on the other side.
What is the best place to start a vegetable garden?
Wherever you can! As long as it is in full sun, 6 + hours a day, you’re good to go! Just make sure it isn’t in the way of movers, kiddos, etc. It’ll save you heartache down the road.
If like me, you are in the suburbs, just be sure where the utility lines are. Go online and search your state and the phrase “before you dig” and there should be a free resource for line and cables to be marked for you.
Check with your HOA. My neighborhood for instance, I cannot have anything other than decorative plants in the front. Super frustrating but it is what it is.
How do you divide a vegetable garden into sections?
Technically you don’t have to. It’s ok to just start a different plant next to a couple of tomatoes. Their friendly enough and won’t mind.
However, if you want or need to, paths are a great way to divide the layout. I have three 4 foot rows divided by two 2 foot paths for access.
If you would like it more sectioned and paths are just not logical, I suggest a small tepee of 4 bamboo stakes and plant pole beans on them. You will basically be creating a living plant wall. This teepee can be placed between where you need to section plus your giving all your green and black beans a home.
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