How To Plan A Garden
How to plan a garden in 8 simple steps
The location of your vegetable garden is vital to its success, so it’s so important to get your organic vegetable gardening plan right. Get only one or two of these planning considerations wrong and your veggies will most likely struggle at best and you’ll be left frustrated and wondering why things are not growing well. Please take a walk around your outdoor space with all of these tips in mind before you decide on the location for your veggie garden. Looking at other successful gardens will also give you clues on how to plan a garden.
Choose a sunny location
Most vegetables need at least six hours of full sun for optimal growth, which is what you want. Morning sun is better than afternoon sun. Full sun between 8am and 2pm is ideal in most areas.
In hot climates afternoon sun can be too harsh on your plants. If you do have your garden area in full afternoon sun and you live in a hot climate you will need to consider shade cloth or protection of some kind from the harsh sun.
In the Northern Hemisphere you want to have your veggie garden facing South, preferably with a wall behind it, and in the Southern Hemisphere face your garden North. In both cases plan to have your tallest plants at the rear of your garden so they don’t shade out smaller plants.
No large trees nearby
Trees will drag both moisture and nutrients from your vegetable garden, so plan to have your plot a good distance from any large trees. Remember that their root system is often as wide under the ground as the drip line of the trees foliage. They will often send roots towards desirable areas. Tree roots are also difficult to deal with in your veggie garden when you are trying to plant in rows.
Protection from strong winds
Vegetables will suffer if they have to grow in strong winds. Wind will dry out your soil, which you can help prevent by adding mulch to your garden beds. But strong wind can destroy climbing plants, such as peas and beans. It can snap young tomato vines. You’re looking for optimal growing conditions, so you don’t want your plants to have to ‘compete’ with the wind.
Install irrigation
When planning your vegetable garden make sure you have easy access to water. I always install drippers or soaker hoses to my vegetable plots. Growing plants vigorously requires a fair bit of water. Deep watering is always best – and most people don’t have time to stand around with a hose to give their veggies a deep watering. 
If you install irrigation on a timer you can turn it on and walk away knowing your giving your plants a good soak. If you have multiple areas to water you can do what I do – set the timer on my iphone. It reminds me that the area I just watered is finished and I can set the timer on the next area. Plants that don’t get enough water will not thrive.
Soil type
Soil type plays a big part in what you can expect to grow well in an area. However most soil types can be corrected over time with the addition of fertilizers (organic and home-made are my preference for food crops) and mulches. Deep, rich, sandy loam with a pH around 6 to 6.5 is best for most vegetables. There are ways to correct the soil, but you need to know what you’re dealing with before you can correct it. Take a look at my article 35 tips for improving your soil for more ideas on soil improvement.
Create walk-ways
Create paths in and around your vegetable garden. This way you’re not walking on your precious soil. Walking on the soil compacts it, which essentially prevents the soil from living. When soil is compacted the tiny tunnels created by earthworms and other tiny soil critters are destroyed, which prevents air, nutrients and water entering the soil. I’m a firm believer in no-dig gardens.
There are a couple of ways to plan your beds so that you don’t walk over them. One is to have raised beds. Another is to create beds that you can reach into the middle of from either side. Usually a bed that is about a yard (meter) wide is easy enough to plant out, weed and harvest.
Garden size
The thing you need to consider mostly here is how many people you are growing vegetables for and what percentage of your usual diet do you want to grow. If it’s just two people you won’t need a lot of space. If you’re growing most of your veggies for a family of six or eight people, you’ll need a bigger area. Remember though, that it’s probably best to start out with a small patch and expand it as you become confident in your gardening abilities. You might want to start out growing a few easy to grow vegetables
then start including more variety as gardening is a lifelong learning process. Allow for additional space to open up over time in your planning stages, including paths.
Try drawing out your space on paper, to scale. Then you can play around with ideas on paper before putting any hard work into the area.
Close to your kitchen
I highly recommend placing your vegetable garden (if at all possible) close to your kitchen. Believe me when I say that the further you have to go to get your fresh veggies for dinner, the less likely you will actually go get them. It is awesome to be able to walk out of your kitchen door, take a few steps and harvest your dinner vegetables. Of course this won’t work for every home, but if you can make it happen you will love it. It’s great for grabbing a few last addition herbs too. Grow some herbs in your kitchen window sill if you can 😀
Once you have chosen where to place your vegetable garden, it’s important to create the best soil possible to grow your veggies. The better you prepare your soil and look after it over time, the better your plants will grow. Vegetable plants should be grown quickly to produce well. Getting things right in the planning stage plays a big role. If your plants aren’t thriving, then you may want to revisit your vegetable garden planning steps, to make sure you’ve got the basics right.
If some plants are still not performing well you need to consider your climate, the time of year and that plants particular growing requirements. For example, some plants prefer acidic or alkaline soils and won’t grow well if they don’t get this. Others prefer well drained soils and some will need to grow in boggy conditions, so you will need to create designated areas if you want to grow plants with specific needs.
I’d love to hear your comments and any other planning ideas you have for budding new gardeners (yes, pun intended!).
Warm regards,
