Garden Planning Guide 2021 - Green Life Philosophy

Believe it or not, garden planning is a year round activity! It is not difficult to start a vegetable garden, but you will increase your chances of success with proper planning for space, location, type, and indoor seed starting. Keep reading for a short tutorial on garden planning.

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Here are the topics that will be covered in this article:

When to start garden planning

Choosing a garden location and type

Deciding what to grow

Making a garden chart

Calculate your target planting date

Garden planning to start seeds indoors

Books and resources for garden planning

When to Start Garden Planning

The best time to start your garden planning is in the winter months. The cold weather means you likely aren’t growing anything outside, but it is actually the perfect time to dream of overflowing garden beds with beautiful peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, peas, and other fresh delights.

Seed catalogs will start to arrive in January and February, and this is a great time to figure out what you want to grow this year.

However, if you are reading this article later in the year, know that it is never too late to start planning a garden, you will just have to adjust your expectations about what you are going to be able to grow in the current season. If you are starting your planning in the summer, then you will likely need to purchase mature seedlings at a garden center. If you are starting to plan in the fall, then you need to find ways to extend the growing season with a cold frame or hoop house (or make the decision to plan for the next year instead!)

Choosing a Garden Location and Type

The first step in garden planning is to determine the ideal garden location and type. The most important factors to consider are space, light, and moisture.

Space

If you have the yard space, there is a lot of freedom to make your gardens as simple or as grand as you desire. Raised garden beds are nice to look at and keep your gardens well separated but are not necessary. Gardening can be as easy as digging up an area and putting a fence around it. Now, if you live in an apartment or have a small yard you can also join in the gardening fun! However, you will need to be creative with containers or other small space gardening techniques, such as a trellis or straw bale gardening.

Light

Select a spot that receives at least 8 hours of full sun per day. A shady spot will encourage leafy growth and you will have trouble getting your plants to produce fruits and vegetables.

Moisture

Avoid low lying, wet areas or you will be subject to plant rotting. However, if this is your only choice, then use raised garden beds to improve drainage. Conversely, you need to ensure that you have a nearby water source for irrigation during dry spells.

Here are some questions to ponder that will help you figure out where to put your garden and what type you want to make:

How big of a garden do you want?
Is your goal to feed your family entirely from the garden, or do you just want to supplement your grocery produce or a farm share?
How much space in your yard do you have?
Do you have an area that receives full sunlight for at least 8 hours per day?
How much do you want to invest in building a garden?
Are you willing to build a raised bed from scratch, or would a kit be better?
What is the drainage like in your target area?
If you live in an apartment building, where will you place your containers?
Do you have enough sunlight exposure on a porch or patio for container gardening?
If you are short on space, have you considered straw bale gardening or Square Foot gardening.
Is there a water source nearby to ensure proper garden irrigation?
Can you expand your growing area vertically with a trellis?

Deciding What to Grow

Figuring out what to grow in your garden is one of the most fun parts of garden planning. I always start out with a reaaaally long wish list and then narrow it down when I come out of dreamland! Here are some tips to help you make your selections:

Favorite produce: of course you want to make sure to include something that everyone in the family loves. This will keep the whole gang invested and hopefully recruit garden helpers!

Winter storage: what do you want to store for the winter? I like to grow pie pumpkins, then freeze the puree to use in baked goods or soups throughout winter. I also freeze strawberries, sweet corn, green beans, diced tomatoes, homemade pasta sauce, broccoli, and bell peppers. These are vegetables that I focus on growing in my garden. If you are into canning, then consider how much produce you will need to make your favorite jam or relish. Make a wish list of what you would like to store for the winter and how much.

Cost: Any way you slice it, you are going to save money by starting produce from seed compared to purchasing in the grocery store, especially if you eat organic food. But if you are limited on garden space, focus on the produce that is most costly to you at the store.

Space: if you don’t have a large area to grow you want to make sure you can pack in as much variety as possible. Some crops, like corn, will only give you a couple of ears per plant and therefore require a large area to plant and grow enough to feed a few people. Also, keep in mind that each plant does require space to make sure there is good airflow to prevent disease and allow the produce to fully mature. Pay attention to the back of your seed packets for information on how much space a plant will need to grow.

Having Trouble Deciding What to Grow?

Check out my Seasonal Food Guide which will tell you what

fruits and vegetables are in season at each time of the year.

Making a Garden Chart

Once you have a good idea of what you want to grow in your garden, it helps to sketch a garden chart of where you will plant your seedlings. I like to keep a garden journal every year so that I can make notes about what I am growing, problems that occurred, and how good my harvest was that year. The journal is a great place to draw out a garden sketch.

Start by drawing the exterior of your garden plot. Then make crosshatches to represent each square foot of your space. Pay attention to the growing recommendations on the seed packets to determine how large the plants will grow and how much sunlight they need. You want to make sure that the larger plants won’t crowd out smaller ones or block the light.

Fill in each square with the types of plants you want to grow. Some plants will require more than one square foot. If you are using a trellis, determine where you would install that.

SmartGardener.com is an online tool that you can use to help plan your garden. It will allow you to put in the size of your garden plot and figure out how much space you need for each type of plant and which plants don’t grow well near each other. There is a fee associated with this service.

Calculate Your Target Planting Date

Finding the optimal planting date is an important step in garden planning. If you plant too soon then you run the risk of frost killing the seedlings. If you plant too late than you may not be able to harvest any produce before the first fall frost. You also need to plan to make sure you start your seeds early enough indoors to have seedlings that will be able to survive outdoors. This will include the hardening off process, which means you gradually introduce your small plants to the outdoor elements over one to two weeks.

Complete the following steps to find your target date for starting seeds indoors and planting a garden outdoors:

Figure out the average date of the last frost in your area.
Add two weeks to the last frost date. This is your target outdoor planting date
Calculate back 6 to 8 weeks from your outdoor planting date. This is your target date to start your seeds indoors

Garden Planning to Start Seeds Indoors

You don’t have to start seeds indoors, but some produce varieties do not do well with direct sowing outdoors. You may also live in an area with a short growing season and it will be difficult to get plants to mature and produce your fruits and vegetables before the first frost in fall.

Starting seeds indoors allows you to jump start the process and then transplant seedlings once there is no longer a threat of frost in the spring. You can start seeds indoors as early as late February or March depending on where you live, so you want to be prepared early on with all of your supplies.

What you will need to start seeds indoors:

Seeds: obviously! I like to use heirloom seeds and uncommon varieties. Seed Savers Exchange and High Mowing Organic Seed Company are two great places to start looking. You can also try your local garden center.

Light source: a good light source is essential to get your seeds to sprout. If you have a southern facing window with direct sunlight this is the ideal location. However, most people need to use grow lights to get the seeds to germinate. This Stack N’ Grow table top LED plant light is perfect for starting enough flats of seedlings for a small garden. If you are planning for a larger garden, then you will want to consider a much larger plant stand such as this one from Gardener’s Supply. Whatever you choose, make sure that you can adjust the light up and down as your plants grow. You want to keep the light about 3 inches above the plants.

Seed trays: many gardener’s use seed trays to plant seeds, but you can also use old pots or even food containers to save money.

Soil: a good indoor seed starting soil will be very fine and light. Choose a soil specifically labeled for starting seeds as it will have the right amount of fertilizer and will be “sterile” (no weed seeds or bacteria). You also want to find a material that will hold moisture without getting too wet, which can lead to fungal problems. I like this mixture from Purple Cow Organics which contains compost and peat moss.

Water: Once you plant your seedlings, you need to keep them watered, but not too wet. Too much water will promote fungal growth and your seedlings either will not grow or won’t be healthy. If you have a good soil, all you need to do is use a spray bottle to lightly water every day or two. A spray bottle will also provide a gentle mist that will prevent disturbing the soil around the seeds.

Books and Resources for Garden Planning

It helps to have a few books handy for inspiration and to answer questions as you start your garden planning process. Here are a couple of my favorites:

The Old Farmer’s Almanac Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook