Planning Your Garden
Oh the possibilities!!
- Amanda Kanehl, Early Morning Harvest, Vegetable Production Manager, 01/01/2024
Whether you are a seasoned gardener or just a beginner, one of the most crucial elements of growing your own food is proper planning. Not only is it important for a successful plot that fits you and your needs, but it can be one of the more enjoyable parts of the year. Imagine snuggling up in the winter months with your favorite catalog (or catalogs) and a marker, carefully choosing seeds for your garden and imagining the layout and dreaming of the delicious foods that will come from your hard work.
After growing organic on a large commercial scale, and helping many others start their own home gardens, I’ve picked up a few things. I’m here to tell you how to plan like a pro.
First Steps
There are some basic things to think about when getting started. Simple questions like “What do my family and I enjoy eating?” and “How much time do I want to spend in the garden?” Consider what your garden is being used for. Are you growing more for fun than for production? Is it for daily use for you and your family or for sharing with your community? Are you looking to store and can foods for later use, or are you more interested about having fresh healthy foods on hand? These are all simple but important things to consider first before deciding on anything else, and definitely before you go crazy on the seed catalogs.
Once you’ve decided the end goal of your garden, you can start planning your plot size, production type, and how many of your various seeds to buy or start.
Plot Planning
Location
The location of your plot is by far the most important thing to decide first. Whether you want a small 5ft x 5ft, or a grandiose 20ft x 60ft plot, if it isn’t in a good location you will struggle to succeed and waste a lot of hard work.
Be sure your plot is in the sunniest location possible. Most crops need at least 8 hours of direct sunlight a day to produce fruits or grow normally, meaning no shade in the slightest. Of course, this can be over the course of the day. Afternoon sun is more powerful than morning sunlight, and any sun is better than no sun and so on and so on.
Once you’ve found a good location for your plot you can think about size. This is where the simple thoughts come in.
5ft x 5ft: Are you just wanting to have some fun and have fresh tomatoes for the year? This small plot will be plenty of room for 4 plants, and a few more if you intercrop.
10ft x 10ft: Do you want specific crops or maybe some diversity? This plot size will easily give one or two people enough space to play around with both large and small crops.
20ft x 20ft: Different vegetables need different amounts of space, and if you are wanting to provide a substantial harvest for your family or the community, having enough space is key. If all goes well you can expand in the future.
Of course, experience is needed to make use of all the space in your garden plot. It is better to start small as a beginner so you can learn what it takes to care for your plants and decide if sizing up is something you want to do. As you gain more experience you can try:
Intercropping
Seeding and planting rotations
Season extension
Space saving tricks and techniques
Soil Type
Next, it is crucial to know what type of soil you have, and to prep it for growing more than just grass. Soils are composed of three types: Clay, Silt, and Sand. Most new developments have primarily clay soils, which have trouble absorbing water, draining water away once it is wet, and doesn’t provide many air pockets for roots to exchange gases. Ideal soil has 25% water, 25% Air, 5 % organic matter, and 45% minerals. We want to get as close as we can to that ideal when preparing our garden plot.
Nutrients
It is important to know the nutrients that make up your soil. What nutrients does your soil have plenty of? Which of them are lacking? What is the pH of your soil? There are home tests for most nutrient tests (the nutrient testing being the most complicated) or you can send in samples to a local soil testing facility for a fee. We use Midwest Laboratories for our soil and water testing, but there are many options. It is extremely important to amend your soils to balance nutrients in order to get crops that are not only edible, but healthy, and of good size.
Pest Protection
You now have your location, size, and soil type. But there are two more things to plan for. While you can’t do much about pests like insects and aphids, you can protect your garden from larger threats like rabbits, gopher, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, and deer. If you are in the city, deer may not be a big issue, but you will have many squirrels and rabbits to guard your crops from. This can be done with fencing. It is recommended that you use wire and avoid plastics as they can be chewed through. It is also recommended to dig your fence into the ground at least 6 inches or more. Rabbits and chipmunks are notorious diggers.
Poultry fencing with T-posts is the easiest and least expensive in my experience. Have your fence at least 3 to 4 foot high, higher if you are protecting from deer. Be ready for creatures to sneak in anyways, and make changes and adjustments as you go. Mother nature has a way of testing farmers of all kinds.
Water
How will you supply your garden with water when the weather is not cooperating? While hand watering with a can looks picturesque, it takes a lot of time and energy. Hose watering is best for beginners, so locate your plot somewhere near a hose bib, or in a place you can easily get to with a hose.
Once you gain more experience you can try different watering methods. My personal favorite is drip irrigation. We use drip tape here on our farm but many people use drip or soaker hoses. Its as simple as turning them on and leaving them until the soil has been saturated.
Weed Control
Your plot is now planned! Exciting, huh? Everything is ready and the season is yours! Except that without proper weed-prevention, you may be battling weeds all year, which may take a lot of time and energy. There is nothing wrong with having bare soil garden, many people do it and enjoy the weeding aspect that comes with it. But if you are not one of those individuals consider covering your soil:
Wood Mulch- easily available and pleasing to the eye, 2-3 inches will do nicely at first, but it will need to be reapplied in the late summer.
Cardboard- biodegradable and great to put in walkways or around plants. Cut a hole large enough for your fist and plant into it.
Weed fabric- many landscapers use this and it can be used for gardening as well. While it is a good tool for an established garden for a few years, it may become riddled with holes from planting, and any soil that accumulates on the top will still produce seed. It will also be difficult to till or amend your soils each year.
Black plastic mulch- We use this type of mulch in our production area and remove it at the end of the season. It creates a thin barrier, heats the soil, and retains moisture.
Using a combination of these, like cardboard and wood mulch will give you an extra layer of protection. But be warned. There is no way to garden in the soil where weeds will not be involved in some way. Seeds can stay dormant for decades or longer. Even we still have to weed a few times a year in our plastic mulching system.
When To…
Amend Your Soil
The soil will need to be amended well before you plant. This can be done in the fall before the ground freezes, or in the very early spring once the ground thaws. Tilling is the easiest way to incorporate any amendments, and to rid your plot of any compaction.
Look to your soil tests to know what amendments you might need. Most fertilizers typically give you a ratio of Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium which are expressed in their chemical signs of N-P-K. If your soil is low in these nutrients, use a higher valued fertilizer. While I recommend compost and composted manure, there are many options out there. Be sure to pay attention to all your nutrients, not just the macronutrients. Micronutrients play a large role in healthy, normal development of tissues, roots, and fruits.
Start Seeds
Most seed packets have planting directions on them. Seeds for transplanting should be started a few months in advance, and some take longer than others. They can take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks to sprout. While squash are extremely fast growers, peppers will stay fairly small for some time. Direct seeding carrots do not germinate for about 2 weeks after they are planted.
Most seed packets have the planting depth on the seed packet. In general, larger seeds are planted deeper than smaller seeds. A watermelon seed wants an inch of soil over top, while a broccoli seed only wants an eighth of an inch. Do your research when starting seeds, and don’t forget that any experience is still experience.
Other Tools and Items
You may need a few additional items depending on which crops you decide to grow. Tomatoes can grow large and need extra support, even some pepper plants do better with a brace of some kind. Cucumbers need something to climb and hang from for best results. Peas also need something to climb. This keeps your food off the ground and makes them easier to harvest.
Till, put your fence and trellises up, and once the soil reaches a nice temperature it will be time to plant. Most plant tags, or seed packages, will have spacing requirements. Planting correctly is more of a learned skill. As a rule of thumb, most plants are not supposed to be planted very deeply. Plant them to where the stem meets the root ball, and cover that with a light layer of soil. Be sure to tuck them in so they have full contact with their new home.
Planning and prepping are crucial factors for any farmers’ or gardeners’ success. While many seasoned gardeners will tell you that the first few years are rough, it’s important to learn from any mistakes or curveballs thrown your way and carry them with you year after year. Keep a journal with records of varieties, seeding and planting dates, and other important information to learn as you go.
Mother nature always has the final say, and no matter your level of experience, will always be in control. Be patient with yourself. Remember that this all takes experience, and usually that experience is gained by trial and error. Don’t be discouraged if your skills are lacking, your goal is to keep going and learn from your mistakes. That’s the only way to grow!