BACKYARD GARDENING MADE SIMPLE

Dagny 1/27/24 Dagny 1/27/24

Garden Planning Part 2: Designing Your Garden Layout

Planning your first garden can feel intimidating, but I want to show you a simple process that I use in my own garden design that breaks each step down into manageable pieces. This is a project I typically work on over the course of a few weekends here and there - it won’t necessarily take hours to complete, but it’s nice not to rush the process so you can modify and tweak things after giving yourself time to mull it over.

The Cottage Peach is reader-supported. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. All opinions are our own.

How to decide what to plant in your garden

I cover this in depth in my seed selection post which you can read by clicking here, but the key is to identify what foods your family eats the most of, that will grow well in your particular garden climate. This list is your starting point - all we have to do is assign each plant on the list to a particular spot in your garden layout based on a couple important factors, including what plants grow well together, what plants are natural “enemies”, the location of the sun on the land, and how many of each type of plant you will be growing. But I’ll cover all of that in a minute. First let's decide where your new garden should go.

How to decide where to put a garden

The best time to choose the location of your new garden bed is after about a year of careful observation, because this gives you a full year of seasons to notice and document the weather patterns (if an area tends to flood or dry out quickly for example) as well as the positioning of the sun throughout the spring, summer and fall. But if you’re reading this with the intention of beginning your new garden in a few days, weeks or months don’t fret! Some educated guesses can be made based on just a few days of observations.

First, note the direction of the sun. In a perfect world a north-south orientation is best for low-growing crops, allowing direct sunlight to reach both sides of the bed. For taller crops such as pole beans, cucumbers and tomatoes an east-west orientation works best. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so just pay attention to your sunrise and sunset locations and you’ll be able to orient yourself based on that.

Next, throughout the day you’ll want to pay attention to shade and shadows. For instance, is there a tall treeline that means a certain area of the land does not get full sun throughout the day? If you have a choice to plant in full sun, you absolutely should - however, this doesn’t mean that your shady yard is inhospitable to planting. You’ll just need to modify your list of crops you plan to grow to include only those who thrive in lower light conditions.

Finally, notice the slope of the land. Unless your yard is perfectly flat, you probably have areas that will be easier to transform into a garden than others. We’ll talk about what to do if all the land available to you is on a slope next.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF WHEN GARDEN PLANNING:

What is the purpose of the garden? Is it for aesthetics, food production, or a combination of both?

What is the climate and soil type of the area? What plants are suitable for this type of environment?

What is the size and shape of the garden space? How much sunlight does it receive? What is the orientation?

What type of plants do you want to grow? Do you prefer perennials or annuals? Do you want to grow edibles or ornamentals?

What is your budget for the garden? How much money do you have to spend on plants, materials, and tools?

How much time and effort are you willing to devote to the garden? Do you want a low-maintenance garden or are you willing to put in the work to maintain it?

What is the style of the garden? Do you want a formal or informal garden? Do you prefer a wild and natural look or a more structured appearance?

What is your level of gardening expertise? Are you a beginner or an experienced gardener?

Raised beds vs in-ground

Now that you’ve picked the location for your garden, it’s time to decide if you want to grow food in the ground or in raised beds. Each method has its pros and cons. I chose to switch to primarily all raised beds this year because fighting weeds in-ground and bending over the soil was not working for my back any more with my arthritis. The downside is that this means I have to pay for the beds themselves as well as the soil/compost to fill them. If you’re on a budget and don’t have the same physical limitations as I do, gardening in ground allows you to benefit from the pre-existing ecosystem within your soil including worms and beneficial bacteria and also means your plants won’t need to be watered as often.

If you’re gardening on a slope, I strongly recommend raised beds. With raised beds that sit on the earth you will be able to actually dig the base of the bed into the soil to make it even, effectively creating a level surface on which to plant. Just be mindful not to locate any plants that are sensitive to root rot at the lowest point of your slope since rainwater will collect most easily there.

A tomato vine in a vegetable garden with tomatoes at varying degrees of ripeness

How many vegetable plants do you need per person?

This is highly individual depending on your family and what you like to eat. You should definitely prioritize space in your garden for the foods you eat the most. For us, that means we grow a lot more broccoli, green beans and bell peppers than anything else. And no matter how much squash you THINK you will eat, one or two plants per household will probably yield more than you’ll ever be able to finish without sharing with your neighbors and friends. If you know you go through a lot of pesto, it’s a good idea to plant 20-30 basil plants. Refer to the chart below for some common amounts for popular vegetables.

What is companion planting?

Just as there are plants that do not grow well near each other because they compete for resources, there are many plants that get along quite well and actually offer benefits to their neighbors. You can harness this “companion planting” effect to grow more food in an even smaller space. You can also utilize taller, stronger plants to act as trellises for vining plants, prevent weeds by creating a thick overstory that will choke them out, planting certain herbs and flowers as a trap crop to repel pests, and benefit your neighboring plants with the addition of nitrogen fixing varieties such as snap peas or pull nutrients to higher levels for your shallow rooted plants with crops such as root vegetables.

Plants that grow well together:

There are countless companion plant combinations, but here are a few to get you started:

For “trap crops” to keep pests away from your plants or repel them entirely, look into basil, dill, marigold, mint, nasturtium, sage and zinnias.

Grow basil within 12 inches of tomatoes to increase your harvest. Basil also improves the flavor of lettuce.
Growing chives near your carrots will improve their flavor.
Beans like to grow with Beets, carrots, chard, cabbage, corn, cucumbers, peas, and radishes.
Strawberries like to grow with bush beans, chives, lettuce, onions, sage, spinach, and squash.

Plants you shouldn’t plant near each other:

Some plants compete with each other for resources or in the case of sunflowers for example, actively leech compounds into the soil that can cause harm to neighboring plants. Here are just a few common enemies in the garden.

Squash and potatoes

Tomatoes and corn

Zucchini and pumpkin

Asparagus and garlic

What is crop rotation?

Crop rotation means that you intentionally do not plant the same type of plant in the same exact spot each year, you “rotate” it to a new location. For example, nightshades such as tomatoes are prone to microbial diseases that live in the soil. For this reason it is recommended that you do not plant in the same spot for 4 years after the initial planting. Other nitrogen dependent crops such as corn suck so much fertilizer out of the soil that you want to give the earth a break before replanting the same variety in the same spot. This will be more important in your second and following years of gardening, so don’t worry about it too much right now!

how to design your garden layout

Now that you have your final list of plants, your garden location and type and an overall understanding of the basic concepts of companion planting and how many plants you will need, the hard work is done! All we are going to do now is effectively “fill in the blanks”.

All you will need is some paper and a pencil, but if you want to get really crafty with it, print out some graph paper and grab your highlighters too.

Start by drawing out the outline of the shape and size of the garden beds you will be creating. I like to do this to scale with graph paper where each square equals a square foot of the garden. You don’t need to get this precise with it - if you have a 4x4 area or raised garden bed, just draw a nice sized square on your blank paper and add your own grid lines or rows as you see fit.

Now go back to your plant list of everything you plan to grow this season. Assign each plant on the list a letter from A to Z. You should also write down the number of plants for each item on the list next to the plant name.

All you need to do now is just fill in your blank garden squares with the corresponding letter for each plant to assign it a location and the number of plants you will be planting in that square.

That’s really all there is to it! Once this is complete I like to go back and reorganize the plant list based on when I need to start the seeds and transplant into the ground after our last frost, but that’s a conversation for another day.

Need seeds? Tap here to visit my favorite seed company

Click here for part one: Choosing & Organizing Seeds

Click here for part two: Starting Seeds Indoors

Click here for part four: How to Use Companion Planting To Grow More Food

Watering Plants in Your Greenhouse Garden [Hometown Structures]

Pollination in Greenhouse Gardening [Hometown Structures]

How To Control Greenhouse Temperature [Hometown Structures]

What To Grow In a Greenhouse [Hometown Structures]

Dagny 1/26/24 Dagny 1/26/24

Garden Planning Part 1: How to Decide What to Grow & Organize Your Seeds

We’ve been tucked away and hibernating for what feels like forever now, but all signs point to an end to winter and a new beginning in the form of spring. Spring historically symbolizes rebirth, renewal, a reset button on the weather and by extension our moods and habits. And while tending your vegetable garden may still feel a long way off depending on where you live, now is the best time to start planning a garden.

The Cottage Peach is reader-supported. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. All opinions are our own.

The seed catalogs have been arriving in droves, and I’ve found myself more than once justifying adding another to my collection. For the months of January through April, I treat seed catalogs with the same care as a beloved book, kept in a tidy stack and savoring each page daily as I plan and dream what we will grow this year. Why are seed catalogs so important to me? The truth you may not know if you haven’t had one delivered to your home before is that these catalogs are so much more than places to see and buy seeds - they can serve as a garden planning guide too.

How to use a seed catalog

A seed catalog can seem overwhelming at first. They are packed full of information and item listings, plant descriptions and charts. It’s a good idea to go into your seed catalog reading with an open mind - skim through and see what you are drawn to, while keeping in mind the foods you already know you enjoy eating. Pull out a pen and circle your favorites or write notes in the margins/on a blank piece of paper. This piece takes me less time each year as I have grown as a gardener, but the earlier in your vegetable garden adventure you are, the longer it will take. Give yourself at least a week of casual exploration before moving onto the next stage.

Where to buy garden seeds

It can be trickier than you’d think to identify reputable seed companies. Due to the monopoly created by Monsanto, there are many companies that carry Monsanto owned seeds that may surprise you. This is because Monsanto owns such a large proportion of the world’s food supply seeds (and then “retires” them so no one can access them any more - yes, it’s as bad as it sounds).

In recent years they’ve bought one of the largest garden seed wholesalers in the world, Seminis, which is stocked by companies including Johnny’s and Territorial.

These companies offer a wide variety of high quality seed and their partnership with this Monsanto subsidiary is small and accounts for a tiny fraction of their inventory. But in order to avoid supporting Monsanto when purchasing through these smaller suppliers you’ll want to email them directly to confirm which seeds may originate from a Monsanto subsidiary so you can avoid them.

three seed packets for melons on a wood table

Tap here to shop My favorite seed company, which has consistently offered the best variety of organic and conventional seed with beautiful packaging, high germination rates, and healthy plants.

How to get free seeds:

Want free seeds? I occasionally give away excess seed from my own garden to newsletter subscribers. Click here to sign up to be the first to know when seeds are available.

Per AltNPS: “Pollinators such as bees and butterflies, play a crucial role in maintaining and improving our ecosystems. They help to grow the plants that we eat every single day, are vital parts of the natural food-chain, and serve as ecosystem barometers due to their sensitivity to climate change.

In the past 5 years, bees and butterflies have declined remarkably. Saving these creatures is imperative to humankind since approximately 75% of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts we eat are courtesy of pollinators. Bees and butterflies also beautify our planet; their important role in plant reproduction perpetuates floral growth and provides aesthetically pleasing landscapes for human enjoyment and faunal habitat.”

There are free seed programs online specially designed to help gardener’s plant more pollinator-friendly gardens. Go to https://altnps.org/seed-packs and fill out the form to have free Milkweed or Black-Eyed Susan seeds sent to your door!

How to choose what to grow: Planning a vegetable garden

At this point, you should have a few plants in mind that you notice you are most excited about growing yourself. Make a list with those plants at the top, then add on to the list by including whatever fruits and vegetables your family eats most. Last, add any plants you’d really like to just experiment with and see what happens.

Next, head to Google and find your growing zone by searching “Grow zone + your zip code”. Write down your zone - this determines your average climate, temperature, and weather pattern. For example, we are in zone 6B in Massachusetts, which means we have short, moderately hot summers and long, deeply cold winters. Not a great climate to try and grow slow to ripen tropical fruits or even peppers in, since both of those categories of plants demand intense heat and long seasons. As much as I might *want* to grow papaya, I know it’s just not going to happen in my grow zone. However, if you live in Florida your papaya plant would thrive.

Using the charts within the catalog or Google again to cross check your list and eliminate any that can’t thrive in your growing zone. If you’re noticing any gaps or your list doesn’t seem long enough, consider adding some beneficial flowering plants to support pollinators in your garden. There are many good reasons to support pollinators in your garden - they are responsible for helping your fruiting plants to grow and thrive.

When should you order seeds for your vegetable garden?

Seeds have an exceptionally long shelf life - most varieties will survive in dormancy for 1-5 years. So it is never too early to start ordering seeds for your vegetable garden. Some gardeners on a budget even take advantage of end of season and holiday sales to stock up on their seeds for next season as early as November of the year before. Of course, the best seeds are free, saved from your best plants grown the year before. There is nothing more rewarding than following the family tree of your garden vegetables and continuing their legacy through seed selection and saving.

Organizing seeds

When you’re thinking about how to plan a vegetable garden, organization should be at the top of your list. Especially once you start saving seeds, a proper labeling and organization system will be the only way you can possibly keep track of everything. Don’t convince yourself that you will just “remember what everything was” next year. Unless it’s a very distinct seed like a nasturtium, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to keep all those tiny parcels straight without a system.

There are as many ways to label and contain seeds as there are gardeners in the world, but here are a few of my favorites, after years of experimenting:

Storing seeds

If you’re planning to create a seed bank where you store your seeds indefinitely for 10+ years, the best thing you can do is store seeds in airtight glass containers in a cool, dry, dark place. However, most seeds in regular rotation will store just fine for up to three years in their paper packets as long as the area of your home where you store them isn’t exceptionally hot or humid. Many gardeners collect TicTac containers to hold their vegetable seeds as they are small and easy to store and label. In the past, I used a plastic photo organizer in combination with paper seed envelopes. While this method allows me to categorize by type (greens in one plastic container, beans in another) and variety (separate envelopes within the ‘greens’ plastic container for lettuce, spinach, kale and chard) while keeping the seeds well protected from external forces that could shorten their lifespan, after a few years I found it frustrating - seeds would fall out all the time, I hated having the dig through each container to find the one I wanted, and packets inevitably ended up just sitting on top of the box waiting to be put away. It was also bulky and heavy to carry out to the garden with me on big planting days and I dropped it more than once.

My favorite method for organizing seeds is the binder method. All you need is a 3 ring binder and these photo sleeve inserts. It’s kind of like how you might have stored your Pokemon or baseball cards as a kid - you can see everything at once, and it’s easy to put away any seed packet you just used. However, this method only works for standard size seed packets - corn and beans won’t fit. And, if you save seeds from your own garden, you’d need to also make your own paper seed packets to contain them first.

In addition to this binder method for my store bought seeds, I also have a mini “seed bank” going. This is a wooden box that custom fits tiny glass bottles in which I store seeds saved from my own garden. There are limitations with this as well when it comes to larger seeds, but overall it’s beautiful and functional for small quantities.

Labeling seeds

This can be as simple or complex as you would like. A sharpie pen on the outside or lid of your chosen container will work just fine. Or get an old school label maker and punch out your labels with that. There are even custom printable labels available on etsy if aesthetics are important to you. The only thing that matters is choosing a system you will actually follow through on and use - because labeling your seeds is vital to an organized system.

What to grow in Your Vegetable garden:

Are you still wondering what to grow in your garden this year? Here’s my list of nearly everything I’m starting from seed for my garden this year. You can tap individual seed packets to shop: