The Garden Academy recommends considering the principles of width, height, length, and geometry when creating or re-creating a garden bed for your customer. There are numerous shapes to choose from, such as rectangular, circular, and L-shaped. Rectangular is the most common shape for a raised garden bed, as it is easy to build and provides a good amount of growing space. Circular is a more unusual shape, but it is also suitable for both formal and informal spaces.
The most common height for raised garden beds is around 11″, which is the height of two regular “2×6” wooden boards. This height is ideal for providing sufficient drainage for most crops. When selecting materials for your garden bed frame, consider durability, cost, and aesthetics.
There are several options for creating a beautiful garden bed, including rectangles, L-shaped, and round metal garden beds. Rectangles are great for both formal and informal spaces, but they are not suitable for sloping sites. L-shaped beds divide the garden into distinct areas and are adaptable to many lot shapes and sizes.
The best height for raised beds should be tall enough to accommodate the full root ball of the plants you are growing. Round metal garden beds can add soft curves to the garden and maximize the use of space. There is no “best shape”, as geometric shapes for elements of the garden are unnatural. Raised beds can be any shape or size, provided the site gets six to eight hours of sunlight a day.
There are several ideas for creating the perfect raised bed garden for your yard, including square, which is the best option for limited space. Square beds have relaxed curves that slow down the eye and encourage visitors to move leisurely. Overall, the Garden Academy emphasizes the importance of considering these principles when creating a garden bed for your customers.
📹 A simple trick to create the shape of a garden bed. When I learned this it exploded my brain 🤯
What position is best for bed?
The ideal sleeping position promotes healthy spine alignment from head to hips. Back or side sleeping is considered better than stomach sleeping, while side sleeping may reduce snoring and heartburn and prevent back pain. Sleeping on your back is best for neck pain and nasal congestion. Your sleep position can either help or hinder the body’s restoration and repair process, and it can also cause new aches and pains in the morning.
As we spend a third of our lives asleep or resting, choosing a sleep position that assists physical recovery is crucial. A proper sleep position can relieve stress on the spine, while an unhealthy one can increase pain or stiffness in the back, arms, or shoulders, contributing to lower-quality sleep.
What is the best garden configuration?
To maximize your garden’s potential, position tall vegetables at the back, mid-sized ones in the middle, and smaller plants in the front or as a border. Consider adding pollinator plants to attract beneficial insects and help prevent pests. Rotate your vegetables to different beds for the coming season to prevent diseases and overwintering pests. Mix Miracle-Gro® Garden Soil for Vegetables and Herbs into your beds, use Miracle-Gro® Potting Mix in containers, and feed your plants regularly with Miracle-Gro® Shake ‘n Feed® Tomato, Fruit and Vegetable Plant Food to ensure they receive the necessary nutrition. Follow label directions for optimal results.
What is the ideal plant layout?
Plant layout is crucial for optimizing the interrelationships between operating equipment, personnel, material movement, storage facilities, service functions, and auxiliary equipment. It involves planning and integrating the paths of component parts of a product to achieve the most effective and economic outcomes. ScienceDirect uses cookies and all rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. Creative Commons licensing terms apply for open access content.
What is the most common garden layout?
A basic garden plan involves straight, long rows running north to south, ensuring optimal sun exposure and air circulation. Tall plants like corn or beans should be grown on the north side to prevent shading, while medium-sized plants like tomatoes, squash, and cabbage should be grown in the center. Short crops like carrots, lettuce, and radishes should grow in the southern end. A four square garden plan divides a bed into four quarters, each representing a different bed based on the amount of nutrients needed.
Each square within the larger square represents a different bed. To receive a free download of our DIY eBook “Bring Your Garden Indoors: 13 DIY Projects For Fall And Winter”, sign up for the Gardening Know How newsletter.
What is the best face for a garden?
The optimal garden orientation is contingent upon the sun exposure that is preferred. A garden situated in a south-facing orientation enjoys uninterrupted sunlight throughout the day, whereas a west-facing garden is illuminated by evening sunlight, and an east-facing garden receives morning sunlight.
What is the best orientation for bed?
Ancient traditions suggest that the best direction to sleep is towards the south, as per Vastu Shastra. This means that when lying in bed, the head is pointed south and the feet are pointed north. Sleep troubles can be a health risk, as animals like cattle and deer naturally align their bodies in a north-south direction during eating or resting. Preliminary research indicates that switching to a southward-facing direction can lower blood pressure and improve sleep quality.
What is the best shape for a garden bed?
Raised beds can be any shape or size, provided the site receives six to eight hours of sunlight a day. Standard rectangular beds are typically three to four feet wide by six to eight feet long, allowing easy access without stepping in. This keeps the soil loose and prevents compacting. When building or setting up multiple raised beds, ensure adequate space between them for walking, kneeling, or navigating. For inspiration, explore various options and consider the location and size of the beds.
What surface structure is most desirable for gardening?
Loam soil is a desirable combination of organic matter and mineral particles, such as sand, silt, or clay. It is achieved through regular composting, creating pore space for roots to grow and accumulating nutrients. Microbes play a crucial role in soil stability by digesting organic materials and binding soil particles together. They release a by-product called glomalin, which acts as a glue, forming semi-stable soil aggregates.
Plant health relies on water and oxygen in the soil, and tightly compacted soils hinder growth. To achieve a friable soil with good tilth, amending it with organic matter and cultivating the soil frequently are essential.
What is the best position for a garden?
Choose a location with at least six hours of direct sunlight daily for optimal vegetable growth. For optimal results, choose a south or west-facing location. Space is not a constraint when planning a vegetable garden. Plants can be grown in containers on patios, raised beds, or existing garden borders. For limited space, consider using containers like potato bags or herb planters. Urban gardens can grow beans, beetroot, herbs, lettuce, onions, potatoes, radishes, squash, and tomatoes in spaces as small as 3ft x 3ft. These vegetables are easy to grow and can yield better results and harvests.
What should I look for in a garden bed?
In order to create a successful raised garden bed, it is essential to consider a number of factors, including the materials and accessories to be used, the dimensions and configuration of the bed itself, and the desired location. These factors will ultimately influence the amount of sunlight and water required by the plants in the bed.
What is the best orientation for garden bed?
A north-south orientation is ideal for low-growing crops, allowing direct sunlight to reach both sides. For taller crops like pole beans, peas, and tomatoes, an east-west orientation is best. Space between beds should be enough for easy maneuvering. Plants per 2 square feet include watermelon, zucchini, winter squash, summer squash, melon, pumpkin, broccoli, peppers, cauliflower, cilantro, eggplant, tomato, cabbage, cucumber, okra, and Swiss chard, lettuce, parsley, potato, strawberry, turnip, basil, and corn.
📹 Garden Planning Part 1: What & Where to Plant, Keeping Notes
It’s garden planning season, and in this video I share the first steps of my garden planning process including how I decide what …
Step 1, make a detailed plan Step 2, inventory supplies and seeds and order more seeds than I can actually grow Step 3, start way more seeds than I can actually grow Step 4, transplant seedling disregarding the plan because I’ve determined in the spring that I had no idea what I was thinking back in January Step 5, find good homes for remaining plants that I’ve started and run out of space for 😁
We are settling into a property with a large acerage that has an established orchard (apples, peaches, plums, pears) and loads of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. I’m looking forward to an enormous garden but I have a lot of work to do. I want all the things. Chickens, a high tunnel, a green house….. but first I need to figure out how to keep all that other stuff alive. We are coming from the burbs. I did a full garden on my little half acre in suburbia but I didn’t have all the fruit trees and berries. We had an HOA and all the rules lol. My issue is pacing myself. I have bought waaaaaay too many seeds. I can’t help it. I’ve told family and friends not to buy any. I have it all! We also have Paw paw trees! I’m in Ohio too.
Great suggestions! I just wanted to mention that you can copy/paste images into an Excel cell! I’m on a Mac, and I use the screen shot app. I open the picture I want to put into my spreadsheet, take a screenshot and save it to my Clipboard (one of the options in the app), then click on the cell I want it in and Paste. You can drag the corner to resize the cell, so you can see it as a large photo when you need to and then shrink it back down when you don’t!
My husband just finished 20 years in the Navy and we’re settling into a small farm in Eastern Tennessee. My rolling clay hills are a blank slate! We excavated an 8’x20′ strip to set up three 32″ raised planter beds. Put some hugelkultur to work. We also filled three Greenstalk planters on the patio. Waiting for fruits to arrive! Saved dish-paks to mulch around them.
NE Ohio here! My online garden planner is from GrowVeg. I love that planner. I am so excited about the planning process again this year. I love researching my seeds and dreaming of my spring garden while I look out the window at the snow. I bought new seeds after thanksgiving from two seed companies and now am looking to buy more from another. Growing onions, leeks, and herb starts indoors. In a few weeks, I start my broccoli, Brussel sprouts and other things that require a long growing season. Good luck to all! and remember to have fun!
I used the “garden planner” from territorial seed, it’s a free trial for 7 days, then a cost each year. I got the subscription as a Christmas gift this year, and found it really helpful, mostly because it has so much information to reference all in one place. I agree with the start date thing, it uses your zip code to calculate dates, but is ultimately ball park. It’s really visual chart that is endlessly adjustable. I will see how it goes. For me, garden planning is a huge project that I CANNOT do in one sitting, I started in September and was finally happy with it just after Christmas. I’m also a newer gardener, not green, but not experienced either. Companion planting, spacing, indoor seeding vs outdoor direct seed, etc was a lot of bit by bit gathering for me.
I am absolutely loving the new Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalog for 2023. Every category has vegies displayed by harvest size. This is so helpful to me as a new gardener, so I know exactly the size of the fruit I’ll get and not spend the entire season on a plant that disappoints. They also include tips for growing, taking care of pests, harvest and storage. I really enjoy your articles and the inspiration you give. Thanks so much!
All the tips were very good. For me, as a journalist, keeping a written account of your gardening life and adventures is key. A written history, as it were, to tell the story of your journey with nature, both the good and the not so good. To both inspire and teach those who will come. One day, a child or grandchild, will open up those pages and be able to walk through the garden with you even though you have long passed away. The written word is so necessary, and yet so dismissed these days. Carry on!
This was less garden planning and more cataloging and detailing. Great information and will definitely use this. Do you have a article on planning and layout? How to choose which vegetables. Where to place them in the garden? Which direction to orient your garden beds and rows? Which plants compliment and hurt eachother? Etc.
It’s always good when I see a article from you. I must admit that documenting things is a definite weak spot for me. The most that I have done recently was to keep track of when I started what and when I put them out into the garden. I’ve tried garden planners a few times in the past. They just don’t do it for me. Those neat tomato plant icons might look nice and organized all in a row on the screen, but in real life they can go crazy and grow all over the place. I guess I am old school, I store the knowledge in my head and in my heart and garden mostly from experience. When I move to a new area, of course that throws everything off for a little while until I learn what my new area is like. I’m going to take your advice and put out as many of the perennial plants as I can this Spring. Anyway, as always you have done an excellent job of delivering great content in a pleasing way. What you are doing in your garden and with your organization is quite impressive.
Well Jenna, thank you again for the excellent article! Fantastic! What I do is this last year, and now this year, I take a notebook I write everything down that I want to plant. In the first column I write the date I want to start them in the house. The name, and where I bought the seeds in the next column, and then when I plant it I just check it off. And if I don’t like the vegetable that I decided to grow, then I will not order it probably again. It makes a lot of sense to take some notes on it for me. If I had a much larger garden, then I would take more notes. Thank you again for all your gardening wisdom! Have a good evening!
HI Jenna, I’m new to your website. I am so glad I found you. Because I live in Indiana. I really appreciate finding people that live close to me. It’s easier to tips from people in my area instead of people all over the country.i follow Luke from MIGARDENER& THE STIVERS Bexause they are close to me but I am thankful that I have found you. God Bless you Jenna
I definitely have been more of a wing it person but this year I created an excel sheet with each bed in it and what I’m putting in each bed. It’s been great for knowing how much dirt I need to buy and how many plants I can put into each bed for seed starting. I’ve also logged the date I planted each of my seeds. Something I never did in the past.
I’ve been perusal your articles on the big tv. It’s so much better than my tiny little iPhone. Anyway, I’ve commented before about relearning everything. Five years ago, I lived in northwest Illinois. I could grow anything. The soil was rich and fertile. I was used to the climate. I’d lived there for 60 years. And then, we moved to Ohio. Everything changed. A different climate zone, clay soil that was as hard as cement, deer eating everything…sigh. I’m still learning and trying to amend my soil. I never had to think about amendments until we moved here. I feel like a newbie, even though I’ve been gardening for over 45 years. Thanks for your articles. You’ve given me the stamina i need to keep going and have kept discouragement away well enough to keep me from saying I give up.
So glad I stumbled upon your website! We moved to 14 acres last year and this will be my first time growing in anything more than my 4×2 raised bed 😅 I’m excited and going into it with a learning mentality. If I get anything this year, I’ll consider it a win. Starting small is definitely my biggest struggle 😂
I have gone to spreadsheets too since my last note app failed to migrate to the new phone. I have my planning in my yearly household planning file, and notes in a garden notes file with tabs by year and insert pictures as well as notes. I love your comments about the things you put in your spreadsheet. It is way more detailed than what I have done so far, and we help me figure out why I planned certain things certain ways.
Getting so eager and excited to start gardening again. Planting indoor seeds in February. Living in very snowy California, so this year it will take longer than usual for all the snow to melt. Our raised beds are covered in straw, black plastic and about 5 feet of snow, so very insulated. I love being inspired and excited by perusal your website, Jenna!
Jenna, I just want to say that I am loving your website. Im a relatively new gardener (only been at it 3 years) and as someone who didn’t grow up with gardening at all, its a real uphill climb for me to learn all of this. I’ve appreciated a few gardening website along the way, but I have to say that your articles are so comprehensive (without being overly heavy with unneeded details), and you are a gifted presenter as well, that Im just blessed to have found this website. I’ve shared it on social media for my fellow-gardeners or wanna-be gardeners. 🙂 God bless!
I’m a planner too. I use Google sheets to plan out my veggie beds and cut flower garden. It’s not perfect but I’m able to plan for pretty close to how many plants I can fit and that really helped last year for seed starting. Last year was the first year for the new cut flower bed and I got so wrapped up in getting that set up that the veggie garden was a bit of a mess. I didn’t label great, I forgot to start some things, etc. Hoping this year I can multi-task a bit better. Love that gardening is a hobby that you can learn and grow each year!
i have just a hight water table, it is taking a while to prevent my garden from flooding and plants just drowing -Spent all of last season building raised beds and adding mulch/woodchips. Now it is a waiting game for the woodchips to settle. I do have some containers on the porch so at least I get to plant a few things just to see them grow and make notes on what works. Maybe next year the in the yard garden will be apply to apply what i learn growing on the porch.
This is my FIRST time to ever have garden plans prior to seeing plants in the big box stores. Hopefully I am starting small, time will tell. I actually have already set up 3 raised beds (only 3×4). I started my garden plan 2 days ago and fell into sorting seeds by zip lock system. (I loved all seeds equally last year-about 50 packets.) I have already determined I need 4 additional seed packets, going to see if I can get them at the big box tomorrow.
I’ve already started so many seeds with the intention of selling some. I’m hoping to can a lot more tomatoes this year as it seems to be what we use the most of. I’ve got a lot of San marzano, and amish paste as well as a few other hybrids I want to try. Last year I figured out how to can dried cherry tomatoes in evoo. You don’t pressure can, instead wash them in vinegar, put them in a dehydrator, and then pack them in hot (but not boiling) evoo, lid on and then put them in the oven at 250. The trick is to fill your pint jars about 3/4 full (so leave a lot of head space). It took about an hour at that temp to get the oil to 250. Which kills botulism. Then turn the oven off and let them cool down in there. I used 1 without a lid for temperature testing purposes. It’s one of my favorite pasta add ins.
Actually planning some of my garden stuff this year! I am not very good at planning it out but I am already working on what I actually want to plant based on what we need and eat. I stocked up on 20 gallon grow bags at the end of the season last year because I don’t have space to put a large in ground garden but bags I can manage.
You make a lot of good points! It would be very good for a new gardener to listen to what you are saying. This is really a great tutorial! Three years ago I made a scale map of all 14 of our raised beds. Then scaled out where everything was to be planted. My first time companion planting. Well, lol, once I changed my winter idea, it slowly went down hill after that. So I just get on line with catalogs next to me and make a list of wants. Let it sit for a couple of days and then I start the whittling down process. I grown really nice eggplant, but this year I decided not to. I’m trying a different type of sweet pepper instead. Our bed sare all different sizes…a couple only 2’x2′ with trellises all the way to 2’x26′, 4’x20′, etc. What ever I could find at the time laying around to make them out of. Last year I put in two 3′ diameter fire rings for annuals. No more maps lol! I went back to my old school ways to make it less confusing for me lol. I just wing it. I had overwhelmed myself with all the notebooks and maps lol. But, I do do some of the things you talked about naturally. Enjoyed your take on preparing! Take care!
Looking over the Garden Savvy programs and I really think it’s one I would love using. The only problem is that I am pretty much “anti-cloud” which they tout as a benefit. My question is whether or not you’ve noticed if the program can be used as a “stand alone” without the cloud being involved??? Thanks Jenna, you’re my go to!!
Thanks ever so much for the article. I must confess it was quite informative. Frankly speaking I’m really spontaneous when it comes to gardening. There is no planning and I’m not equipped like u so I tend to do things ad hoc but I find your tips proved quite helpful I shall try to see how I could improve and use those techniques which would allow me to be more productive too.
I am thinking about starting a garden next year. It will depend entirely on funds, as I am currently unemployed. I am a planner, but when I start a new hobby like this, I forgive myself for being a novice. So right now, I’m in an investigation phase, and am excited to find your website in my plant zone.
I’m new. Last year was the first garden in 15 years. It is a small raised bed but I would like to make another one. This is great advice. I’m in 6 a and I’m going to start winter sowing and some direct sowing. I am planning where to place my plants. I didn’t do a great job last with that. My peppers were shaded out. I planted my brassicas too late so there’s that. I’m excited to try again. I really liked how you talked about having the right tools and methods to deal with pests. I will be referring back to this article. Thanks very much.
I have a similar process to yours, but I haven’t been as on the ball with tracking once plants go into the ground. I have my Google spreadsheet and then I have a Goodnotes “notebook” where I write out what I need to do monthly, as well as what I actually get done. And I take pictures of each bed as I plant it and label them in the notebook as well, which is helpful for when I forgot what I direct seeded or when volunteers come up. You’ve given me a lot of ideas of things to track, especially when it comes to usage of what I grow.
I’m currently winter sowing in milk jugs and putting them in a snow cave before the (hopefully) last storm of the season comes in a few hours. We are supposed to get 10-18 inches (Alaska). I would really like to get this chore done before the snow falls! I have no idea how many plants I need of what. As of yet we have no infrastructure. After getting seeds finished off outside, the next project is building some wicking raised beds out of pallets. (be careful with using pallets as they can sometimes be treated with chemicals. Do some research about which pallets are safe). Not sure how many I will get built before breakup happens and the snow gets out of my way. While building those I am also going to be learning vermicomposting. I’ve been saving kitchen scraps outside (natural freezer) for when I was able to take on the task of setting it up. I’ve also saved the cardboard from renovations that we are currently recovering from. I’ve been learning about things while I was in a “season” of not being able to do anything, so I learned what to gather. now I have several parts collected waiting to be put together for their purpose. I’m hoping I can get everything timed well for when I need it all. Renovations ran late and now I’m trying to play catch up while also trying to unpack and settle in. I’m thankful I took the time to learn about the kind of life I wanted so that I would recognize opportunities as they presented. Had I chosen to watch mindless TV shows I wouldn’t have been ready for those opportunities.
I use OneNote for all of my documenting in the garden. I have the app on my phone and can easily snap a photo and add comments on whatever I am looking at or thinking about. I have on notebook for the year with one tab per month for daily/weekly updates, then another notebook for jotting down ideas, keeping inventory, and planning out my future gardens. I also use an excel spreadsheet for keeping track of seed inventory and germination dates. I love organizing everything in the winter! I will definitely give any new organization tool a try!
Great article. I have to admit I try and plan everything in my head. Think I need to try using the app. For me management of time is my hardest task. I always have more things going then time needed. And I like outside more than computer and notes time. Speaking of which got 15 Khaki Campbell ducklings in today and tomorrow I start to sow my corn in. I’m in Central Florida so things I imagine would be backwards to your timing. I run ducks, chickens and turkeys in conjunction with my new gardening ventures. Thanks Jenna.
I’m a beginner. We just moved to a house where I actually have room. Last year was my trial year and I didn’t do too well. None of my strawberries were good (I think the squirrels ate the good ones) two of my tomato plants got blight. My cherry tomatoes did so well that they crowded out my rosemary, jalapeños, bell peppers, and banana peppers 😆 My parsley did the best. I physically could not harvest it fast enough. But this year I want a bigger space so I can space things out better. My problem is that I want to grow everything but deep down I know I should start small 😅
Thank you so much for telling us about the Garden Saavy app! I have THOUSANDS of photos on my phone that I don’t want to delete, yet don’t want to keep on my phone! 😄 so I love that you can add pictures to each crop! Is there a way to add additional years though? I’m curious how that works in tue future, when you go to add another pucture- will it let you add multiple? I’m just thinking of some crops, & how I like to try to grow the largest one possible, & would love to see successive years of photos… 🤔 not a huge deal breaker if not though! I’ve also not found a garden planning app that I love. I don’t like that when you add beds, that you either have to add every single plant in by hand, one by one, (I’d rather draw it on actual paper before doing that!) or it auto populates for you, but diluent give you the option to change spacing. I like to be able to plant some things closer than the recommendations. Because I grow cutflowers, they don’t need as much room as if they were growing in the landscape, & then with some of my veggies, I like to plant closer as well, or I like to underpants a taller crop like corn, or tomatoes, & these apps usually don’t allow for that sort of thing. Does this app?
This will be my 3rd season gardening! I’m in zone 5B in Illinois, so not too far from you. This year I am planting way more of what we actually ate the past 2 seasons as well as trying out 3 or more varieties of those things… I have 13 different peppers (we will use/eat every single one in some way) and 14 different tomatoes 🙈 5 varieties of corn… Stuff like that 🤣🤣🤣🤦🏻♀️I think every year I will try something new just for the fun of growing it and learning something new, though. I have found I really enjoy trying new things and experimenting. Fun learning through trial and error! I just mapped out my beds and where I want to plant everything, I am a HUGE planner so been looking around to see if there are any resources to double check my work 🤣 found your article/channel! Thank you for this!!!
Totally agree on brassicas. I’m in 6A Rhode Island, and if I do not start my broccoli and cauliflower in late January or early February (which a lot of people think is crazy early), I run a big risk of the plants bolting by as early as late May or early June. I have also gone to heat-resistant F1 hybrid varieties from Johnny’s to help as well.
Actually, I am planning an old-school pen and paper. I find it easier to reference what I need in a written journal when planting. However, if I had a larger garden space, I would definitely be interested in the online tools. I just find water & paper vs. electronic method better. Bonus, I can take my journal in the garden and add dates when the photo is taken, then go back and look. Great article on planning.
While in my garden I usually have gloves on or dirty hands and cannot easily jot a note. I’ve found that I can text them to myself (I do it by talking into the phone). Once back in the house I can transcribe my notes into a book that never leaves a specific space so I stop losing notebooks or leaving them in the rain.
Hi my name is Angela and I live in Circleville Ohio. I recently became a stay at home mom of my 4 young children. I really enjoy perusal your website because you are very knowledgeable and we live in the same zone. I have tried gardening before but have failed miserably due to my work schedule. I am wanting to start a garden this year but iam overwhelmed with everything. Being in town iam limited on space and my soil is terrible. My husband has built me a few raised beds and building another larger one this year. I have limited sunlight due to having 2 large maple trees and a large elm tree. This year I cannot start seeds but plan on purchasing plants from a local nursery. Do you have any recommendations of books and resources for when to plant and start seeds for central ohio. We are down to one income now and because of my husband’s swing shift work schedule I will be the one who takes care of everything. Thank you for your website I have been learning so much.
Jenna, you are teaching this newbie to garden! In my first ever fall garden, I was able to harvest 8 cauliflower! I have my brassica seedlings on a similar schedule to yours here in zone 7A. Thank you for your sharing and time to teach us! Could you direct me to your insect netting and hoops you use? Or your surround kaolin clay? I am hoping to fight squash bugs this way! They are dreadful!
Onions seeds bunches and big yellow in my pots in my sunroom.I will follow you as I’m 6a and having good leadership so far. I’m selecting less unknown and more favorite tomato believe I’ll have more tomatoes in 80 percent of space and have more cabbage and greens .re-adding fresh corn 🌽 ordered that sweet corn you didn’t raise but love it. I’m hopeful your advice on cover crops improves and bet it helps. Winter wheat is where tomatoes are to be planted and few other Thanks 👍
Hi Jenna. I’m so glad to have found you. We’ve been perusal for quite a while now as we are fellow Ohioans. I had to laugh a bit about your quantity chart. I feel like we try to grow as much as we can, just hoping enough produce actually survives to be able to use it. My neighbor dug out clay to build a patio and piled the material next to my fence (also edge of garden) and has yet to move it. Now I have a vole problem. Grrrrr.
Wonderful article. This year I’m going to mix Captan wp fungicide with Surround wp to try to control apple scab which mainly affects my pears. I have not had much success with copper or sulfur sprays in early spring as prevention. I do rake up all fruit tree leaf litter, but it doesn’t seem to help. Captan is not organic. When I buy perfect apples/pears in the grocery store I know that these fruits have mad multiple sprays of some non-organic potions. Kind Regards. Craig
Mainly, because computers and I really do not like each other, most of my planning goes on between my ears and on paper. I do get a lot of benefit from reviewing the articles and pic’s of the garden from previous years. I keep a journal, but that usually gets forgotten even before all the planting is done. Going to try and do better with that this year. Really enjoy your articles.
Thanks for mentioning the discrepancy of start dates and microclimates. I’ve tried to grow broccoli in the Spring, and I never get a large head before it gets hot. Maybe I’m just starting my seeds too late! I spend a lot of time planning my garden on graph paper, but I usually make some small changes at planting time, regardless. My biggest downfall is not planning ahead for subsequent crops, such as what to plant after garlic and onions mid-summer and getting that started indoors if need be. I’m working on being better organized, and I want to try kaolin clay this year. The cucumber beetles were ridiculous last year.
Planning for this little money’s garden is a blend of long term planning and wing-it; decide in advance very specific when, where, and how much of certain veggies and flowers, and wing it on other cool plants that I find at the last minute. Gotta shoe horn that pretty bugger in the yard somewhere. 😆 Currently trying to find space for various sunflowers since I’ve just recently learned that honey bees use the pollen for medicinal purposes in the hive. Also preparing to move a small patch of garden to a sunnier spot since trees have grown substantially, and trying to find what will do just fine in the original space. I’d LOVE to get your input on that sort of thing: veggies that don’t need as much sun. By the way, do you have a vid on making your own seed starting mix? Thanks for your articles. Awesome stuff.
One thing I failed to mention. My main crops are pretty much set where they will be going before planting, the one thing I really enjoy is putting in the herbs and flowers. Last year, it took me almost 10 days to place everything. I was like an artist with a pallet waiting to splash paint on the canvas, or a conductor of an orchestra tapping his baton on the podium for quiet. Mixing marigold, dill, lavender cilantro, petunias, 4’Oclocks, comfrey, borage, chamomile and a bunch I do not remember is my favorite thyme of planting. The planning comes in, what is new for this year? Gotta love gardening.
Hi Jenna! Another informative article! My notes don’t have to be as detailed as yours, so I got some pretty water color paper 8×8 and am placing my plans on a cork board right over my snug so I can always see what needs doing next. It’s not fine art but the snug is not for company. I love the jots on brown paper for your larder! I’m using that!
Notes! Absolutely, although I still use Excel. I do not have the variety as you, but I have found winners and losers in seed varieties. If I keep notes, I will know what works and. what doesn’t. I discovered cattle panels last year and intend to add a couple more this year. (Saves my back) Have you ever tried concrete block for raised beds? I have tried a couple different woods and they don’t last. Greatly enjoy the information you share.
Question for ya: what are your thoughts on black raspberries grown close to tomatoes? I’ve got plans on growing tomatoes in Earthboxes, and raspberries will go in ground. Problem is that I don’t have a lot of available space to put much distance between them. Probably a 7×20 space. Hope you’re having a great weekend.
Quick question: you have to do a lot to work around the hot summer months for many crops, such as brassicas. I’m in a dry desert environment in zone 5b western Colorado, and after 2 seasons I don’t see much problem growing cool season crops through the summer even though our daytime highs are similar to Ohio. Would you guess that has to do with luck, overnight temperatures being cooler in Colorado, or humidity being lower? All three? Something else? Thanks again for all the details you share; I’m vacuuming up all your past content. 😉
I have to add a 2nd comment. My husband has his own sneaky recording of gardening. I have been trying lettuce and spinach inside again and it’s going quite well, I think. My husband said, oh it’s doing great…see as he shows me pics of DAILY growth🤪🤣😂. Actually I was impressed! They were actually growing quite a bit each day.
I don’t know of you will see this, but I’d love to see a article covering how you feed plants and how to treat for pest the organic way. I know very little on this and could use some help as my cucumber and squash get decimated with bugs and my my cabbage and broccoli do too. And most of my other plants just struggle, I know they need food and I feel overwhelmed to figure out what is organic or as natural as possible that’s not putting unwanted chemicals in my garden. 😳
If I was a trial gardener I probably would use totes also. Maybe I would use my current system of binder with photo inserts to hold all my favorites A-Z. Yes, do clear out varieties that didn’t work for your taste and growing conditions. They may work for someone else and most libraries have a seed bank, at least the one I worked at did. So, about a software program. I keep wondering if this is truly something I need or would use. I currently use 2 binders with loose leaf paper. One for the garden the other for preservation of harvest (recipes, etc). The loose leaf system is easy to switch out pages or move them. This garden program stores to the cloud, print, if you stop subscription and restart they store previous notes. For me, yes, severe micro climate and then there is the time—there is none when things get cranking. I just found a nice small monthly planner with elastic closure to take to garden. I can make notes and transfer main points in binder at later dates. The program can only be used on a laptop or desktop and my choice is a pad because it’s light weight, doesn’t get hot and I can sit in my chair to use it the same as a binder/monthly planner. The program probably would hi-lite all my spacing of plants as not acceptable 😂 and I really don’t want another bill or treat my hobby like a dreadful office task. Just my take, but may be someone else’s cup of tea. I keep thinking of what my folks and grandparents would have thought of such devices. I’m re-designing flower bed and I will just mark out where placement of things like statues, pathway, sitting area will go.
I use a simple technique. I have a template layout of my garden and pencil things in every year beginning in August on where I want them for the following season. I usually go through at least 3 iterations to get it where I want it. I also have a journal in excel where I record a lot of the same things you do but not quite as much. I have an inside sheet and an outside sheet and record date started, variety, days until maturity, transplanted outside, and I try to record date harvested but I sometimes forget that. I also record notes in the spreadsheet of course. I didn’t realize surround works for cucumber beetles. Do you have a lot of luck with that?
And, have you named the various segments of your garden? 😉 To answer the question you’ve posed to us viewers, I’d say I’m a to-the-Nth planner (what I’ll grow and where I’ll place it in the garden), but too frequently a caution-to-the-wind executor. I often lose track of time, and of what I’ve done with my time which is how I wound up having purchased two of one variety of one crop, because I didn’t recall having purchased one of that same crop the year before; sent some of the surplus off to a gardener out of state. Every year, by the way, is the year this “Who needs to take a seed inventory? Not I, certainly! I’m sure I’ll *remember*” foolishness ends, and I continue to rely on memory although I have the best of intentions of keeping a written inventory with the seed stash, and I digital inventory on the pc. Right now, I’m taking a harder look at what we most enjoy eating and what we use in cooking, and at how to expand the garden space we have enclosed (just under one-thousand square feet which isn’t as much as it might sound, but used correctly and shrewdly a few hundred square feet can produce a lot of food for four or five people, and we are only two.) A little while ago the realization came to me that while it doesn’t seem a great deal, a one-foot “border” inside the enclosure mesh, all the way around except for at the gate, would give us, well, that many more square feet of productivity before we move the enclosure boundaries outward just a bit. And, a border of garden bed/s outside as well as inside the enclosure will prevent snagging the welded wire mesh with a knob on the handle of the lawn mower.
Hi Jenna. I enjoyded perusal your youtube. Youtube proposed yours today, and I watched a few of them. You mentioned about vertival gardening, I was curious about how you got this idea. Vertical gardening/planting is getting recognition slowly In Japan, but the way and purpose to do this slightly different. It makes plant healthy and grow more without using any fertilizer. Even for green pepper, eggplant, sweet potato, and almost everything. Also there is a one more big difference. That is tie/bind the leaves and branches together so that everything goes upward. this article shows how to tie/bind green pepper. It is all in Japaese language and you can’s understand what he says, but you can see how to do it. “youtube.com/watch?v=1nKoNVAiJ3I”