How to design a vegetable garden

How to design a vegetable garden

You do not need a lot of land to have a vegetable garden, however you do have to plan your design more carefully with a smaller yard, to create a urban garden or urban farm. The backyard farmer needs to use his resources carefully to get a good harvest from the smaller lot.Start by deciding where you want to put your garden. Take a good look at your yard, lot, patio or whatever space you have to start your garden. See where the sun shines throughout the day, you will want a spot with as much sun as possible.

Design your garden with the sun in mind.  All plants require some sun, some more than others, many vegetables like tomatoes and peppers require a lot of sun, some like carrots and cabbage require less sun. If in doubt, go for more sun, it is easier to shade the plants than to move the garden to a sunnier spot. Shading for too much sun can be done with commercially available shade cloth or even by planting taller sun loving plants like okra close to them for shade, the okra can be a companion plant for plants like carrots that require some shade.

Put your design on paper

Start your  designing by  making  a sketch of your lot, yard or patio and lightly put a mark (x) where your gardens should go(crude sketch is fine, this is just to get idea’s). Make sure the spot will get plenty of sun.

Next study the types of gardens below, which one will work for you? Where you made the x roughly draw in the garden or gardens you have decided on. How does it look? will you have access to all parts of the garden to water and weed as necessary?

Types of gardens

Container garden, bed garden, raised bed garden, traditional row garden or any combination of these styles of gardening. Often the type of garden will be determined according to the space available, quality of the soil available.

Most back yard or urban gardeners with limited space are better to use the bed or raised bed garden design. The bed or raised bed garden uses land and other resources more efficiently as it is contained in a smaller area than the traditional row garden. Gardeners with very small yards or patios might prefer container garden.

Bed style garden

If designing a bed style garden, whether raised bed or not, makes sure will have access to all parts of the garden from the outside of the garden. Generally this means about 2 feet (60 cm) from each side. Bed gardens that are against a wall or fence, you will want to make a maximum of 2 feet (60 cm) wide. If you have access and can work from both sides, you can make the garden a maximum of 4 feet (120 cm) wide. Make the length whatever works for your lot.
You do not want to compact the soil by entering the bed. Some gardeners make bed gardens larger and put stepping stones inside at strategic points inside the garden and work from these stones. Personally I find it uncomfortable working from a stepping stone, therefore prefer to make my garden beds of a size that all parts of the garden can be reached from outside the garden.
It is better to have two or more bed gardens 4 ft wide with walkways between them, than have one large garden and work from stepping stones.

If you have the space for a traditional row garden , you can try that style, This is good for farmers because they need the straight rows to facilitate farm machinery tractors etc. For the average backyard farmer you will use up more of your resources such as land, water and organic fertilizer etc.
My grandfather had his garden set up this way, it works, but boy was it a lot of work weeding etc. He did grow a lot of vegetables though.

A potager is a French style garden where vegetables are planted with flowers and herbs also called a  kitchen garden. This type of garden can be very beautiful and if companion plants are used can be extremely beneficial to each other. A potager garden can be planted in either a bed or raised bed .   Often a potager garden is set aside from the ornamental garden for vegetables and herbs.  Often designed around geometric shapes or perennial plants.


Container style gardening

a container garden with mint.

You can grow many vegetables and herbs in containers

Container gardening is a fantastic way to start gardening without committing any real estate, most vegetables can be grown from containers. You do have to pay closer attention to watering.
If you do not have the space for a bed or row type of garden or just not sure if you want to commit the space for a bed garden, a container garden could be a great option. Gardeners have been growing fantastic vegetables and herbs in everything from commercially made containers to modified butter tubs and  5 gallon buckets.  Whenever using containers for vegetables or herbs be sure  that  food grade.  Containers that originally contained food should be fine.  Restaurants can be a very good source for larger buckets, normally they just throw them away.     Be sure to drill holes in the bottom for plenty of drainage.   Commercial  containers that are made for plants should also be fine.

Some plants such as mint will try to take over a garden and are better put in containers even if you have the space for a bed garden. Often mint will be planted in containers around the bed or raised bed gardens because it tends to be aggressive and take over the garden.

Traditional Row style garden

rows of vegetables on a large farm

Row style garden is great if you have a large lot

Row style gardens is what industry uses to produce most of our vegetables that are grown in supermarkets.  This type of garden tends to involve more work to weed and maintain.  Many people start out with this style garden because it is what they see the most of and many people grew up with.  Row style gardens are great for machines.  They make it easy for tractors, combines etc to  plant and harvest.

They do not make the  best use of a small piece of land and are not usually used with techniques like companion planting.  This is a good style of farming if you have a lot of land and have a tractor or other mechanized farming tools.  This type of gardening generally does not utilize the land efficiently enough for the urban gardener  or backyard farmer who wants to maximize his harvest from a small piece of real estate.

Orienting your garden for maximum sun benefit

How to design a garden for maximum sun benefit

Plant tallest plants at the north end so they do not shade shorter plants

Try to design   your garden to face South , plant tallest crops such as beans, peas, cucumber, corn and winter squash at north end of garden. Plant the next tallest group of plants just south of this including tomatoes, okra, eggplant, peppers, and bush type versions of cucumbers and squashes. Finally in the southernmost part of the garden plant your shortest plants like carrots, turnips, spinach, onions, radishes, rutabaga, beets and lettuce. This will allow you to plant closer together without shading out some of the vegetables or tomatoes . Our friends in the southern hemisphere can probably reverse these directions.

Decide what to plant

Find out what grows well in your area and plant what you like to eat.

Always plant heirloom plants or seeds for natural better tasting vegetables and naturally hardy plants and for a sustainable garden that you can save the seeds and plant the next season . Use companion or interplanting to fight against insects and pests naturally.

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