When you’re planning your vegetable garden, one of the things to consider is what’s on the ground where you want to plant? If it’s bare soil, you’re halfway there, but it’s more likely lawn if you haven’t planted a garden before.
If you need to get rid of grass for your garden, it’s not a difficult thing to do. For a smaller area, just use a sharp spade to undercut the sod and remove it. For larger areas, a sod-cutting machine is a lot less work.
Trees or shrubs are another story – they can be a lot more difficult to relocate or even to simply remove if you no longer want them. The roots can be far-reaching as well and may interfere with your garden when it comes time to start digging.
When you’re planning the location for your garden, think about how much time and effort you want to put in. If your ideal spot is going to take too much time or work, you might want to think about an alternative.
The size of your garden will depend on several things:
- How many mouths you’re feeding
- How much time you have to spend in it
- How enthusiastic you are about gardening
Keep in mind that you shouldn’t be too ambitious, especially if you’re new to vegetable gardening. A garden that’s too big quickly become a chore rather than a fun hobby.
Most average gardens range from 200 to 500 square feet.
Unless your yard requires it, it’s best to avoid flowing, unusual shapes. Stick with squares or rectangle as they allow for more efficient use of space. Plus, they tend to make it easier to reach everything in the garden for maintenance and harvesting once your vegetables get larger.
Your climate will have some bearing on how you plan your vegetable garden.
For example, vegetables grow best if they’re protected from strong winds. So if you live in a windy area, plan your garden in a place where there is shelter from wind, such as beside a building or along a fence line.
You also need to make sure that your vegetables will get enough sunlight. This is especially true if you’re having to locate it somewhere to shelter it from the wind.
Vegetables will grow best where they get sun for at least half the day. If your garden is in your backyard and your house throws shade there for most of the day, it’s not going to be the most productive location.
Also keep in mind how the vegetables will affect each other’s sun exposure. If you plant tall vegetables next to short ones, the tall ones are going to throw shade once they get to a certain height.
Ideally, the rows in your garden should be run north and south to minimize the shade from one row to another.
If your vegetable garden is close to your house and easy to get to, it’s a lot easier to run out and pick some herbs or harvest some fresh vegetables for the dinner table.
You’ll also be more likely to get out there to take care of your plants on a regular schedule. You’ll be more likely to weed, water and maintain your plants if you can get to them easily.
You might even find yourself out there several times a day, doing a bit each time.
Creating firm walking paths around your garden, with easy access to everything you’ve planted, will also make it easier to get out there whenever the mood strikes.
There’s nothing worse than having to prepare yourself for a muddy trek through the garden if you just want to grab a few vegetables for supper.
Unless your garden’s huge and you’ve got a heck of a lot more time than most people, you probably can’t grow half the stuff you’d like to.
That’s why good planning is an essential part of vegetable gardening. It helps you to decide how much space and time you can give to your garden as well as what kinds of vegetables you really want to grow (and eat – there’s nothing worse than having way more than you can possibly use).
Whether you’re starting from scratch or working with an existing garden, spend some time with a pencil and paper before you pick up a shovel or order your seeds.
Draw out a rough garden plan to see what vegetables you’re going to plant this year, and where they’re going to go in your garden.
Over the next few days, I’ll be writing about some of the things that you should consider when planting your garden, such as convenience, size, ground preparation and the climate, as well as how to choose what vegetables to plant.
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