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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