When you think of garden design, you might think the topic is limited to where you’re going to place new beds or whether you’ll use stone or mulch between them. But there’s so much more that goes into it.
Your garden design might start out as a dream scribbled in a notepad over the winter while you wait for the days to get longer and warmer, but there are so many more facets. For example, it’s all well and good to draw out your garden, but do you know how much it’s going to cost? Will you DIY, or will you get the help of a landscaper?
What about planning your garden beds? Will they be raised beds, or no? Tiered or vertical? Will you require a trellis or an arbor? Are you on a hill? And do you start by picking what you want to grow and design from there? Or should you plan how you want your garden to look and then choose what you want to grow to match?
When growing a food garden, it’s best to start by picking the foods you actually like to cook and eat and design around it. The rest of the answers to these questions you can find in the articles below, like how to space vegetables and herbs, whether vertical gardens are a good idea, and how to design a garden even if all you have is concrete.
In the articles below, we dive into all of these approaches to garden design, and you can learn more about it in our How to Grow a Vegetable Garden: 10 Things Every Gardener Need to Know Before Starting a Food Garden freebie. Enjoy!
Tell me, fellow gardener… if you buy a square of onion sprouts at the gardening supply shack, do you plant each little tiny bulb one by one, or do you bunch them? When you plant carrots, do you space your seeds apart, or do you just sprinkle and see what happens?
An above ground garden is one of my favorite recommendations for folks who want to start gardening but aren’t sure where to begin. For one thing, gardening can be tricky if you don’t have the right space for it and some folks don’t have a large yard to work with. Others may have poor soil quality on their property. Many people have mobility issues preventing them from getting on their hands and knees, and still others can’t keep up with the weeds and pests pervasive at the ground level.
The best bit of advice I have learned about garden planning is to group your vegetables and herbs together that have similar watering and light requirements. Generally, when we envision ideas for a raised bed vegetable garden layout, we might be tempted to put vegetables where we think they’ll look best, or simply fit best, but experienced gardeners spend early spring planning their gardens for a good reason, so let’s get into all the things to consider before you build your beds and lay them out.
Every time I use fresh herbs in a recipe, I say out loud (sometimes to no one in particular), “It’s the fresh herbs that make this dish!” There’s no substitution. Don’t get me wrong, I still use my dried herbs when I have to, but when I want a dish to be really special, I reach for the fresh herbs. Before I get into the details of how to create a living wall herb garden in your home, let me share my herb-growing journey.
If you’re lucky enough to have a patch of yard to do some gardening, you’ve likely spent some time dreaming up garden designs. If you’re anything like me, that involves graph paper, colored pencils, and a ruler! When thinking about what your garden will look like, think about the types of vegetables you want to grow and their specific needs. I recommend considering enclosed vegetable garden ideas.
When designing a vegetable garden, it’s a good idea to figure out which part of your yard receives the longest and most consistent light. Might as well get in a bit of sunbathing and call it “research,” right? For some, as luck would have it, the most sun-filled section of your yard will be the least conducive to growing. Sometimes your sunny spot is on concrete or pavement. Other times, you may find the sunniest area in your yard to be on a hillside or sloped land. You can work with that!
It’s usually after the third or fourth big snowstorm that I start sketching out my garden design for the spring. If I’m being extra nerdy, I’ll even bust out the graph paper. My desire to micromanage each square foot of my backyard is outdone only by my desire to save money. This is where recycled materials come in! In garages, basements, and tool sheds across the world, there are gobs of recyclable materials we can use to build a DIY vegetable trellis.
As much as I love harvesting a bowl of sweet peas or enjoying an heirloom tomato right off the vine, part of the fun of gardening is planting raised garden beds. Garden design is where that artistic side comes out. I get to plan how my garden will look, where I want a footpath, and what kinds of raised beds I want.
My first apartment had a porch the size of a thimble and a backyard with only 10 square feet of green space. At the time, it didn’t occur to me that I could grow a thriving vegetable garden. Looking back, I see the missed opportunity and wish I could time travel to give my former self some vegetable garden design ideas for my small space. (I would also advise myself to steer clear of side bangs and gaucho pants, but that’s a tale for another blog!)
Good fences make good neighbors, but can they make good gardens, too? A vegetable garden border fence can accomplish a few different goals all at once. For one, it can keep rabbits and other critters from wreaking havoc on your vegetables.
