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!
Ireland may be known for cabbage, carrots, and potatoes, but there’s much more to an Irish vegetable garden than these staple veggies. Of course, you can do a lot with these three vegetables. I’m thinking about a big pot of stew or roasted veggies or cabbage cooked up with a lot of garlic and some […]
For those of you who feel ready to take on a challenge and build a greenhouse from scratch, I applaud you. And for those of you who think this is a terrible idea, I get it. It sounds like an overwhelming task, especially when you think about a fancy greenhouse with panel after panel of […]
There’s something about a hanging vegetable arbor that turns a garden into a magical hideaway where you can breathe deep and enjoy nature. In a way, I suppose that’s true, too. Once the season is underway, you can stand underneath your arbor and be surrounded by lush greenery and dappled sunshine. I’ve even seen a […]
Dropping temperatures, frigid nights, and short days can only mean one thing! It’s time to start thinking about how to design a garden layout. Wait! Don’t go! This isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. There’s a lot of gardening that happens well before that last frost. Depending on your plans, you might be doing anything […]
When most people think of gardening, they envision a sprawling area with raised garden beds and trellises and neatly grown lettuces all in a row. However, some of the most beautiful gardens I’ve seen use vertical gardening techniques to grow more upward than outward. But what is vertical gardening?
What is crop rotation to the home gardener? Like you, I usually think of crop rotation in terms of bigger commercial farms, or even large home gardens. If you have a small backyard plot, or a space where you grow herbs beside your kitchen window, you might wonder what kind of crop rotation advantages really […]
Stone vs. mulch. It’s the final piece of the garden design puzzle. After we’ve decided what to plant in the garden, what kind of support trellises we want to make or buy, and what kind of watering system we’re using next season, there’s still the question of what kind of edging is best for an […]
Wooden pallets are used to transport just about everything in this world, from cosmetics and electronics to home goods and manufacturing materials. And thanks to the dawn of Pinterest and other DIY websites and TV shows, pallets have been getting a new life, by being upcycled into furniture pieces, fencing, and even garden structures.
I love how something so simple as a little seed, with some soil, sunshine, and water, can grow into a bountiful tomato plant or ears of corn or a dozen summer squash. I also know how frustrating it can be to watch your plants succumb to mystery diseases, get eaten by bugs or rabbits or skunks, or just wither and die because they aren’t getting the right nutrients. And that’s why I also love partner planting.
You don’t really need an excuse for planting in raised beds. They help you control the health of the soil, they define your space, and they can help deter some garden pests. My favorite benefit, though, is that raised beds are a lot easier to work with. Lower back, upper back, neck – you name it and planting in raised beds can make it better.
