Most garden Catalogs have seed available year-round. This information can be found with a quick search through the Plant Hardiness Zone Map To avoid this, plan to get your garden in after the last average frost date in the spring. If you plant too early you may be in danger of experiencing a frost event. The timing of your planting is key to getting the most out of your garden. The size of plants planned to be grown needs to be considered. How many people are in your family and what are their taste preferences? What vegetables you want to grow? What is your availability of time to garden. If this is your first garden, you may want to plant vegetables you are sure you and your family like. Do you want a little of everything, or do you want to test out different varieties of a specific fruit or vegetable? Family needs and wants. Think about amount of space you have and how much you want to harvest, consider what you want to plant. To measure, simply calculate the length times width of your space to get the number of square feet.

This will determine how much you can plant. How Much Space Do You Have?įind out how much space you have to work with. Put the garden in an appropriate location that you will want to visit every day. The looks of the garden may also be a consideration as to the location. Watering Your Garden is crucial for the garden’s health and growth. Access to a nearby water source is very important. When selecting the location for your garden, be sure the soil is deep and drains well. It’s essential to consider how much land will be available and whether or not the location of the land is suitable for growing vegetables. The Size and Location of the Garden Will Depend on a Variety of Factors Closely related plants frequently have the same disease and bug difficulties and should not follow each other in a crop or plant rotation. It’s important to know, so that you can rotate the crops to prevent planting closely related plants in the same space. This will also give you an easy reminder in the future of where each plant was the year before. Planning Your Garden Ahead is Absolutely Necessary! It’s important and fun to make a map of your garden to scale to decide where you want to plant what. If you plan to garden all year or for several seasons you may need separate plans for spring, summer, and fall. Draw a map showing the arrangement and spacing of the plants you wish to grow. One that shows existing buildings, impervious surfaces, and landscape features. One of the first steps to planning the garden is to create a base map.

Planning Your Garden on paper first is critical to a good garden experience. Plan Before You Plant Garden Plan on Paper It’s no overstatement to say that a comprehensive garden plan alone can double or triple the productivity of a garden. You’ll need to consider which crops to raise, how much of each crop to plant, and when to expect your crop. Taking the time to prepare a helpful plan is one of the most significant things you can do for your garden.

Southwest garden planner template