Planting a vegetable garden provides you with fresh produce as close as your own back yard or patio. There are a number of different ways to plan a vegetable garden. With a little research, you will find the design that works best for you whether you have a large piece of property or a small space. Does this Spark an idea?
Rows
A vegetable garden planted in straight rows is fairly easy to plan and execute. Before planting, lay out your garden on paper, or place stakes at each end of the garden and run string from one stake to the other to define your rows. Be sure to plan for a path between each row. The length of the rows depends on the size of the garden.
Raised Bed
You can design a raised bed garden by simply mounding the soil where you wish to plant or by enclosing it in wooden frames. The boxed raise bed garden is preferable because the soil warms more quickly, allowing you to plant your garden earlier. When you plant a raised bed garden, keep the bed between 3 and 4 feet wide. The beds may be as long as you wish.
Block
Block, also known as close row, gardens allow you to grow more produce in less area than traditional row gardens because you are eliminating the paths between the rows. You will plant blocks of vegetables in rows running across raised beds.
For example, begin at one end of the box and plant rows of carrots in a block running across the 3- or 4-foot bed. Then, plant rows of onions next to the carrots followed by rows of lettuce. Because bed that are not more than 4 feet wide are easy to access, there is no need for paths between the rows.
Container
If your space is limited to a patio or very small green space, consider planting your vegetables in containers. You can use a variety of containers from bushel baskets to traditional terracotta pots, but be sure they drain well. You might want to add an inch or two of gravel to the bottom of the pot to ensure good drainage. Choose pot sizes according to the type of vegetable you will plant in each pot. Most vegetables will require 5-gallon containers, but small vegetables like chives, green onions and most herbs do fine in pots 6 to 10 inches in diameter.
Companion Planting
Mixing vegetables and other species of plants in the same garden is known as companion planting. This type of garden design is fluid and many combinations of vegetables, herbs and flowers can be planted together, each benefiting from the other.
Planting marigolds with vegetables helps keep away many types of garden insects, while combining basil and tomatoes produces better flavor in both as well as repelling flies and mosquitoes. You can practice companion gardening in any garden design as well as mixing vegetables into your flower beds or bordering your garden paths with them.
