Using A Garden Planner To Plan This Year's Vegetable Garden

This time of year, there's probably not much to do outside in your garden, but it is a great time of year to do some planning ahead! A garden planner is very helpful if you want to set up your vegetable garden in the most efficient and attractive way. You will be able to harvest many more delicious vegetables for your kitchen if you have taken some time to plan your garden before you start.

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There is not a one-size-fits-all vegetable garden planner because every garden is a little different. Your soil type, climate and the amounts of sun, shade and shelter in your garden will all play a part in determining which are the best vegetables for you to grow and where to locate them in your garden. However, you can use the hints and tips in this article to construct your own vegetable garden planner.

If you are planting vegetables within a bigger garden that also contains flowering plants and trees, then you can simply pick a good place for each vegetable according to whether they like sun or shade, etc..

On the other hand, if you have a dedicated vegetable plot, there are some points to consider when you are deciding on its location, as well as the location of individual plants within it. Most vegetables like to have quite a bit of sunlight but not necessarily to be in constant full sun.

Many plants require a lot of water in order to grow big, healthy vegetable crops, so one principle of your vegetable garden planner might be to site your plot near to a faucet or water source. If you do not have a faucet near your garden, you could grow your vegetables in a place that can be reached by a hose from your kitchen window - or install a rain barrel or tank to collect rainwater that you can then use to water your garden in a more sustainable manner.

You can also consider companion planting. This is a system of planting vegetables beside others that are mutually supportive. It may seem weird that plants can support each other, but they do, usually by repelling certain pests. The best known example is the 'three sisters': squash, maize and climbing beans. There are many other examples too, such as the allium family (onions, garlic, leeks) with the nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant), the brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) and carrots.

Square foot gardening is a popular option for many new vegetable gardens. This usually involves raised or ground-level beds of 4 ft width, divided into one foot squares, with a different vegetable in each square. Depending on the size of the plant, some plants will need a whole square for each, and others will happily grow two, four or more to a square foot. Having the beds only 4 ft wide allows you to reach everything. If you want a bigger vegetable garden, it is best to create paths between beds so that you have good access to your plants for weeding, harvesting and other tasks.

Do not forget to rotate the vegetables in your garden. This is essential for preventing many diseases from becoming established. For example if you always grow tomatoes in the same place, the fungal and other diseases that tend to attack tomatoes will gradually gain in strength over the years until they become a real problem in that spot. By keeping track of where everything is planted in your vegetable garden planner each year, and moving crops from one spot to another every year, you can prevent this.