Veggie Garden Planning Tips

Fired up already about next year’s garden? Then let’s get planning!

For the preceding two years , my fiancee and I have taken a retreat during the Thanksgiving vacation to escape for a couple of days . In most caseful , this mean “ going analogue ” and doing things that do n’t take a data processor , tab or smartphone . This has become the favourite time to start planning next class ’s garden . The follow point this undertaking and offers suggestions to anyone who ’s already fired up about their 2013 vegetable garden .

The list of matter you ’ll take :

1 . Graph paper2 . Writing pad3 . Pencils and erasers , or pens4 . Comfortable chair ( but nottoocomfortable)5 . Your 2012 seed catalogs6 . Your favorite beverage and snacks7 . data on planting dates , spacing prerequisite , etc . ( printed out preferably).Optional : Tracing paper , photos from this year ’s garden

get your feet up with everything listed above within easy scope ? unspoilt … let ’s get plan . The first thing I like to do is get into the humour and get the creative garden juices flowing . There ’s no better way to do that than flipping through your seed catalogs . If you ’re like me , you ’ve in all likelihood thrown them in a closet or lodged ’em between pile of old magazine .

After you ’ve been filled with inspiration from the seed catalogs , it ’s clip to list what you wanna grow next yr . I be intimate this seems like common sense , but I ’ve started many a garden programme without asking myself ( or my kinfolk ) , “ whatamI growing next year ? ”

Now it ’s time to put on your plant - somebody - house decorator - architect hat . unmixed graph paper works great for this . Figure out the scale to use on the paper , and first pull out the remote boundary of your garden country . If your garden is only a raised layer , then you ’re done for the mo . If the garden is part of your yard , let in obvious objects like trees , fences , margin , etc . Then draw in the edges of your raised bed if you have ’em .

With your list of veggies to grow , along with info on planting appointment , spacing requirement , etc . , map out which plants are die where . Photos from this year ’s garden are quite helpful here as a visual reference . Consider such things as crop rotation , plant pinnacle and succession planting . Also consider whether you ’re go to integrate bloom with your veggie ( always a just approximation ) . Did you plant certain thing too close to each other ? Did they produce magniloquent than you carry ? Are you gon na put in an irrigation system ? intellectual nourishment for thought ( no pun intend ) .

Now that you ’ve position out how your garden is gon na search , ride back and celebrate . The chances are good that you ’ll make several changes to the design , both before and once the season gets started . This is normal and expect . At least now you ’ve got a secret plan architectural plan ; so you ’re not wasting time , grease one’s palms too much , or even worse , forgetting something . You also now have a unripe light to start ordain those seeds , unless it can wait until the 2013 catalogs arrive .

What other path do you plan next class ’s garden ?

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Veggie Garden Tidbits, Volume I

Fall Garden Planning & To-Do List

Garden Planning for Cooks and Foodies

Garden Planning

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