Planning a Garden for Beginners

The slow winter months being shut inside are the perfect time to day dream about spring. Spring for me means gardening. If you want to get started gardening but are unsure how, keep reading this guide to planning a garden for beginners!

Why grow a garden?

Whether you are wanting a beautiful oasis full of flowers and maybe a few edibles in your backyard, or tight and neat rows for a vegetable patch, knowing why you want to garden will help you decide what you want to put in it.

If you’re strictly interested in vegetables, then there’s no need to look at anything ornamental. However, if you like beauty and function in a garden, you can start thinking about what flowers you might want scattered throughout.

This article on planning a garden for beginners is meant to take the stress out of trying to be perfect and to find gardening enjoyable. Grow what you think will bring you joy.

Space:

What you can grow can in part is determined by the amount of space you have. It’s very hard to grow a pumpkin patch on an apartment balcony, but things such as tomatoes, greens or even summer squash work great.

If you have a small backyard, seriously consider a raised bed. If you have unlimited space and want to grow tons of food, think about an in ground garden as well as raised beds.

Budget:

You can grow a garden with very little money. However, your budget will determine some things about your garden.

An in ground garden is the cheapest option. However, raised beds can be built quickly and cheaply. Container gardens can be done on a budget as well.

The seeds you buy may be determined by your budget. If all you can afford are packs of seeds from the dollar store, don’t fret! Those seeds will still produce abundant food for you! Also look into seed swaps. Many libraries or community centers hold them across the U.S. each year.

For more info on frugal gardening, check out this article here!

Varieties:

Probably the most exciting part about planning a garden is deciding what varieties of veggies, herbs and flowers will be grown. There are tons of heirloom seed catalogs full of beautiful photos of exotic varieties.

When deciding on what varieties you want to grow, consider a few things first:

• What do I and my family like to eat? There’s no use growing food if it’s just going to go to waste. Give space to the things you enjoy.
• Am I going to preserve food or just eat it fresh? If you want to preserve food, make sure you have a way to do it and recipes all ready in mind for certain veggies. If you don’t want to preserve anything, make sure you are planting only enough to be eaten fresh. Staggering you plantings or succession sowing really helps with this!
• If growing flowers, how long do I want blooms? I am by no means a professional when it comes to flower gardening. I simply sow flowers throughout my vegetable garden willy nilly for the pollinators and because they make me happy. But, consider staggering bloom times so that you can have that beauty all season!
• Grow what grows well in your area. I am a big advocate for experimenting with cool and rare varieties. But, if you are planning on a big harvest, make sure you plant crops that are sure to grow well where you live too. Co-ops and feed and seed stores are great places to find local varieties adapted to your climate.

So, how do I make my plan once I’ve decided where, how and what to grow?

1. Write it down, draw it out.

Write down all the varieties that you have found that you want to grow. Next, draw out your garden! If you know how many rows you will have or how many raised beds, make a visual on a piece of paper.

• Check the spacing of all of your plants. You can then decide how many of each you can grow. For example, if I have a 10′ foot row and I want to grow tomatoes, I will plant five tomato plants because I like to keep them about 2′ feet apart.

2. Find your first/last frost dates.

This can easily be found with a quick internet search. You need to know this date for two reasons. The first is so that you know about when to direct sow the seeds you will direct sow.

Second, you need to know when to start the seeds that you will have to start inside. The back of your seed packet will give you this info. Here is an article on seed starting to get you started.

Writing down when you need to get started on each variety will keep you from missing the window of time when things need to be planted.

Note: Don’t strictly go by the first/last frost dates. Always check your ten day forecast when it comes near to make sure danger of frost is completely gone!

3. Prepare you garden space.

Now is the time to make a plan. Planning a garden for beginners is just that, planning! This way you have everything ready when those first and last frost dates hit. When planning an in ground garden, wait closer to spring before you till the ground. If you are planning a no till garden, you should prepare it beforehand, especially when using cardboard.

If you are growing in raised beds or containers, you can already begin filling them with soil. Be sure to mulch the soil well no matter what method you are choosing.

4. Plant away!

Plant your seeds and starts and don’t forget to continue to care for them. Water regularly, weed when you can and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Have fun!

When planning a garden for beginners, don’t stress over it being perfect. Growing a garden is supposed to be enjoyable. Don’t stress so much over every detail that you forget to have fun in the process. You will learn over the years of gardening, not just in one season. Enjoy every moment of it and savor every bite from the delicious produce your garden will produce.