Setting up your garden plan

If you are anything like me you want to get right in there and just plant some seeds! But I have learnt I do actually have to plan even if it’s just the basics of knowing what goes where.

I am not by nature a detailed person and I find it very hard to stick to the plan that I make…but over the last 4 years, while I have kept it flexible, I have known where to sow what seeds, when to get them started and how to care for them until harvesting.

Here are some basic principles to keep in mind when making your garden plan:

1. How much space do I have to devote to vegetables?

When I first grew veggies I had a small area of about 5 X 3m some 17 years ago. It was not successful as it was partly shady due to a towering oak tree. It became snail food for the most part! In a later house I had a larger area but the soil was very poor and there was a guava tree that sapped most of the nutrition from the ground.

When moving to Johannesburg in 1999 we created raised beds on a concrete patio which was in full sun and we had our first taste of real homegrown vegetables.

Whether you have loads of space to set up raised beds, only space for one bed or simply just room for a container veggie garden, grow something! I always get a little thrill knowing that the herbs that are flavouring my stews are from the garden, that the lettuce leaves in the salad are grown by our soil or even that the bowl of broad beans are ours.

I think many of us what to have a plate full of food all homegrown, but sometimes it is just not possible with the space that we have at the moment.

2. How much sun does this area get?

This is really the defining issue with a garden plan. Vegetables need full sun for a good few hours each day. They can handle all day full sun providing they have rich moist soil to grow in.

Salad leaves can tend to want a little shade so you can take this into account for areas that only get a couple of hours.

3. What do we like to eat?

This is another consideration because the temptation is to grow a whole lot of things and then realize that your family doesn’t actually like turnips in everything :(

Make a list of the veggies and herbs you find yourself buying most of the time and using in your recipes. Then look at where you can grow them.  

We don’t like runner beans that much but I have a handful of recipes that use them and I will plan less space for these and more space for tomatoes which we eat at almost every meal.

4. Give yourself a little instant gratification!

Plan some fast growing veggies too so that you don’t get despondent waiting 90 days for your first corn! Radishes, watercress, coriander, spinach and lettuce tend to come in quicker than the veggies that have to develop big heads like broccoli and cabbage or ears like corn.

Once those basics are down you can also consider what style of garden you want. There are so many types of veggie gardeners now, each with their benefits, but you have to like the look and have the money to set it up.

A friend of mine had a gorgeous permaculture garden with her chook domes over round beds and her volumes of produce were amazing. However they lived on a small hilltop farm, had a full time gardener and loads of space for the round beds.

Another friend has a large tunnel on her farm and they grow and eat all their own produce.

The inspirational Woodwind Circle community garden, run by other friends, used the deep dig method for their garden. Then there are those who love the idea of square foot gardening and all the benefits that it has with companion planting and growing large varieties of veggies.

I based our original garden on a simpleraised bed system. We tried to include many permaculture ideas into the planning. My inspiration came from the Pasadena Urban Homestead where their plot was full of raised beds, intensively composted and planted. We have a long way to go to achieve anywhere near their volumes as our space is smaller and we are not full time gardeners.

However, the point simply is to do the best that you can in the space that you have, the funds you have available and the time you can give to this endeavor.

So once you know where you are going to plant, what you are going to plant and which system you are going to use you can do one of two things:

1.     Grab a piece of paper, roughly plot out the area and write what you will grow where….OR….

2.     You can use an online planning system like this garden planner (which I use) that makes it nice and simple, but there is a little learning curve to get over.

You can go an read a bit more on my oldwebsite (now sold) where I put much more information about different ways to grow vegetables.

If you have a couple of hours, I suggest that you watch some of the videos on Grow Veg channel at Youtube. While the point is to sell you their garden planner, the videos are loaded with great planning, planting and growing tips and whenever I am low on inspiration I always make a point of watching their practical tips.

In a couple of days I will put up a post about the most important things to take note of when you choose seeds and how to get them started.

Happy Planning!!!