Plan Your Garden

Decisions, decisions

This is the second post in the Kitchen Garden series.

One of my absolute favorite things to do when it comes to gardening is deciding what to plant. Even though we have only had small garden spaces over the last few years, we already have thousands and thousands of seeds because of our love of the planning and growing process. This year, because we were able to snag a bigger garden space we are trying to be more careful in our planning and seed selection. We’ve spent a lot more time talking about how to organize our plot and what best to plant, as well as to evaluate what plants grow well in the Pacific Northwest. It’s our first growing season here, so we hope that we will make a lot of right decisions in our garden.

Your climate

I will admit that this post is probably coming a bit late for many of you. If you live in an area that has true four seasons, you should have already started your seeds mid to late last month. For those of you who experience a longer and earlier growing season, then you should have started your seeds in February or perhaps even earlier. If you can garden year-round, then it probably doesn’t really matter when you start your seeds, but you should figure out if there are optimum times of the year to grow specific plants in your area. Additionally, you should find out when your average last frost date is, because this helps determine when the best time to start your seeds is or when you can direct sow (planting your seeds directly into the ground). For an average last spring frost date and average first frost date for fall in your area, visit the Old Farmer’s Almanac website (it has dates for both the United States and Canada).

I have always lived in areas where there are four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter. I have experienced small variations on the weather, but overall my growing season starts in mid to late spring and ends in late fall and early winter. Because of this, I will be making recommendations based upon my personal experience – but if your experience is different than mine, do some research for your area of the world and find out when it’s best to start seeds and direct sow for your climate. You can always experiment, but you may find it’s easier – and less expensive – to follow in the footsteps of your local gardeners who have already figured out what has worked.

Evaluate your garden space

What is your garden space like?

Obviously if you live in an apartment and your garden is just a container or two, then the most challenging part for you is probably going to be deciding what you most want to plant. If, however, you’re like us and you have a larger garden plot (ours is 10 feet by 30 feet), you may want to take some time to ask yourself a few key questions like:

• What is the quality of the soil? Is it rocky? Is it sandy soil or clay soil (or a mixture)?
• Do I need to purchase additional dirt, compost or manure?
• Will I want to install garden boxes? If yes, how large should I build them or have them built (or buy them)?
• Where is my garden in relation to a water source? Will I need to purchase a water hose?
• Do I want to experiment with any particular way of gardening in some area of my garden (i.e. square foot gardening or bio-intensive gardening)?

For us, our soil is extremely rocky and compressed, so we have had to focus primarily on digging up the soil and trying to extract the larger rocks. We have also purchased a couple of bags of compost (and we may have to purchase more) to supplement the soil. Because of the amount of work that we have had to put into this garden space so far, we may choose to have garden boxes next year which is likely to be an additional cost not only with the boxes themselves but with the soil we will need to purchase.

Decide what you will plant

Grow things you like

There are several things to keep in mind as you decide what you intend to plant, but the first thing I would recommend is to create a list of plants you think you may want to try to grow (vegetables, herbs, berries, flowers, etc.). If you have never gardened before, my suggestion would be to keep it simple the first year – for example, try to keep it to something like five items (like tomatoes, basil, onions, okra and strawberries). If you don’t mind experimenting and seeing what works and what doesn’t, then you can do more, but don’t overwhelm yourself.

Once you have a list, do a little research on companion planting. This is something that I have only recently gotten into, but it can mean the difference between really good looking strawberries, for example, and having strawberry plants that don’t produce as much or as good of strawberries.

What is companion planting? It is the practice of planting together specific kinds of plants that give each other benefit, or where one plant supports another. If you do research, you’ll know that tomatoes and basil and onions all grow well together, but if you grow tomatoes and kohlrabi next to each other the tomato plant’s growth will be stunted. There is a really great website that has a pretty comprehensive list of plants that would benefit each other.

Take that list of plants you want to try and grow and put them into groups of plants that would benefit each other. There will most certainly be overlap, but do your best. You may even be able to get a little creative with your layout (i.e. using borage as a border plant between groups – it’s a plant that benefits nearly everything).

Purchase your seeds or plants

Choosing seeds

While it’s easy to purchase seeds from the most well known seed companies, I do think it is more interesting and sustainable to purchase from some lesser-known and positive-impact seed organizations.

Seed Savers Exchange – This is a non-profit organization that sells heirloom seeds that have been saved by farmers and gardeners all over the country (and world). It’s a great way to get introduced to little known varieties of food plants, or to purchase seeds that you know work well in your climate (for example, if you live in Washington you can find seeds that have been grown in Washington). You can purchase seeds online, or you can also find a Seed Savers Exchange seed rack in some garden stores.

Victory Seeds – This is a family owned and operated organization that grows rare and heirloom seeds. They are non-GMO, and offer a wide variety of seeds.

Seeds of Change – They are certified organic and offer over 1,200 seed varieties. They also have a research farm which ensures that what they sell will be productive.

One thing I do want to point out is that you don’t have to start seeds to have a garden. If you go to any garden store, you will find hundreds or thousands of plants available to you that are ready to put into the ground or large container. That said, starting seeds is an extremely rewarding process and one that I highly recommend. The next post in this series will discuss exactly how you can start seeds.

Have you already begun to plan your garden?

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