Kitchen Gardening Planning

A Training PresentationBy

Mr. Allah Dad Khan Agriculture Consultant KPK Province Pakistan

Planning a Vegetable Garden

Planning is the first and most basic step in home vegetable gardening. Planning not only saves time when you’re ready to plant but also gives you an idea of the types and quantities of seeds or plants you’ll need. Most importantly,planning helps assure that the home garden will satisfy your needs and desires.

Raise your beds

Once you've imagined the exterior shape possibilities of your space, consider the dual concepts of "raised" and "multiple" bedding plans as the interior design ideal. Early gardeners, from the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan to the ancient Egyptians to 9th-century Swiss monks, recognized that a bed raised even a scant 6 inches above path level provided infinitely better drainage than a bed built flush with the soil. Gardeners today also find that raised beds heat up faster in spring, adding days (or even weeks) to your growing season. Raised beds allow for far easier soil amendment, too. Build up a bed 12 or 18 inches above path grade, and you can fill it with the ideal mix of topsoil and other amendments. And when the soil is at shin level, weeding and harvesting are less of a strain on your back.

The four square garden is based on a very simple layout.

The garden is usually divided into four square or rectangular garden beds with two perpendicular paths (like a plus sign +) running between them. These paths could be composed of paving stones, packed earth, gravel, wood shavings or even lawn. At the intersection of the two paths, there could be a focal point such as a statue or a pond. In 12th century England, this garden was generally in the front yard, with the entrance to the garden being a white picket gate, although it could be an arbor or trellis covered with a flowering vine. Typically the garden was surrounded by a protective enclosure such as a rock wall, fence or hedge. Of course, you must be careful to avoid shading your vegetables growing inside though

The four square garden is based on a very simple layout. The traditional vegetable garden layout is to plant the vegetables in rows,

each row growing a different type of vegetable. Each row usually runs from north to south to take full advantage of the morning and afternoon sun. The seeds are sown in single rows using string and stakes to keep the rows straight. Enough space needs to be left between the rows to allow room to walk and to comfortably gather your produce. If your ground is not level, and you want to plant in rows, the rows should run across the slope rather than up and down, to prevent the soil from being washed away when the garden is watered.

Raised Bed Layout

Although it is not strictly a particular vegetable garden layout, the raised garden bed (an example of which issquare foot gardening) is included here because it is often planted in blocks rather than rows. Vegetables are normally planted closer together than in the row vegetable garden layout making this is an ideal choice if you only have space for a small vegetable garden.

Formal Asymmetrical Garden Layout

A formal assymetrical garden layout is ideal if you don't want to be too rigid but you do prefer a sense of order. You can do this by experimenting with different geometric shapes (for the paths or the garden beds) next to each other or overlapping, strong lines or repetition of elements to get the desired effect. Using curving lines, modern materails or casual furniture will make this style seem less rigid.

Adding a formal clipped hedge as the border of the garden, pond, or individual beds will add to the structured feel of the garden. Or you could grow your own topiary using a potted boxwood or bay tree and trimming it to fit a frame

The plants

Maximise your kitchen garden space and plant a fast-growing ‘cash crop’, such lettuce, in between a slower-growing main crop, such as sweet corn or broccoli: the lettuce is ready to harvest before the main crop matures, so does not disturb it.

Place taller plants at the back of your vegetable garden so they won’t steal all the sunshine, then you can squeeze a row of a low-growing crop such as rocket, spring onion or radish between taller crops in the kitchen garden.

Endive, radicchio or spinach are useful additions to a kitchen garden bed as they can cope even in partial shade.

The higher a plant climbs, the more important it is to tie in the main steams with expandable kitchen garden ties.

If the soil of your vegetable garden is supporting lots of tall growth, it will need additional water and nutrients and should be mulched well and fed regularly.

Step-By-Step Planning

With these general principles in mind here are my recommendations for placing plants in a new vegetable garden:

Tender Plants: Plants such as tomatoes, peppers, aubergine (eggplant), basil etc are the most fussy. Unless your climate is extremely warm you’ll want to reserve the best sunny spots in your garden for these high-value crops so add them to your plan first. South facing walls can be particularly good for providing the heat that these plants like in order to produce an abundant harvest.

Roaming Plants: Next place plants that like to send out vines that roam around the garden – melon, squash etc. These need to be situated at the edge of your vegetable beds so the broad leaves attached to the vines don’t cover your other plants. Placing them at the edge lets them spread out across paths or grass.

Vertically Climbing Plants: Anything that grows up supports – peas, beans and some squash such as cucumbers, will need to be located where they won’t shade other vegetables. The one exception is areas with very hot summers where some cool-season crops such as lettuce and spinach can benefit from shade in the heat of the day.

Irrigation: Some plants perform badly in dry conditions – celery, onions, strawberries Areas of your garden that are slightly lower will retain more moisture or you may need to plan to provide irrigation to get consistent growth.

The vegetables

Vegetables include asparagus which, once established in the kitchen garden, looks after itself, yielding tasty spears in late spring, followed by fern-like fronds that add foliage among flowers.

Red orach is another beautiful favourite, its young leaves delicious in salads, while the mature leaves taste like spinach when cooked.

A cold frame is invaluable for bringing on crinkly red lettuces, leeks or sweetcorn to fill any gaps.

Grow in your vegetable garden seedlings in ‘pots’ crafted from newspaper, filled with soil and tied with jute string. Plant into beds and the paper rots down.

Easy access is essential so lay reclaimed terracotta tiles through the beds to avoid damaging plants.

The vegetables

Pollination: Certain plants need to be near others in order to pollinate well and ‘set fruit’ (ie produce the edible portion). The main one you need to consider is sweet corn which should be grown in blocks to ensure that it produces full cobs – see our article on sweetcorn for details.

Accessibility: What plants do you want to be able to regularly harvest? Herbs, salad, tomatoes etc..? These should all be placed as near to your kitchen as possible. Not only will you then be more likely to use them but it will help you to keep on top of the weeds and remove slugs regularly.

Succession Planting: If you are short of space or want a crop throughout the season, consider using succession planting and intercropping – see my article ongetting more crops from an area and our video on using the Garden Planner to organise Succession Planting.

Don't Overcrowd: Finally, tempting though it is, be very careful not to overcrowd plants as you add in the remaining ones to your plan. This is the number 1 mistake made by new gardeners and it’s easy to see why – plants look so small as seedlings and we all hate pulling up the result of our hard

An Art or a Science?

Gardening is both an art and a science and it’s that tension that is at the root of the confusion for many new gardeners. There are scientific principles that need to be followed – overcrowding plants or growing in poor-quality soil will set you up for failure. In subsequent years the principles of crop rotation will add more constraints. However, that still allows for a lot of different possibilities and the art is in placing plants in a way that makes best use of your space without breaking any of the rules.

I hope the step-by-step method above will help with avoiding many potential problems but it’s worth remembering that these aren’t a hard and fast set of rules. The art is in using these guiding principles to design something that’s uniquely your garden and, with experience, that becomes a very satisfying and enjoyable process.

Make a Plan

 Sketch out your proposed garden area(s) and decide how many plants will fit in each space. Keep these plans, even after you've planted your crops. It's best if you rotate crops each year, so you'll want to keep track of what you're doing now to help you in years to come. The layout for a small vegetable garden can be as simple or as complex as you'd like to make it. The important thing is spending some time planning at the beginning and then keeping track of what you decide.

Plan your Vegetable Garden Layout

Planning a vegetable garden layout before you start working the soil, buying seeds or plants is an important step. This will save you time, energy and money later on. In this step you will draw your vegetable garden plan to scale on a piece of paper. This is something I do during the long winter months.

If you do not have the time to plan your own garden check out myvegetable garden plans ebooks . Here you will find easy to follow diagrams on where and when to plant a vegetable garden for raised beds, row gardening and square foot gardens.

How are you going to grow?

Are you going to grow in raised beds, in containers, in level rows, in a greenhouse? Your choice will depend on where yourgarden site is located. If you can, make your vegetable rows face north to south for best distribution of light.

Mark your pathways.Make sure you leave room to walk between rows to make it easier to water, weed and observe the plant without crushing it. 12-16 inches is needed for a pathway, a little more if you plan to bring a wheelbarrow or cart through. I suggest making wider pathways at the end of the rows so you can maximize your growing area.

What vegetables do you want to grow?If you need help with this there are questions you can answer at planting a vegetable garden.

Vegetable crops should be rotated 

Vegetable crops should be rotated each year because plants require different amounts of nutrients and attract particular pests and disease. By using crop rotation you are promoting healthier plants and soil in your vegetable garden layout. A simple way to start learning about vegetable gardening crop rotation is to divide your vegetables into three basic groups:

Root crops - beets, carrots, potatoes Brassicas - broccoli, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, 

cauliflower,radish, turnip, rutabaga, kale Everything else - lettuce, onion, peas, spinach, swiss

chard,beans, corn, peppers, squash, tomatoes You will then plant each group in a different area each year.

Vegetable crops should be rotated  What does each vegetable require for best

growth? What kind of spacing does it need? Is it a cool or heat loving plant? Does it mature quickly or need a long growing season? Does it need lots of heat to grow well? Is indoor growing

possible? Do you have a shady area? Which plants will grow best? Do you have dry or wet areas? Which ones like more

moisture? Will the plant need some kind of support or trellising?

Placement of your vegetables.

Divide the site into three sections (4 if you are planting perennial vegetables). Label them A,B,C,D. Each year plant a different vegetable group (listed above) in each section. Perennials remain in the same section each year.

Within each section organize the vegetables by how much space they need.

Place the ones that mature earlier in one area so you can plant something else later in the season in that same spot.

Place any perennial type vegetables (i.e. asparagus, herbs) on the outside area of the garden so they will not be disturbed when you till the other three sections of the garden.

Choosing the Site

Vegetables grow best in an open, level area where the soil is loose, rich, and well drained. If the quality of the soil is poor, mix in 2-3 inches of topsoil, peat moss, strawy manure, compost, or leaves plus fertilizer. The more organic matter or topsoil you add, the more you’ll improve your soil. Avoid heavy clays, sandy soils, and shady spots

Clearance with Trees and Shrubs

Vegetables grow best in an open, level area where the soil is loose, rich, and well drained. If the quality of the soil is poor, mix in 2-3 inches of topsoil, peat moss, straw manure, compost, or leaves plus fertilizer.

Sunlight: Most vegetable garden plants need full sun to thrive and produce their best. (Full sun means at least 6 hours of direct sun during the day.) Realistically, you may not have this ideal spot. So if you’ll be tilling a new garden, what’s most important? Number one is sunlight. You can improve soil and build windbreaks, but you can’t move the sun! So choose the sunniest spot you garden.

Start with Design

Do you want to create a kitchen garden that's as beautiful to look at as it is productive? Start by banishing the idea of a single, vast patch of upturned earth with regiment after regiment of linearly disposed vegetables marching across it. Instead embrace the idea of growing vegetables in a decorative, multiple-parterre planting within a fenced or walled space. You have now opened the door to a far more pleasurable experience on every level. More soothing to be in. Far easier to work.

The first step on this journey is to eliminate the prototypical rectangle from your vocabulary and let your mind wander freely over all the other geometric possibilities. Picture an octagonal garden. Or a square one with semicircular island beds, or one further divided into pie-wedged beds, or even a quartet of rooms. How about an enfilade of smaller plots linked by fruit trees trained into arbor form, chaining across a lawn or encircling a central water feature?

Soil

Choose the spot in your yard that has the best soil. You may be able to distinguish the quality of your soil by looking at your lawn. If it looks lush and healthy, then the soil supporting it is probably good for a garden. Don't pick the spot where the lawn is the worst, and figure you can get out of reseeding by locating your garden there. And avoid low spots that stay wet in the spring.

Protection from wind:

Strong winds dry out plants and soil, and can topple tall plants like corn and sunflowers. Wind is a little harder to plan for, but if you have the choice, choose a spot that is protected from your area’s prevailing winds. If your worst winds come from the north, then a garden on the south edge of a row of trees will receive some protection. Just be sure your windbreak doesn’t shade your garden! You can set up a snow fence or plant some low shrubs to help break the wind without sacrificing sunlight.

Water:

Locate your garden near a water source, or have hoses that will reach it. (Underground soaker hoses save water and time, so consider installing them before you plant.)

Choosing Varieties

How do you choose among all those luscious-sounding tomato varieties! (Especially if you are looking at photos on a cold January day!) Though there’s nothing wrong with choosing a variety because you like how it looks, you may want to consider some other characteristics that can make your job as gardener a little easier.

Disease Resistance

There are cultivars (cultivated varieties) of many garden plants that have shown resistance to certain pests. If you

know a pest is common in your region, by all means choose a resistant variety! If you don’t know what pests you

might encounter, you might want to plant a few disease-resistant plants

Short or Long Season

If you like to have the first ripe tomatoes on the block, or you live in a region with relatively short summers, choose varieties that mature the fastest. Some tomato varieties, for example, ripen 60 days after transplanting, while others need 85 days or more to maturity.

Growing Habit

Bush beans, as the name implies, grow as small, freestanding plants, while pole beans need something to climb. Some types of squash grow in compact form, while others need lots of space for their vines to run

Hybrid or Open-Pollinated

Hybrid plants often are more productive and disease-resistant than open-pollinated (non-hybrid) varieties. However, there’s a drawback. If you like to save seed at the end of the season for planting the following year, avoid hybrids. Their seed doesn’t come true -- that is, the resulting offspring plants may not have all the positive characteristics of the parent plant.

Seeds or Transplants?

Which seeds should you sow directly in the garden, and which do better if you plant them as seedlings (either purchasing transplants or starting the seeds indoors yourself)?

Many garden plants do just fine when you sow the seed directly in the garden. These plants usually mature relatively fast; so direct sowing works well. Plants with taproots, such as carrots, generally don’t transplant well, so it’s best to start them from seed right in the garden too.

Other plants have long growing seasons, or must be planted outdoors in early spring so they mature before the hot weather arrives. These do best when set in the garden as transplants.

Direct sow: Beans, beets, carrots, corn, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, peas, radish, potato

Plant transplants: Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, okra,

asparagus, rhubarb You can go either way with these: Cucumbers, squash, muskmelon, watermelon, pumpkins, gourds

Size of Kitchen GardenIf you are new to gardening, you may wish to start with a relatively small garden, say 10 foot x 20 foot. Enthusiastic novices often till up a huge garden area, and then abandon it to the weeds by July. A small, well-tended garden will produce more than more than a large, neglected oneSingle rows or wide-row beds? If space is at a premium, creating 3- to 4-foot-wide beds will allow you to grow more plants than if you plant in long single rows because less space is wasted on paths. Plants in wide rows are spaced closer together, making it easier to weed, feed, and water them. Wide-row plantings do not have to be raised-bed plantings, but like raised beds, the width of the row should be such that you can easily reach the center of the bed from each side (3 to 4 feet)

Square Foot Gardening

Square-foot gardening is a form of intensive gardening where you block off squares of space for crops rather than planting them in rows. The namecomes from partitioning blocks of gardens space that are 1 ft by 1 ft. Each square holds a different vegetable, flower, or herb. These small 1-foot squares are grouped together into blocks Measuring 4 ft by 4 ft square.