How to Design a Vegetable Garden Layout in Any Space, Big or Small
Whether you have a large or small space, you can design a vegetable garden to grow fresh produce. There are many different vegetable garden layouts, from vertical gardening, raised gardening, to square meter gardens.
If you’re new to gardening, start with easy-to-grow tomatoes, lettuce, peas and radishes. Check out these eight vegetable garden designs to find the one that’s best for your space.
Vegetable Garden Design Basics
As when choosing any property, when designing a vegetable garden, the first thing you should consider is its location. You can then decide what size and type of garden will suit you best.
Location: Most vegetables require sunlight to produce healthy fruit. Find a location where the plant will receive full sunlight (6-8 hours) daily, near a water source with good drainage. You’ll have healthier plants if you lighten the watering and plant them in a well-drained area.
Soil Type: Vegetables need a lot of water, but don’t like soggy roots. If you plan to plant directly in the ground, what kind of soil do you have in your yard? Do you need to thoroughly improve the soil in your garden before planting?
Size. Consider the outdoor space available, the type and quantity of vegetables you want to grow, and the size of your family. Once you’ve made your decision, draw your garden plot to scale using graph paper to ensure you have enough space for what you want to grow.
Garden Type: If you have a yard or rocky soil that requires hard work to till and improve the soil to make it healthy enough to grow vegetables, you should consider growing vegetables in raised beds or containers. Raised beds can be large or small and are easier to plant and maintain. Container gardening is an ideal choice for small yards, terraces and balconies.
Raised Garden Beds
Raised garden bed frames, made of wood, metal or plastic, are raised above the ground and filled with garden soil. If you live in an area with a lot of rocks, poor soil, or excessive rainfall and poor drainage, raised beds are an ideal growing medium.
They are also useful in areas with a short growing season because the soil in the garden bed warms up faster in the spring, making it ideal for growing strawberries, lettuce and peas.
The beds are easy to weed, especially for people with limited mobility, and root crops are easy to collect, since the soil never becomes compacted when walking on it.
Garden in square feet
In a square meter garden, the bed needs to be raised a notch and the bed needs to be divided into squares so that each type of plant can be grown in a small space. The squares can also be individually built into 12″ x 12″ containers with a mulched path down the middle so you can access each growing area.
While any vegetable can be grown in a 1 square foot garden, it is best to choose varieties that will not grow too large or spread out.
Choose fingerling potatoes instead of russet potatoes or cherry tomatoes instead of larger steaks. Lettuce and herbs are excellent choices for a 1-square-foot garden because they can be harvested young and replanted regularly throughout the growing season.
Vertical Gardens
A vertical garden is ideal for small spaces and is often less expensive to create than other types of gardens. They are easy to access and can be replanted as the plant matures.
The structure can be homemade from landscape fabric or wood, or from commercial growing towers (usually plastic). The garden needs enough sunlight and good soil for vegetables. The disadvantage of vertical gardens is that they require frequent watering, usually twice a day.
The best vegetables to grow in a vertical garden are compact varieties such as lettuce, baby cabbage, dwarf beans, bush beans and collard greens. These plants have a shallow root system and mature quickly.
Four-Square Gardens
The four-square-foot garden consists of four raised beds with paths between them. Early English cottage gardens were often divided into four rectangular areas by two intersecting paths, giving rise to the term “four squares”.
Beds can be customized to suit your space and are ideal for growing a variety of vegetables while still providing access to each vegetable. The bed doesn’t have to be too high off the ground, just 6 to 8 inches deep is sufficient.
Some gardeners plant fruit trees or trellis vines in the middle of each bed and add vegetables each season. Vegetables can be planted in a diamond-shaped pattern, placing greens along the edge.
Gardening in Rows
A row garden is easy to fit into a small backyard. The soil needs to be loosened so that it becomes loose in the hands.
The best time to prepare the soil and fertilize a row garden is in the fall, but at least three weeks before you plan to plant in the spring. For a small garden, choose especially high-yielding plants such as beans, tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, radishes, onions, herbs, carrots and peppers.