From my site, Heart & Soul Homestead
This article is focused on vegetable and herb gardens - I don’t do flowers except to line my garden with marigolds which supposedly keep wildlife away. I haven’t had too many problems!
If this is your first year of gardening, the best time to plan is during the winter because some varieties of vegetables (like tomatoes and lettuce) must be started early spring. I believe in most areas of the US, if not all, you can garden year-round (different crops for different temperatures - some vegetables must go through a winter before they germinate in the spring, and others fair well in cold temperatures). You’ll need to decide (use a calendar!) what to start when (and if it’ll be started in a container or cold frame or directly into the ground), when to transplant them outside. You can also do succession planting - planting your vegetables several times through the season so that you can harvest more fresh and ripe vegetables through the season rather than more or less all at once. This will require a lot of planning and preparing though, so keep good notes and a well marked calendar so you get everything planted on time.
The first thing I do when I plan my garden is to decide what I want to grow, how much and figure out if I have enough space. You don’t want to overcrowd your garden! My goal is to grow a garden plentiful enough to provide vegetables for my family year round (freeze, dry, or can the excess for the winter). In order to decide how much I need to grow, I take a look at the past months meal planning to decide what we need a lot of. Then I decide if I have enough space or if I need to turn over a new plot.
You also need to consider how tall your garden varieties will grow and plan wisely to prevent some vegetables from shading others out. I made the mistake of growing my sunflowers on the west side of my garden and my tomatoes on the north side of my garden - the sunflowers became so tall and leafy that my tomatoes didn’t get the sun they needed and as a result were very, very slow to produce and ripen. Next year my sunflowers will go on the north end of my garden, then my tomatoes, then the next smallest vegetable, etc.
Also take into consideration if your plants need full sun or partial shade. Study your garden area for a few days to decide what areas get full sun through the day and what other areas become shady and how soon they become shady. Take note and match these spots up with the plants that need ‘em. You learn a lot by trial and error though - my first year I paid no attention to how much sun something needed (until my tomatoes were lacking!). You can also create your garden in a way that provides partial shade for some plants by mid-day and plant these plants next to taller plants that will offer them the shade they need.
Consider how WIDE your vegetables will get. Squash, while not tall, spread all over the place. You either need to contain them with stakes, or plan a plot just for them. I’ll be doing this in 2008 - the squash I’ll grow will NOT be in my main garden!
How will you manage weed control? Weeds were overtaking my garden until I spread mulch over everything - that really helped keep the weeds at bay! There are other options you can try also.
Now it’s time to go shopping! Decide where you want to buy your seeds and order. Typically, one packet of seeds is more than enough for a home garden.
