The Garden Plan
Gardening — By Shannon on January 2, 2009 at 7:52 pmNow that it’s January, gardening may be the last thing on your mind. Of course it depends on where you live — while our friends south of the equator enjoy long days and warm temperatures, I can tell you it’s cold here North Carolina.
Nonetheless, winter is one of the best times to think about gardening! The cold winter months when many plants lie dormant are the perfect time to plan your garden layout and decide on your vegetable, fruit and flower choices.
Selecting The Location
Some of you may already know from experience where to locate your garden plots so as to get the most from your land. But if you are starting fresh, now is the best time to chose your location. Find a place with the most sun throughout the day. There are very few fruits or vegetables that do well in shade. Most fruiting plants need at least six hours of sun daily to create their bounty, but more is even better.
Choosing a Bed
A traditional bed is plowed directly into the ground. While it’s easy to turn the soil in a small plot with a hand hoe, the larger the plot, the more work! If you’re an urban gardener working in a tiny space… no sweat, but if you have a large backyard you may want to start saving now to invest in a tiller (you can also rent one).
If you live near a university with an agricultural extension office, why not bring them a sample of your soil so they can test it to see if you should plan on adding any additional nutrients. It’s best to know now rather then lose your first crop in the spring due to poor soil conditions. (learn more about Agricultural Extension Offices).
If you would like to cut back on weeding and have more control over soil quality, consider raised beds, which have become very popular. Any garden raised above the ground is a raised bed, so there is no specific height requirement you need to follow. I have a few only 4” above the ground, and some as high as 18”. I’ve seen raised beds as tall as 4′ in gardens as well. They are great for when you don’t want to bend over to work in your garden. They can be made out of concrete, rock, wood or whatever you have laying around. You do have to move your dirt into these beds of course, but this allows you to purchase high quality soil up front or add your own compost mix. If you go this route, keep in mind that raised beds require more watering than traditional beds.
A Journal
Writing a journal is a great way to save your ideas throughout the winter. You can note measurements and keep track of important phone numbers for resources such as your local extension office or agricultural college. You can also track the sun’s location in your yard, and jot down all the plants you’ve seen in magazines or online that have caught your eye. The info you keep in your journal will definitely come in handy.
Remember, it’s time to start planning now, before you start planting and become too busy weeding and working in the garden.
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8 Comments
Shannon… I’ve planted grass twice – it has grown, but always dies. Help!
I’m ready to start again… but any advice?
Great article. I’m planning my very first garden this year and can’t wait till it warms up and I can start planting. I guess I can start planning now though.
I’m a firm believer grass is a waste, and it should ALL be flowers and veggies
BUT, if you MUST have grass you really need to research the types of grass that work well in your area for your climate. There are also several types of ‘lawn’ that only survive for a season and then you have to plant a whole new type for a separate season. Like here in USDA Zone 7b, we plant a type of fescue grass in the fall that will hold its green shade over the winter until spring. In the spring we have more choices. You should check with a local landscaping company of what type of seed they would suggest you to use in your Zone. Just in case, you should also test your soil… you may have low nitrogen if you are having issues with grass. Grass is picky about nitrogen levels.
I hope that helps some!
Diana, I’ve already started digging new plant beds for the spring now. With the weeds unable to grow right back I get better results in the spring and have less of a battle against weeds over the summer in the beds i dig in winter.
Shannon.. we should have you do a step-by-step for starting your flower beds and so on..
I love the look of grass – I think it’s because I spent my 1st 8 years in Michigan growing up.. grass is everywhere. In LA.. not so much. It’s also one of the first time that I’ve seen something grow from nothing.. so I might be bias.
You know, I don’t see an option to add a photo to comments on the blog.
Or are they supposed to be taking them from my user name into on Bakespace? Hmmmm
Hi Shannon… the blog is a wordpress template so they are not connected to the main site so images won’t auto connect. I think the only way to add a photo is to sign up with wordpress. I’ll have to look deeper into it today. Maybe it’s a setting I’m not adding to the layout.
Nice information, many thanks to the author. It is incomprehensible to me now, but in general, the usefulness and significance is overwhelming. Thanks again and good luck!
Thanks so much ‘how to build a chicken coop’. I really wanted to simplify and show you can be involved in gardening even when there seems to be nothing to do!