The Joy of Starting a Garden
Gardening has always brought my family together. I am excited you are here and invite you to join the MIgardener family, where we share gardening hacks, stories, lessons from the garden, and top-notch growing guides to help you grow the garden of your dreams!
Starting a garden is super exciting. Whether you’re starting a vegetable garden, a greenhouse garden, a potager garden, a vertical garden, a cottage garden, or something else, give yourself time to sit and imagine what it will be like and look at other gardens for inspiration.
Why Is Garden Planning Important
Something valuable I have learned about life is that it is hard to see things come to fruition without a plan or vision. Every project should start with the planning phase, and a garden is no different.
However, I can't tell you how many people I see flying by the seats of their pants every spring, then get frustrated and overwhelmed, don't know what to plant, don't know when to start, and it all becomes too much to manage at the last second.
The practice of garden planning ensures better utilization of space, improved management, greater efficiency, and advantageous plant selection, all of which increase your enjoyment and your chances of success. Add to that good record-keeping in a garden planner or journal, and you will reduce confusion and streamline the gardening process.
Planning saves money, too. A good plan means fewer trips to the garden center. It helps you avoid buying things you don't need and reduces waste. In short, spending time on garden planning is well worth it.
Take a Mental Inventory
The first step to good planning is taking a mental inventory. This is something that I do every single year! I look at my garden the same way that I look at my pantry or at inventory levels at the shop.
Take stock of what you grew last year: how much was consumed, how much was wasted, what grew well, what didn’t grow well, what new plants do you want to try, and so on. This overview will really help you plan the next garden. If you didn’t like how something went, then doing the same thing next year is a recipe for disappointment.
For instance, if we consumed more green beans than the garden produced last year but I want to grow enough for a year, I need to decide how many more plants to add. Or maybe I grew more green beans than we could eat, so I need to make a note to plant fewer.
Decide What Plants to Grow
Most of us want to grow everything, but it’s a good idea to limit yourself to 6 to 9 new plant species each year, especially if you are a new gardener. Start with plants that you love and foods that you will actually eat.
Some vegetable plants can be planted very close together using high intensity spacing and, if fertilized and watered properly, can produce high yields in a small area.
Peas, spinach, radishes, beans and lettuce are great examples of plants that can be planted much closer than conventional gardening methods will tell you. (To learn more, use the MIgardener High Intensity Spacing Guide.)
On the contrary, things like squash, zucchini, pumpkins, and watermelon need room to spread out. If you have a small garden, you may want to limit the number of these you plant.
Sunflowers, zinnias, and cosmos are beautiful, easy-to-grow cut flowers. Marigolds help with pest prevention, animal control, beneficial pollinators, and they are edible!
Draw Out a Garden Map
Make a detailed map of how you want to lay out your garden. This helps you determine how much to plant and where you will be planting it.
I am commonly asked if there is anything that I use, in terms of technology or garden planning software, that helps me garden better. In truth, when it comes to the craft of gardening, I like to do things simply and be as hands-on as possible.
I draw out my garden plan with paper and pencil because it is more therapeutic for me than grabbing a laptop or using an app. Plus, it is much less expensive than purchasing gardening software.
I draw out to-scale design ideas on graph paper (printed for free from print-graph-paper.com) to help me visualize and decide on a final plan, but do what works for you. The main thing is getting a visual representation of your garden plan sketched out.
Pro-Tip: Laying your garden out in a north-to-south direction will maximize the amount of sunlight getting to all the plants. If this is not possible, make sure that your taller plants (such as corn, sunflowers, tomatoes, pole beans, or peas) are on the farthest north section of your garden, while shorter plants are on the farthest south portion of your garden.
So, grab a piece of graph paper, a ruler, and a pen or pencil, and follow these steps to draw out a garden plan:
Measure - You need to know the dimensions of your garden, raised beds, trellises, and any other fixed things like trees, buildings, or fences. Then decide how you will scale down those measurements to fit on paper. I like to use ¼ inch graph paper where each quarter-inch square represents one square foot in my real garden.
Sketch - Make a to-scale sketch of the fixed items of your garden design, like raised beds, in-ground rows, trellises, containers, fences, and perennial plants.
Add Plants - Draw in where you will plant each plant you want to grow, considering the amount of space and sunlight different plants need. Draw plants in with correct to-scale spacing so that you will know exactly how many plants you can fit in each bed, row, or container. This allows you to maximize the amount of plants you grow in any given space without overbuying.
Adjust - If you don’t like how it turns out, you can always shred the paper and start over. I go through many iterations each year and move things around until I settle on a plan that I am happy with.
With this map of your garden, you know how many seeds to start, how many plants to buy, and where they will all be planted in this year’s garden!
Seed Inventory
Winter is the best time to take stock of what seeds I already have so I don’t spend money ordering seeds that I don’t need. It’s also a great time to organize my seed collection.
One of my top must-have garden planning tools is a good seed storage container! This photo storage organizer is the best way to organize a lot of seed packets! Seeds stay dry and organized, and the container doesn’t take up much space.
Ordering Garden Seeds
When you’re ready to order seeds, choose quality seeds from a reputable source. Before you buy, you may want to read about the different types of seeds: hybrid, organic, GMO, and heirloom and why using heirloom vegetable seeds matters.)
MIgardener offers 750+ heirloom seed varieties, plus seed potatoes, garlic & flower bulbs, mushroom-growing kits, dormant plants, gardening supplies, and other great merchandise! It's a good idea to get your seed order in during the winter months while everything is in stock.
Implementing Your Garden Plan
Not all varieties of seeds can be planted at the same time! The information on seed packets and Clyde's Garden Planner is very useful in determining when to start your seeds and whether to start seeds indoors or directly sow them in the garden.
While different companies design their seed packets differently, each packet usually contains the same general information: the product description of the seed it contains, when to plant the seeds, how to plant the seeds, and days to maturity. Additionally, each seed packet should have a date stamp that tells you what year the seeds were packed for.
As you can see in the image above, MIgardener seed packets also contain information about germination times and temperatures, harvesting information, and other important details. When you first get your seeds, it is a good idea to use this information to write out a planting schedule for the crops you will be growing!
The following blog posts will help you know when to plant the garden varieties you want to grow:
I hope you will use this guide for garden planning and see your ideal garden become a reality!
