You have made one important decision, to plant a vegetable garden. Now the next decision you will have to make will be to decide how the garden is to be laid out. This important decision rests on a number of factors, the planting space that you have available, what type of vegetables you want to grow and do you want to grow different vegetables together so that they can help each other in the growing process. This is sometimes referred to as "companion planting". Below are a few helpful tips that I believe will be useful in deciding how to layout your own vegetable garden.
PLANNING YOUR GARDEN: Firstly consider how much space you have available for your vegetable garden. You may have a large garden but still want to have a lawn and flower beds as well as provision for a vegetable garden. You may have a smaller area that you want to convert to a vegetable garden. Consider the position of where you want the vegetable garden, is the area surrounded by high walls or will it be by the side of a garden shed or garage area. If so, they could restrict the amount of light or sunshine that the vegetable garden requires.
Consider the type of soil where you will be planting your vegetables. You can discover a lot about your soil just by looking at the garden just after it has rained. If there are areas where the rain has not drained away you may have to consider putting a drainage system in, which could be costly. A simple remedy for this is to add a good layer of topsoil mixed with horticultural grit, add loam to the soil and lots of organic matter. Well-rotted manure is ideal. You could also consider planting your vegetables in "Raised Beds".
The decision as to what type of vegetables you wish to grow really goes hand in hand with the space you have available for the vegetable area. Consideration should be given as to whether you want to grow one type of vegetable like tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes etc., or if you want to grow different types. Do your research and find out the facts about the amount of light or space that certain vegetables require to produce a good crop. By making a list of vegetables you want to plant and by doing your research on the requirements of each plant, comparing this with the space that you have allocated for your vegetables, will give you an idea of where you want to plant certain vegetables.
VEGETABLE GARDEN LAYOUT: There are basically three types of layouts for the vegetable garden.
Row Style layout - This is the most popular style of layout where you plant the seeds or plants in rows. One row can contain the same type of seed or different seeds. Your research should tell you what types can go together. By choosing this method of layout you must leave wide soil paths between each row so that you can walk through the crops to work. This method requires more hoeing because weeds will grow through the paths and the soil will become compressed through having to walk on it, thus making it more difficult to dig and aerate the soil at the end of the growing season.
Bed Style layout - The bed style layout is similar to the rows style but on a smaller scale. It allows access to the plant beds from the perimeter of the vegetable area; this is particularly convenient because it avoids stepping onto the beds therefore the soil is not compressed. Using the bed layout maximizes the garden space available and as suggested earlier "Raised Beds" can also be used for easier gardening.
Kitchen Style layout - This layout is basically a decorative geometric shape which allows you to lay out your garden in circles or arrange your plants by colour or food type. You have to decide if this type of garden layout is practical for your requirements.
Consideration should also be given to "Companion Planting". This is an old gardening tradition that involves planting different kinds of plants together so that they help each other in terms of providing nutrients in the soil with the added benefit of offering protection from the wind and sun. Companion planting also attracts beneficial pests whilst acting as a decoy for harmful ones. A perfect example of this is planting small flowered Marigolds between your tomatoes. Marigolds emit a strong odour that will repel greenfly and blackfly. Likewise planting garlic underneath your roses will also ward off pests. Plant Nasturtium along with cabbages as these are a magnet for caterpillars that will then leave the cabbages alone. Other plants for companion planting are onions, which scares slugs and aphids away. Planting Carrots or Basil between the tomato crops will add flavour to the tomatoes. Growing horseradish and potatoes together will protect your potatoes from disease. It may be that companion plants emit deterrent chemicals or that they attract lots of predatory insects but it seems to work so it's worth consideration. Charts and literature on the different companion plants are available from your local seed merchant or garden centre.
In conclusion, if you give careful consideration to the points outlined above and research the different aspects of a vegetable garden, you will have a fruitful and productive vegetable garden that will give you fresh, nutritious crops all year-round. Enjoy the fruits of your hard labour, you will not regret it.
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