Planning Your Garden

Planning your garden can be a lot of work but it is totally worth it in the end. I have honestly never done as much planning as is suggested but after two years of vegetable gardening I can see the need to spend more time planning.

I looked at a few articles online, and one called How to Plan Your Vegetable Garden stuck out to me. The audio clip above, created by me, outlines four of what I deem to be the most important steps of planning.

Before planting my garden I always talk with my husband about what we'd like to plant based on what we'll eat and can, then I look at how much room we have. Next season I plan to rotate my plants and spend more time planning my growing space and timing my planting.

I always take lots of pictures of my garden and next season I plan to keep a blog about my garden. I can use pictures from this past season to make sure I rotate my plants and also to remind myself how big some plants get and how they seem to grow. I can also use it to keep track of what works and what doesn't with irrigation, mulching in my plants, and taking care of my soil.

Preparing for Winter

People do lots of different things to feed and take care of their soil, plants, and lawn before winter. Some in-season feeding I discussed a few days ago, here. It's the beginning of October now, and in Indiana that often means time to get the garden ready for winter. Some people plant fall vegetables in their garden in August and September here (check out some tips on fall vegetable gardening), but I did not this year. Instead I mulched my bed with grass clippings, and I plan to continue to cover it with clippings for the rest of our mows this season.

Here is a short video on how I mulched my garden bed this fall:


I read a really great article on gardening and it talked about mulching around plants. Of course I conveniently did not read it until the end of the season. The good thing about the article is that I learned several things I can prepare next spring. Check it out: 5 Secrets to a 'No-Work' Garden. One of the things they talk about is the importance of mulching to feed the soil and take care of the plants. While my garden is now plant-less, I thought it would be a good idea to mulch it anyway to give it a cover for winter and let the mulch nurture the soil.

What do you do to get your garden and lawn ready for winter? Do you plant any fall or winter plants? Also, what resources do you find are really great for gardening over all? I found the article above to be so helpful that I plan to start following the Earth Easy blog. I also depend on a friend of mine who is a gardener and likes to try new gardening tools and methods, and I depend a lot of my dad, who has been vegetable gardening successfully and taking care of a large lawn for a long time.

Water, Water Everywhere... or Nowhere.

One thing I seem to have struggled with the past two years is drought. The first year I had my garden bed I vowed to keep up with harvesting, weeding, pruning, and watering. The harvesting was simple of course, and the weeding wasn't so bad (I've since learned to actually love it). I don't have any confidence in pruning (or thinning for that matter) and thus just... didn't do it. Not a huge deal, but not very good for my garden. But......

Perhaps the worst thing for my garden in 2010 was the lack of rain we had. And I certainly didn't help matters when I neglected to water my garden after the first few weeks. I always seem to forget or to think it actually might rain, and most of all I hope that whatever amount I do end up having to water doesn't affect my water bill. I tend to water it maybe once every few days, and little by little that turns out not to be enough. I've seen some garden's that have special watering systems and I've become really interested in them. I would love to have something that takes minimal effort, doesn't cost much (in implementation or in water) and is easy to use, especially for someone as forgetful as me. So, I checked out a couple different irrigation techniques on YouTube:


This type of system would be best for a small, raised bed, though it could probably be tweaked to work for a ground-level garden. This might be a fairly inexpensive way to water my raised bed.


This video talks about a drip system and also about soaker hoses and using timers. I like the idea of using a timer, since I'm so forgetful. It also looks like it would conserve water fairly well.


I stumbled across this while I was YouTubing... it doesn't talk about garden irrigation, but does demonstrate how to construct a rain barrel. If my ultimate goal was to conserve water and not have to spend much on my water bill this would be fantastic. I would still have to depend on rain, which isn't always reliable here.

I think I'm leaning toward the drip irrigation system or a soaker hose with a timer. It seems to fit my goals best. It will sure beat filling up my water bucket several times, or pulling out the hose and having to reroll  it every evening, and it will also be great on those days when I conveniently forget watering altogether. What type of irrigation system do you use? What are your watering goals? Do you just want your garden or lawn watered, or do you struggle with a high water bill or water conservation also? How do you fight droughts?

Lawn Vs. Garden?

Lawn or Garden, which do you prefer? I occasionally leaf through landscaping books  and I'm always amazed at how little grass/lawn many of the photographed yards and gardens have. My yard is primarily grass with a small raised vegetable/herb garden bed and some mulch beds for flowers and shrubs here and there. While I'd love to have a huge garden and tons of landscaping, we have two dogs and two children and all six of us love to play outdoors on what little lawn we have. We do plan to add a path from our backdoor to our pergola/grilling/seating area, but as for now it's just grassy. However, we have a lot of goals and work to do in our yard through the next few years.

My small but grassy lawn

There are many perks to keeping a grassy lawn. You have room to play and a place to add or move things (swingsets, lawn furniture, etc.) and beautiful (as long as there's rain!) grass to play on. You also have grass to mow, which smells wonderful and the clippings can be used mulch your vegetables or add to your compost pile. Grassy lawns are great because they are versatile! Some downsides are that, well, you'll have to mow it. If the weather is dry for a long time you might have to use resources to water it.

Landscaping with minimal lawn
 (from  www.flickr.com)

Some people prefer to occupy their yard with gardens made up of vegetables, shrubbery, and flowers with only some (if any) grass. These landscaped gardens are visually attractive and since grass is often minimal you don't have to mow. You can incorporate vegetables and herbs with flowers so that the beautiful landscaping is also useful. A lot of times landscaped yards and gardens make a piece of property more valuable. The downside is that there often is not much lawn space to play, and if you decide you no longer like a certain layout or want to replace a garden bed with grass it's a lot of work to undo the landscaping.

In a perfect world I'd simply like a lot more property. I would do lots of landscaping with pretty flowers and shrubbery and trees in the front and have large vegetable gardens and more trees and lots of grassy room for my kids and dogs to play in the back. If I had lots of room I might even like to put in a koi or gold fish pond with some landscaping and seating around it. I'd love to have a  So, what is your preference? Do you prefer ornamental plants or even vegetables or herbs all over your property? Do you like pretty landscaping and spending time tending to gardens and beds? Or do you like grass, grass everywhere with lots and lots to mow? Is there a difference between what you prefer and what you currently have?

The Content Of Your Soil

Cow Manure (from www.ehso.com)

Do you do anything special to your soil to make your plants happier? Gardeners have lots of options and many tactics when it comes to keeping their plants in good hands... the best way to ensure healthy growth is by maximizing the nutritional value of the soil!

When my husband first built my raised bed he filled it with manure and compost from my grandma's farm. Manure is a great addition to a garden as it keeps the soil moist and full of nutrients. For more information on using manure in your garden, check out this Wikipedia article, or read this page on the Echochem website. I also have been known to throw my coffee grounds into the garden bed instead of putting them down the garbage disposal or in the trash. Our soil seems to work pretty well for most of our plants and I'm pleased with how my garden grows. What do you use? Do you simply use the soil in your yard as it is, or do you add something to it?

Composting (from www.ehso.com)

Growing up my family kept a huge compost bin and I can still remember running out to the bin to add things to it when we would clean out the refrigerator. My parents helped us kids to differentiate what could and could not go into the compost bin. Howtocompost.org includes a lot of easy information about how to successfully compost. For example, did you know you should avoid putting meat into your compost pile? In my neighborhood compost bins or piles are unfortunately not allowed, though I would love to keep one. Do you keep a compost pile? What do you put into your compost pile or container, and how long do you let it settle before you use it?


Do you find that working with your soil makes your garden more bountiful? What is the best thing you think you do for your garden's soil? Do any of your soil-enriching decisions make other 'green' impacts on the earth?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

This blog is meant for gardeners, and that means you!

What, you don't garden? You stumbled upon this blog because you like the thought of gardening but know nothing about it? Or maybe you've been gardening a long while, are even a master gardener? Whoever you are and however you garden, this blog is a community for all to discuss: how does your garden grow?

Everyone has a different concept of a 'garden.' I think of gardens as square plots of tilled soil where vegetables and sometimes flowers grow in clumps and rows. Now that I have my own home and must keep up with the Joneses I also consider the beds around my porch and along the perimeter of my house gardens, too. Others consider their whole yard their garden. What do you think of when you hear the word garden?

I live on a small piece of property in a developing neighborhood, so I have about 1/4 of an acre to do my gardening. I have a small raised box, about 4' x 4', where I plant vegetables, greens, and herbs every year. I also have areas in my yard around my house and near my short driveway where I have evergreen shrubs, mums, hostas, lillies, and other flowers and plants to keep my property looking nice. I've only recently begun growing herbs in my garden and have decided I'd like to build on to my raised bed. This spring I also bought an aloe plant and became the proud owner of a Christmas cactus, both plants I keep indoors. Next summer I'd like to also try potatoes, something I've never grown before on my own. I often have to fight with rabbits and insects and the past few summers have brought droughts in my area so it is hard to keep my grass, flowers, and edible plants healthy and pretty. Unlike most gardeners I love to weed my garden but have a hard time thinning plants.

How does your garden grow? Do you have plants in your yard or even in your house? What is your favorite part about gardening? What's the hardest, or what do you dislike doing? Do you wish for more land to grow things, or less?