Vegetable Garden Design

If you've never grown vegetables before, your first vegetable garden design will take a little planning. And this can be as much fun as planting, harvesting and eating the bounty of your garden.

Things to Consider

First things first! Check the USDA site map to identify your zone. This way, you'll be able to select vegetables that will grow in your area.

Once you know the local growing conditions, decide how much space is available for the garden. Next, check the amount of sun the area gets each day. Most vegetables require at least 6 hours of direct sunlight each day.

Watch the sun in your yard before digging to see where the sun rises and sets, and where shadows are cast.

Reserve any shady areas for shade-loving flower beds or the compost pile. Check the soil for drainage.

Low-lying areas that puddle are not good for vegetable gardens. Slightly inclined areas will work as heavy rain will run off, but avoid steep slopes.

Trees take a lot of nutrients from the soil and their roots can extend far beyond the tree's umbrella, so place the garden some distance away from them.

Be sure the garden is accessible. You may want to be able to drive a truckload of manure or mulch to the site. At least be sure to have a clear path for a wheelbarrow or cart.

Be careful not to plant the vegetable garden so far away that a garden hose won't reach.

Finally, be sure you don't position your vegetable garden over cable lines, underground power lines, water lines, septic systems or other utility lines. They're the last thing you want to dig up when you prepare the garden. And you don't want the utility company digging up your garden if they have a problem.

Determine where all these things are and avoid them so you can have a wonderful growing season.

Garden Layouts

There are a few different vegetable garden design layouts. Row gardens are easy to arrange and plant, but they tend to use more room than is actually used for vegetables. They use a lot of mulch because of the wasted space.

Raised garden beds permit more efficient use of space. Because you grow more intensively, your harvest is larger.

You can grow almost twice as much in raised beds as in rows of the same size. Plant them no more than three to four feet wide, with narrow paths in between. They require more preparation time and work, but the payoff is worth the time and effort.

For limited space, you can choose to plant individual vegetables in various areas throughout the yard.

Salad greens, a few tomato plants and herbs near the kitchen is convenient, with other vegetables tuck in among flower beds in sunny spots.

Of course, container gardening is another option that is very popular in smaller yards, especially with the variety of dwarf cultivars available.

Whichever vegetable garden design you choose, growing vegetables in your backyard is an economical and healthy way to utilize our garden areas.

Pick some favorites and find the right spot for them in your yard. Then enjoy the bountiful harvest you'll reap.

More Vegetable Garden Design

Vegetable Garden Layouts
Understanding the growth cycles and habits of the vegetables you want to plant, and carefully planning your vegetable garden layout will bring you a bountiful harvest of vegetables.

Vegetable Flower Garden
Enjoy the beauty of flowers in the vegetable garden. We plant herbs with our flowers and vegetables, so why not plant all of them together, they can all benefit.