how do plan your vegetable garden?

[Mr Bones]

We only grow what we like or think we might like to eat, plus flowers to cut for the house, to look nice in situ and for the bees.
Taking rotation into account, draw plans on two A4 sheets selotaped end to end and reproduce the same on an Excel spreadsheet. Then plant wherever the fancy takes us as the season progresses and gaps fill in / appear.

[nickdub]

I have deer, rabbits, squirrels + a wide selection of birds as regular inhabitants of the area in which I garden. So my main issue is what I can grow where in terms of protection.

For veg this means I have 3 main categories :-
a) stuff in the poly-tunnel or greenhouse - generally pest proof, but mice can be a problem - v. limited space
b) beds protected by wire netting - OK for things like peas and beans - bit fiddly if you are constantly taking netting on and off to do stuff
c) the rest - I've found a few things the deer don't like :- courgettes and potatoes being two, also of you can get them high enough, then they'll leave the tops of runner beans alone.

So I grow a bit of veg but really most of my garden is a cross betwena wilderness and a scrap heap, with the odd fruit tree or bush here and there :-)

[Miss Mousetrousers]

I live a mile from the sea on flat moss-land that is composed of alluvial silt so my veg garden has four raised beds to help with drainage. I grow things that are crop successful and can withstand the rather strong salty winds otherwise I'm wasting my time and effort. I find the onion family do well, plus potatoes, beetroot etc, and grow sugar-snap peas on a sturdy structure in the same place each year. I use my greenhouse bed for sweet corn interspersed with dwarf French beans. I knock the sweet corn stalks with a cane to pollinate the cobs and it really works well. The beans grow straight instead of curling up and crop heavily.

[nickdub]

Aren't brassicas supposed to be OK with a certain amount of salt due to their original habitat ?

[penny]

I grow what I am likely to eat first, then what will grow in raised beds as we garden on a floodplain. Planting is a bit random but usually near the correct Timeline. I have plenty of space so I grow a wide variety of crops including "free seeds", saved seeds and very few bought seeds. We eat well all year round.

[muck lover]

My family don’t like some of the veg I would love to grow more of.
Like courgettes. They pick the courgettes out of ratatouille. So I didn’t grow any last year. I do love growing them though as they are so prolific and make me feel like an ace gardener.
French beans are another. They will eat these in a mixed veg or snuck into stir fries but not in the quantity I would like. They won’t eat runner beans. I might grow some anyway in the flower border.

[Guest]

veg patch

one half is perennial/ soft fruit, other half annual veggies
I work on a bed system
annual half is worked on a 4 bed/year rotation
Beds are mulched/ plant through card etc.
I include companion planting
Most plants go out as plugs where possible.

I don't tend to plan anymore, I am relatively happy with how it works. Just flicking through seed packs as and when.

[Bluenowhere]

Decide to grow what we like eating
Spend ages on plan of plot and crop rotation
Get seduced by seeds
.....and repeat

[veggiechicken]

when i plan my vegetable garden I use three concepts:
1. crop rotation.
2. tall plants on he north and west side of the plot
3. I plant only vegetables and garden fruit I like to eat.


what concept and methods do you use to plan your vegetable garden?

How do you manage crop rotation when you grow all the tall crops on the north and west side of the plot?
Doesn't that restrict your rotation options?

[nickdub]

How do you manage crop rotation when you grow all the tall crops on the north and west side of the plot?
Doesn't that restrict your rotation options?

probably moves the plot - seems like the simplest solution .... or maybe a v. large mirror ? :-)

[Jimny14]

OK so I'm a little restricted for space but here's what I do. Obviously only plant what we like, I'm also working out what grows well in our space (only been here a couple of years). So carrots in grow bags in v sandy soil (builders sand and sieved garden soil) as our soil is stony clay, tried it last year and it worked v well so more this year. Asparagus in its own bed under the dappled shade of a hawthorn tree (only space available), jerusalem artichokes behind the garage between garage and boundary wall because there's soil there and what else edible would grow there? Then in the small veg patch (approx 6x12 ft) I cram in as much as I can, it tends to go where it fits and I try not to plant the same stuff in same spot 2 years running, there isn't much else I can do rotation wise. We have soft fruit dotted around, rhubarb tucked by the log store and two apple trees. Im sure I'll find space for other stuff in time but it'll have to be perennial.