Planning a Summer Garden Day #1: Getting Inspired

Before you can begin to plan your garden you need to have a vision.  You may not have all the details hashed out yet...that's OK.  The first thing to do is get inspired: gather info, learn a little and know what direction you wish to go! 

Answer these questions as you envision your garden: 

1. Where will your garden be? Decide on your location. Make sure it has 6-8 hours of full sun for vegetables. If it's a shady location then you are limited to shade loving plants.
2. What kind of a garden will it be? In boxes? In rows? Will it be a raised bed?
3. How will you accomplish it? What do you need to make it a reality? Tools? Resources? Materials?
4. What will you be growing? Vegetables? Herbs? Flowers? All of these? 

Gathering Ideas

I could thumb through my gardening magazines all day and keep finding new inspiration. As I begin to plan my garden I start by gathering ideas. I make notes and sketches if desired in my notebook as I go. Later I will tweak those ideas if they are feasible with the space and location I have for my garden. The best way to be inspired is by what others have done. My Green Thumb pinterest board is another place where I gain and share inspiring garden ideas.

 

Educate Yourself

I am not an expert gardener. But I have come a long way by reading up on gardening. I recommend that you find some great books and learn from them as I did. Mainly, I have learned that you need to know how to care for your plants in these regards:

• Be Nurturing. Water and do so in the amounts that your plants need and want...not too much or too little. Feed them occasionally.
• Prepare your soil. Can't stress the importance of this enough! Good Soil =Good Crop. Bad Soil=Bad Crop. This is where most of your hard work and preparation will be.
• Place your plants properly. Location is important too. Give them the space they need and the amount of sun needed to produce and be happy.
• Plan your timing. You need to know which plant to grow when. Do they like cool weather or warm weather? Plant seeds and transplants at the appropriate time.

These are just some of the topics I will cover over the next 10 days.

The single most helpful resource I have used has been the original Square Foot Gardening (1981) book (above). I can't give you the link because it is now out of print. It's much more "grass roots" and I really like that about it. I will never part with it. Yes, this shows how old I am and how long I have been interested in gardening. However, I am no expert and I am constantly learning from my mistakes.  The newer books: All New Square Foot Gardening, also very good though a bit more commercial, are also excellent and have mostly the same content which is just presented slightly different in a more developed way- so you may like that one better anyway.

Cookbooks Lead the Way!

For me, healthy cookbooks inspire. They teach me about what vegetables I want to grow. But if you are focusing more on say a flower garden or an herb garden then you may want to read flower arrangement info or herbal medicine resources. Whatever your interest in gardening, grow those things you know you will use!
 

Coming Tomorrow: How to Start Box Gardening  

 And I will be sharing real pictures of my process with you as I go!
The 10 days include:

1. Getting Inspired
2. How to Start Box Gardening
3. Prepare Your Soil
4. Starting Seeds
5. Choose Plants You Will Use and Enjoy!
6. Planning Out Your Plant Placement
7. Tomatoes, Peppers, and Cucumbers
8. Favorite Flowers and Herbs
9. Tools and Maintenance
10. When to Begin Planting

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