Planning My Garden

So, two post ago I said to sketch your garden out.  Here is my garden to show you what I mean.

This year I am working two garden areas.  One is my vegetable garden, which I replant every year, the other is a new permanent garden.  (O.K.  The dirt patch has been there for like 10 yrs, but I finally got the retaining wall put in and my difficult shade plants figured out so I can plant this year.)

In my permanent garden bed, I drew it and then just wrote in what plants go where.  Some I will have to buy/order, some are already there and some will be planted/transplanted this spring.

I have places for elderberry bushes, lilac, various roses, wintergreen, dwarf dogwood, meadowsweet and I still have some open space that I havn't decided yet.  I am debating between herb robert, joe pye and figwort.

This has some pretty deep shade, and some moderate shade but nothing that qualifies as 'sun/lightshade' except the front corner which already has elderberry in it.  So many choices, so little ground. 





In my ever changing vegetable garden, I have one bed which has perennial plants, and the rest are blank.  I sectioned it off into square feet (since that's the type of bed I have, if yours is different you can try rows) so that I can determine how many of what plants I will put in.  I photo copy my blank garden so that I don't have to re-draw it every year.  If you are not using garden beds, don't forget walking space between rows!

I have 6- 4x8 and 3- 2x8 beds.  This is not the exact layout, but this is the quantity and sizes of beds I have.

Then I just have to decide how many of which plants to put in.
So this year, my garden will look like this

With this layout, I will have the following plants and quantities:

Potato - 16

Zucchini - 2

Yellow Crookneck - 2

Spaghetti Squash - 2

Hubbard - 2

Purple Cherokee Tomato - 4

Roma Tomato - 8

Carrot - 288 (approx)

Beet - 144 (approx)

Cabbage - 6

Brussel Sprout - 3 (experimental)

Pablano Pepper - 2

Bell Pepper - 4

Anaheim - 4

Jalapeno - 4

Habanero - 2

I will also companion plant to help with pest problems:

Nasturtiums - Inter-planted in the Squash

Icicle Radishes - Inter-planted in the Squash

Hyssop - Inter-planted in the Cabbage

Thyme - Inter-planted in the Cabbage

My Perennial herb bed has:

Coriander/Cilantro (Yes. They are the same plant.)

Anise

Chamomile

Echinacea

Chives

Anise Hyssop

Dill

Rhubarb

Lavender