Plan a Vegetable Garden

For example, to feed a family of four all year round, you will need to plan a vegetable garden that is about 100 sq meters (1076 sq ft) of growing area, not including paths.

And remember if you live in a cold climate, that will put the kybosh on growing all year round. So you may need to design a vegetable garden that is larger than normal and then make preserves.

One of the best gardening design tips you should follow is to take into account your climate. Whether it's so hot your trowel melts, or so cold that you stub your toe on a clod of earth, climate can roughly be broken down into three basic categories when planning a vegetable garden... cold, temperate and tropical/sub-tropical.

Obviously there are many shades of climate in these categories and only you can determine exactly how where you live, fits into the mix. Here's our useful sowing guides for specific information on what vegetables will do well in your area, which is a great help when deciding on a vegetable garden plan.

Once you've decided what to grow and where in your vegetable garden layout, here's a host of links to information on this website to help you further:

• You need to identify a good quality source for your seeds. Order seeds well before your growing season starts, especially if you live in a cold zone with a short growing season.
• No Dig Gardens use organic gardening methods and it's often better to germinate your seeds separately, then plant up as seedlings.
• Use this germination guide to work out what kind of head start to give your plants. If you are planning big plantings of some things, consider staggering seed germination so they don't all mature at the same time.
• If you are living in a cold climate, or even a temperate one, it is worth considering starting seedlings indoors, using a cold frame or greenhouse, if the growing season is short or there is a danger of frost.

Plants like beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, turnips, onions and peas grow best at temperatures between 10-20C (50-70F). These plants prefer a cooler time of the year to grow and will usually tolerate frost.

Vegetables like cabbage, carrots, radish, parsnip, leek, lettuce and celery have intermediate temperature requirements. They will grow best in temperatures between 15-25C (60-80F) and they can be fussy. Grow them out of season and they may run to seed without producing anything for your kitchen table.

Warm season vegetables grow best in temperatures above 20C (70F) and will die if exposed to frost. These include corn, capsicum, potato, tomato, eggplant, beans and all the vine crops. So make sure the majority of their growing season is in the warmer months.

The better you know what you want to grow, the more success you will have. Nurseries may try to sell you seedlings that are, frankly, out of season. Growing peas in the heat of summer will not see them produce at their best.

• Protect your plants from harsh winds. Cold winds will stunt growth, hot winds will dry the soil and harm the plants, strong winds will break them. If you don't have a natural sunny protected corner in your garden, prepare a windbreak of garden lattice or slatted timber.
• Make sure your vegetable garden gets plenty of sunshine... at least 5 hours a day of direct sunlight.
• Make sure your taller plants don't block the sunlight for the smaller plants. Watch how the sun travels in your garden. In the northern hemisphere, consider planting your garden rows in a north to south position with the taller plants at the northern end. In the southern hemisphere, this is reversed with the taller plants at the southern end. This way, all the rows receive an equal amount of sunlight.
• If you are planning to plant successive crops, practice plant rotation. Different plants take different things out of the garden soil. This will also reduce the potential for a particular type of pest or disease to take hold in your garden. Keep replenishing your compost and mulch!

• Water, water, water! Vegetables need water to grow and lots of it. A drip water system is best to give the plants a good, deep soaking and to discourage leaf fungus. This will encourage root growth. Do NOT let your garden bed dry out. Your no dig garden will have good drainage anyway, so keep it moist and top it up with mulch to keep the moisture in.

By following these simple vegetable gardening tips, your no dig garden will be off to a flying start. Spend some time to work out what you will grow over the growing season that you have available to you. Then back-time the weeks you will need to grow your seedlings.

If you plan a vegetable garden well, you will succeed and the garden will give you many hours of pleasure and satisfaction.

Return to top: Plan a Vegetable Garden
Home