So two weeks ago, we discussed how to decide WHAT to plant in this year’s garden. Last week, we discussed 6 Rookie Gardening Pitfalls to Avoid. This week, we’re going to start by creating a map of your garden.
Considerations
Before we jump into the nitty-gritty of what will influence the decisions of where you put your plants when you map out your garden, you’ll need to make sure that you’ve got your list of plants that you’re growing this year. Are you a brand new newbie to gardening? This is your first or at most your second year gardening? Then, make sure that you’re restricting your planting to 3-5.
After your first or second year, then add a new 3 – 5 plants each year thereafter. Keep it simple! So that being said, let’s jump in with information that you’re going to need to consider BEFORE making your garden map.
(1) Spacing
Each plant that you grow will need different spacing. This is true for everything from your carrots all the way up to your walnut trees. I came across the book All New Square Foot Gardening. What I love about this planning (and planting) method is that it helps you maximize your yield by planning out how many of each plant you can fit in a square foot. Each plant is different. You can fit 16 carrot plants in one square foot. You can even grow 4 corn plants in a square foot, but you only want to put ONE broccoli in a square foot.
So with the list of plants that you’re going to grow this year in hand, here’s a chart that gives you how many of each plant that you can grow in each square foot. And this is VERY important when it comes to your map, so don’t skip this step.
(2) Sunlight 
You need to consider the orientation of your garden – especially in regards to sunlight. For example, one of the plants that we’re planting this year is corn. Another plant that we’re going to have growing is watermelon. If I don’t take my garden orientation and where the sunlight is coming from and where I’m planting my foods, my corn could block out the sunlight that my watermelon might need. Some plants, like cucumbers and peas, prefer shaded or cooler areas. These might benefit from having the brunt of the light blocked by a tall plant, whereas other plants, like tomatoes, like the heat and full sun of the summer day.
(3) Companion Planting
Some plants thrive together, have a synergistic effect, or ward off bugs that will eat the other plant.
Tomatoes and cabbage work well together because tomatoes repel diamondback moth larvae which will chew holes in cabbage.
Another well-known example of this is called “The Three Sisters” garden. This is corn, beans, and squash. The corn grows fast and tall and provides great support for the twining vines of a climbing bean. The beans help feed the other two plants because they will return nitrogen to the soil. Nitrogen is integral to healthy plants. The squash plants grow along the ground and shade the ground so that less water is lost to evaporation. Also, many types of squash have little spines on their leaves, deterring some pests that might otherwise feed on the corn or the beans.
A third great example is collards and catnip. One of the regular pests that thrives on collards is called a flea beetle. But if you plant catnip alongside your collards, it has been shown to repel this beetle, In turn, this ensures that you’ll get a greater collard harvest.
Interested in more information on companion planting? I’ve found this article to be helpful with other ideas on plants that work well together.
(4) Which plants need to stay put and which plants need to be rotated?
Before we get into which plants should and can’t be rotated, let’s briefly cover “What IS crop rotation?”
Crop rotation is moving your crops to a new area of your garden each year so that the pests and/or illnesses from the previous year, do not infest your vegetables. Crop rotation also helps keep the quality of your soil more healthy. If you grow the same plants in the same spot year after year, the plant will continue to remove same the nutrients that it needs to grow from that same spot of soil. Eventually, your plants will deplete the soil of the nutrients that it needs to thrive. When you do this year after year, your plants will tend toward illness because your soil doesn’t have what the plant needs to be strong.
By moving your plants around to different areas of your garden, you are making sure that you are not depleting your soil of those valuable nutrients.
Which fruits and veggies WON’T get rotated?
So let’s start with the plants that shouldn’t be moved – and this is rather a no-brainer. Perennials will not be moved. Perennial fruits and vegetables include walking onions, asparagus, shallots, horseradish, garlic, radicchio, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, fruit trees, and many other fruits.
Which fruits and veggies SHOULD be rotated?
When we consider rotating fruits and veggies, we usually do so by families. For example members of the allium family include – garlic, shallots, onions, and leeks. Members of the brassica family include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussel sprouts, and most greens. Members of the nightshade family are tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Your legume family members are your beans, peas, peanuts, and soybeans. Umbellifers include carrots, fennel, parsley, dill, and parsnips. Cucurbits include squash – both summer and winter, cucumbers, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, and gourds.
Legumes add nitrogen back into the soil. So by rotating these each year, you are putting valuable nutrients back into your soil.
Your brassica’s need nitrogen-rich soil, so if you plant these in the same spot that you planted your legumes the previous year, this will help your brassicas thrive.
Your alliums tend to be light feeders. They ask less and need less from your soil.
Your nightshades and Curcubits tend to be heavy feeders. These will need well-fed soil yearly – so either plant them after your legumes or fertilize the soil and swap their places in your garden.
(5) Perennials
When you are getting ready to create your map, you need to place your perennials first. Because these plants will remain in the same place year after year, you need to make sure that they are in their ideal location from the get go.
Creating Your Map 
Now that I’ve given you five criteria that you need to consider BEFORE creating your map, let’s get started!
(1) Get yourself a piece of graph paper or print some graph paper.
(2) Draw the online of your garden on your graph paper.
I like to use 1 square/square foot.
(3) Orient your garden N-E-S-W on the paper.
When you plan, you need to know which direction is which. This will keep you from putting tall plants on the south end of your garden.
(4) Start your map with your perennials.
This year we’re moving our strawberries and black raspberries with us. These should be put on the map first because I don’t plan on moving them next year!
(5) Fill in your annuals on your map.
Make your decisions based on your five considerations above. Put your tall plants on the northern edge of your garden, but make sure that you rotate them to another northern spot in your garden if this isn’t your first year gardening. Are there specific plants that you want to plant next to each other?
(6) How many seedlings will you need?
Once you have your square foot map all planned out. DON’T FORGET walkways!! You’ll want to know how many seedlings you will need to start or how many starts that you need to purchase. Use this chart and your map to determine how many seedlings/starts you will need for this year’s garden.
(7) KEEP YOUR MAP!
Make sure that you keep your garden map! You’re going to want to refer to it next year when you plant your expanded and rotated garden. I suggest that you get yourself a notebook where you can keep your garden maps and your Garden Recaps each year.
Tools for Your Garden
When I started planning out my square foot garden, I found several tools VERY helpful!
All New Square Foot Gardening – This book has been a Godsend over and over. I reference this book each year as I’m getting ready to plan out my garden.
Gardening template – I purchased this last year. It made each square foot SO EASY! There are different color-coded holes based on how many plants you are planting in that square foot. For example, if you are planting something like carrots – where you can plant 16 of them per square foot, then you use the red colored holes. You place the template over your garden and use the tool that is included with the template to make an indentation in the ground for each of the 16 places that you’ll plant.
If, however, you can only plant 9 plants per square foot, then you’d use the yellow-coded holes as your guide. Then there are the 4 plants per square foot which use blue color-coded holes, and then 1 plant per square foot is orange.
Because we’ve always had fairly small gardens, we’ve used a hand tiller, and this is the one we own. It’s held up well under our continued use. If you have a small-ish garden, this is the way that I’d go to break up your soil each year.
Each year – especially when I’m working with my herb garden, I need to take cuttings. These are my preferred garden shears.
What About You?
Have you EVER actually mapped out your garden? Or have you just planted what you wanted to where you wanted to? Do you have any actual maps of your garden from years past? If you’ve triumphed or struggled in this area of gardening, please leave us a comment below so that we can all be better prepared.
Together, let’s love, learn, practice, and overcome!
