Grow

2012 Garden Planning

January 29, 2012

With a full year of really gardening under our belts (we’re like newborns, I swear, there’s so much to learn!), we’re trying to figure out how to grow even more veggies in our limited space!

I recently borrowed How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons from my friends at Spotty Dog Farm and took lots of notes on BioIntensive plantings.  Now my head is spinning with ideas about how to squeeze as much in as possible!

A couple of years ago, when we first put up the fence in the front yard, I decided to make a map of our property so we could plan out where the beds and grass would go.  The map has evolved as our yard has, but it has proved priceless when it comes to planning what will fit where.

Front and back yard maps, together.

I have since made a map for the backyard, too.  Each map is to scale (I used graph paper and lots of trips outside with a tape measure) and allows me to not only plan each years plantings, but also helps me think about my succession plantings and crop rotation in future years.

Backyard – We put the chicken coop where it is because the house
shades that side of the yard most of the day and nothing would
grow over there.  We can let the chickens out to get some more sun,
 but we can’t move the plants once they’re in the ground 😉
Also, the back of our house gets super hot in the afternoon,
so we have to plant accordingly.

My current veggie maps are no where near done being that there are probably 3 or 4 revisions that will happen before it’s time to actually put some plants in the ground in May, but it’s fun to play around with the possibilities of it all.

Close up of one part of the back yard – Ideas, ideas, ideas…

Close up of the back wall in the back yard with an idea for a
cucumber trellis drawn off to the side.

The front yard – We have a mixture of no sun, some sun and lots of sun
in our tiny  yard.  Even in the shade though, at the height of summer,
it gets hot enough to send the spinach (in full shade) into bolt mode overnight.

Close up of our two raised beds in the front yard.
 In the 4X6 bed you can see that I have some corn, bush beans and beets
 kind of crammed in there…this is one of the BioIntensive experiments
 I’ll be playing with this year.

Another close up of the front yard.  I plan on tying the Roma Tomatoes
up to the fence for support.  The winter squash will vine out, so I can guide
 them around the outside of beds around them and along the path.
All of this planning only adds to my spring fever.  I mean really, it’s January and there have been more days than not this month that I have been able to walk around outside without a jacket on!  Don’t get me wrong, I do wish for more moisture…snow would be wonderful…but all this warmth is adding to my longing to put my hands in the earth!  So, as I mentioned earlier this week, to work with the longings instead of against them, I’ve already started some seeds under our grow lights.

In addition to all the planning, and as you probably know, I’ve been tracking all of our harvest totals for the past year.  This year I intend to not only continue this practice, but to also begin tracking the money we spend in the garden as well as figuring out this years income from the garden.  This gets a little complicated because I’m thinking about going back and trying to figure out how much money we’ve put into the garden from the beginning, then amoritizing it all and coming up with a base line for each year.  Crazy.  We’ll see how this goes, but it doesn’t seem right to start from zero this year and only track income.  Whew!


Happy planning!!!

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22 Comments on “2012 Garden Planning”

  1. Fencing is really important not only for the farm. For every place are which you wanted to save from any kind of loss and in this way we can make the place safe and sound for our usual use. 

  2. This post comes at a time when I’m planning a small fence around my vegetable garden. Thanks for all the great ideas,

  3. Oh my… Love it…. I to am planning my gardens and spaces.. I may have to get the straw bale book.. sounds great. I also am trying a garden called a key hole garden too.. This would be a great challeng. We live in the woods and have been cutting down trees to have more sun. More to go. The trees we put in a few years ago need it. 2 apple, one peach, one appcrot, one cherry. besides raspberry bushes, black berry, strawberrys, rubarb, bluebery, and josta berrys.. So that is all in the works. I can only wait untill SPRING.. I have a few seeds saved from previous years and getting cataloges OOOH I can hardly wait!! You got me goin’ in the cabin fever..!! Spring come on !! mama cyn

  4. Love your plans….I’m doing that too!! I have a hill that I have to plan on, thats why I use some raise beds also. ai can’t wait to start seeing everyones gardens..

    1. Thanks! I’m enjoying checking out your postings 🙂 I, too, can’t wait for spring to spring and everyone to start moving outside 😉

  5. I love the map idea, I just free hand draw our property usually. I always mean to do something more to scale…Happy planning!

    1. Thanks, Sadie! It took some work to get it done, but now it’s super easy to update! Happy planning!!!

  6. I have to draw everything out too, in order to get my head around what should go where! I’ve never really done it to scale, though, and am so impressed with your plans. I can’t wait to see your gardens this summer.
    -Jaime

    1. Thanks, Jaime! Lol…I can’t wait to see my gardens this year, too 😉 Since I’m always changing it up, it’s always an adventure! Now, I’m super excited to see what you have in store! I’m sure I’ll be inspired!

  7. Awesome planning!! Always remember, if you don’t have enough space you can always go up! We have used patio railing, bamboo poles, and trellises to grow some of our veggies where we are pressed for space.

    1. Thanks for the reminder, Megan! I am definitely going to play with more vertical gardening this year!

  8. Wow, you are doing some great planning! I have spring fever as well. It has barely been winter here in South Alabama.

    1. It’s barely been winter here in NM either. Weird season, for sure! I’d be happy with some moisture…

  10. Fun to look at garden plans. We have a small space, but have been able to grow a lot using the square foot gardening method. I am excited to get to work planning my own garden!

    1. We haven’t tried the square foot method but I’ve heard it works well! I might have to check it out…Thanks for reminding me about it!

  11. I definitely have spring fever. I’m working on our garden plans which I’ve had to redesign at least four times so far. I had to take a break from it this past weekend because I was going out of my mind. 😉 Right now we’re concentrating on getting the greenhouse up which has proven to be another challenge in and of itself.

    Your plans look great. I always love seeing what others plan for their gardens.

    1. Angela, your plans look wonderful! It’s always nice to see how others lay out their spaces! So inspiring!

  12. Spring Fever for sure! It is that time of year for gardeners! I wish I was as organized as you are 😉

    1. Ugh…as soon as I think I’m organized, something happens to scatter it all to the wind 😉 Hey, at least my plans are laid out, right?

  13. Your spring fever has given me spring fever! Your plans look amazing!

    We’ve gardened for the past few years (just a small 4 x 8 plot. Our strawberries do the best (and they’re my daughter’s favourite). This year it may just be a strawberry garden!

    1. I am hoping for a good strawberry harvest this year! We have a tiny little patch but it got really healthy last year, so my fingers are crossed 🙂

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