Thought you all might like to see my tentative garden plan for this year.
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My husband built me two new beds which are great! They’re 3 ft wide and 11 inches high which is perfect. I can sit on my little garden cart and comfortable bend forward to plant or weed/whatever. So I’ve asked him to change out all my other beds to that height (which he’ll probably do during the winter as it’s too late to switch them up now).
Here are some photos so you can get an idea of the vegetable garden layout so far:
New beds with arbor which will have decorative gourds on one side and Sweet 100’s (cherry tomato) on the other side. I tried growing my cherry tomatoes on this arch last year and it worked really well. My storage shed will go where my ladybug wheelbarrow is.
Compost bins and patio area.
There’s room for more beds.
The old raised beds.
The two original beds.
The veggie garden. I still have to finalize where everything is going to go.
My list of what I’m growing this year:
TOMATOES:
Thessaloniki, Sun Sugar, Zapotec, Hillbilly, Sweet 100’s, Black Cherry, Atkinson, Roma
SQUASH:
Potimarron squash, Cocozelle zucchinia, Zephyr squash, yellow squash, mini pumpkins
BEANS:
Nickel French Filet, Early Bush Beans
Other:
red bellpepper, yellow bellpepper, corn, artichokes, watermelon radish, lettuce, carrots, garlic, onions, cucumber, New Zealand Spinach, decorative gourds
HERBS: (in the garden)
Lemon Balm, Basil, Lavender, Bee Balm
I like to try something new every year and this year it’s decorative gourds.
I plant intensively so I squeeze a lot into a bed! I also try to companion plant but I’ve never really seen a difference so if it works out… it works out, but I’m not going to think too much about it this year. As always, I’ll have plenty of flowers planted alongside my veggies for pollinators and good insects.
What are you planning on growing this year? Maybe I’m missing something – so let me know what your garden is going to grow this year.
You might like to check out my Gardening 101 Series
The Basics of Planning Your Vegetable Garden
Wow, Manuela, that looks so well planned out on paper and I love how neat your planting area looks. My planting in the new place will probably be me getting a strawberry basket to hang up!
That looks wonderful! I always intend to plan more, but I get so impulsive and plant as soon as I can with some things, don’t make a note, think I’ll remember what I’ve done, then I’m left waiting to make sure I don’t over plant something with something else — plant before I’ve added soil yummies (it’s really so much easier if I add the compost etc. BEFORE I actually plant the bed). And then there’s the itchy rash thing that I’m on the second round of cortisone that is really setting me back this spring. ugh.
What do you have planned for that screen door I spy against the fence? I have a screen door I’m holding on to for project number mumble mumble, which is to redo one of the gates to the garden with the screen door — after painting a lovely blue or purple or chartreuse or fuscia.
That screen door is from the blueberry hut my husband built last year. He’s decided to build a new and improved one so he dismantled the old one. I’m assuming he’ll use it again but if not I can think of quite a few things to do with it 🙂
Your garden looks wonderful! I love the layout our your garden.
I don’t know if you saw my posts recently, but we sold our home…so there goes my raised bed gardens! I am doing a post soon on what I will be growing this summer.
Your garden is so well designed and thought out. I have a feeling you will have a great harvest.
I planted annuals in pots and bought some ferns and called it good. 😀
The tomatoes and cucumbers are in the raised beds already. The cool season vegetables are just about finished. I still have lettuce and a few radishes growing. The herbs are planted in pots and I added two grapevines and two blueberry bushes (although I’m told not to expect berries for a couple of years). My husband is adding corn in a new raised bed this weekend. I will try pumpkins again and will try pollinating by hand as I always get flowers but no pumpkins! Your organization has inspired me once again. Patty
Hi Manuela
your garden is wonderful!!!! mine is not nearly as grand but so far the tomatoes and peppers in pots are off to a great start.
My hubby wanted us to start composting and found a big composter on Amazon. I said we have to check and see what yours looks like and he had picked out one just like you have. It is being delivered tomorrow. So with all that compost we should be able to make, I am already looking forward to the garden of 2013
I love how organized your garden area is, and am amazed at the quantities of plants you have planned. Mostly I love the idea of the arch/arbor over the path between the two beds. I have four raised beds and will put some arches out there this year. I have a 2½ year old grandson who loves to help me garden – he especially loves tomatoes and eats them right off the plant, green or red, he doesn’t care. The arch would be a great way to grow those tomatoes on the edges of the beds so we can both reach to harvest.
I really love your gardening space! That is my next project is to make raised beds for gardening. I would really really like to know what you did to the ground before putting all that mulch down that is between all the beds? Did you dig up the grass first? I love that look and would love to do that and not have grass grow up in it!
Yes, I removed the grass. I’m still removing the grass! The grass that was there was the kind that spreads by runners and if you don’t remove every bit of it – it will pop up again. So every now and then I see a few blades and have to be sure to pull it out by the root. If you have a different type of grass you can usually get away with just smothering it.
Wow, Your garden space is awesome! So big!!! That’s going to be some garden!! Love those beds too!
That’s a garden “magazine worthy”! Love it and can’t wait to see the crop harvested! HUGS!
I really want to grow cucumbers because we have a favorite recipe that requires overripe cucumbers and they’re nearly impossible to find. I think I can be just the bad kind of farmer who allows her cucumbers to stay on the vine too long.
Just as I’m interested in floor plans, I’m intrigued by your garden plans. You’ll have lots of produce!
Your garden plan looks great! I like that your new boxes are higher. I wish mine were that high. As I get older it’s getting harder to get up and down! (I prefer to get down close to weed, no hoe for me.)
I have serious garden envy! I wish I could do some of those raised beds. I think this year we will try doing some container gardening though.
Great ideas, you are getting my green thumb growing. May I ask what kind of wood you used for the beds?
When I first found your blog, I was inspired by your garden. I’ve tried, but I’m just not a Manuela. I love the variety and organization of yours. I’ll be waiting to see it all grow.
can’t wait to see all of your veggies…so you can give all of your good tips!!!
This is looking really, really good 🙂 🙂 I can’t wait to see when it’s all ready to harvest 😉 🙂 OH, and I LOVE that you have a seating area. I think that would be a good spot to sit and have a devotional or a nice cup of tea/coffee or both 🙂 🙂 Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂
You are so together and organized!! I am quite jealous. We are just now really getting to start on our gardens (which hopefully I will get to explain soon) and I am so excited. Who knew I would miss the dirt so much?! You have a great plan with so many delicious options. I can’t wait to see how it all grows for you.
Great garden layout!! Good luck with the coming gardening season. I look forward to seeing your progress!
What a gorgeous garden you have. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
I love your garden layout and plan! I so wish I had a large garden, I would enjoy planting lots of wonderful veges and herbs.
Hugs, Cindy
My Sweet 100s did really well last year. I love all your different planting areas. I would really like to grow blackberries. What variety do you have? I have a back wrought iron fence. I could put them there all along the back. I scattered all my seedlings around the yard so hopefully I’ll have cucumbers and zucchini growing all over. I found a recipe for baked zucchini slices on Pinterest that looks really yummy. Dipped in homemade ranch dressing. Ummmmm.
Popping in from the Garden Party. Love the idea of a seating area in your garden!
Your garden has been my inspiration since mine was just a hope and a thought. 🙂
I’m getting so many ideas from looking at your pictures. We have a sloped yard so I can’t have that many beds but I like the idea of putting in the mulched paths, our bed is on the lawn so grasses and weeds tend to creep in. Maybe when your husband builds the new beds you could snap a few pics of the process? As a woman with no carpentry experience I’d be interested to see how he goes about building the beds so I can maybe get my husband to build one for me. Thanks for sharing, I love seeing other peoples gardening ideas.
Jaime,
I have a post on how to build a raised bed. There are many ways to build one and lots of good tutorials out there.
I already commented but I forgot to answer your question. We always do tomatoes, jalapeños and herbs for making spaghetti sauce and salsa. I still haven’t figured out how to grow onions so if you have any ideas please share. We try to eat a lot of greens so one thing I always grow is nasturtiums, did you know they are edible? Even the flowers; they taste a little like apple peel to me and you can sauté the leaves like spinach or put them on a sandwich with cucumbers and cream cheese. I try to grow things that are more expensive at the store like honeydew and cantaloupe, they do well on slopes. Any ideas for growing salad? Lettuces tend to go to seed too fast here in the Ga. heat.
Thanks!
Yes, it’s a shame we really can’t grow lettuce in the summer when I want to eat a salad! I try to grow heat resistant varieties but by August it’s just too hot. I’ve also tried planting in the shade and that helps. This year I’m going to use shade fabric over some hoops on a raised bed and we’ll see how that works.