Vegetable garden layout & design

Planting a vegetable garden that offers beauty and productivity.

 

Traditional vegetable garden design has its roots in agriculture. But while those long, straight rows may be easier for farmers to harvest, they’re not necessary for smaller urban gardens. Nor does vegetable gardening require a strict focus on usefulness rather than beauty. If you’re planting a vegetable garden for the first time, here are some tips on selecting a vegetable garden layout that’s both practical and modern.

Rows vs. beds

Vegetable gardening with raised beds rather than rows in open soil offers a number of advantages:

Drainage

Most plants require soil that is well drained, and a vegetable garden with raised beds is a guaranteed way to provide it. Plants with more particular soil needs can also be accommodated.

Increased productivity

Vegetable gardening with raised beds allows you to distribute compost with minimal waste. And because you’re not walking between rows as you work, the integrity of the soil structure is maintained, resulting in better yields.

Efficiency

Raised beds make maximum use of a vegetable garden’s space by eliminating the need for wide rows. Raised beds also reduce cleaning and maintenance.

Before planting a vegetable garden with raised beds, determine the bed size that would be easiest to work. The soil should be eight to 12 inches above the ground. The bed width must be small enough for you to work comfortably, but not so small that you’re wasting space. A typical raised bed is between two feet and four feet wide, though 20 to 30 inches is a common distance.

Materials commonly used for constructing raised beds include lumber, logs, brick, and concrete blocks. If using pressure-treated lumber for your vegetable garden, line the bed with plastic before adding soil. Also, cement tends to gradually raise soil pH.

Location, location, location

When planting a vegetable garden, an easy to way to pick its location is to find the spot in your yard where you’d get the best suntan. That’s where your vegetable garden should be. Of course if that’s on a lawn chair next to the pool, you’ll have to adapt a bit. But the key here is sunshine and light.

If space is limited, you can always transform your vegetable garden into an earth-bound flotilla. Many vegetables grow well in individual containers, including lettuce, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers, which means you can have a vegetable garden anywhere, including your patio or deck.

Whether you’re vegetable gardening with raised beds or rows, your garden design should permit north to south orientation rather than east to west. This will give your vegetable garden maximum sunlight.

Which vegetables where?

Your vegetable garden should be as neighborly as possible. If you plan on rotating crops, you’ll need to do a little research into vegetable families (to make it fun, you can pretend you’re Marlon Brando talking to the heads of the seven families).

Some vegetables just don’t get along. Tomatoes don’t grow well next to broccoli, onions don’t grow well next to beans, and so on. So try to avoid putting rivals together.

You shouldn’t have to worry about overshadowing too much unless your vegetable garden is fairly compact. If it is, try to confine taller crops to the north (these include beans, corn, and peas) and low crops to the south (beets, carrots, lettuce).

Potager

Potager is an old French word with a great deal of historical meaning, but in the U.S. it’s come to mean ornamental vegetable gardening. It’s a lovely concept, and one that’s gaining in popularity. Potager vegetable gardening can incorporate decorative vegetables such as red cabbage, ruby chard, or French beans, or a mix of vegetables, annuals, perennials, and flowers.