Planning Your Garden

Rule #1 when planting any outdoor garden, flower bed, or fruit tree is to know your

environment. That actually breaks down into a lot of components. So, here is a list of what you need to know so you can plan out your needs.

1st - Agricultural Zone

This is a big fancy scary word, but you need to know which one you are. Zones are categorized 1-11 based on your lowest yearly temperature. Some plants need cold to seed, some die at the first sign of a frost. If you are planting any perennial vegetation(anything you want to survive the winter and come back next year) you need to know your zone and the growing zone of the plant you have chosen. My house is right on the edge of Zones 5 and 6 (no really, the house across the street is in a different zone). Since I am so close to a zone 5 I tend to just use that as my zone because the lower your number the colder it gets. Most of Utah hangs around a zone 5 so that is a pretty safe bet, but if you want to find out what your zone is go to https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/ and enter your zip code. There is also an interactive map that you can use to look at the areas around you.

2nd - Water Requirements

Knowing how much water your plants need is essential for planning your garden. You can't have a water loving plant right next to one that needs to dry out. It is also worth thinking about how you will get additional water to those plants. If you have a sprinkler or drip system already, all you have to do is adjust the settings. If you are starting totally from scratch and don't have a lot of time or discipline to water our garden everyday, it might be worth going with lower maintenance plants. Most plants will need at least some supplemental water especially if you live somewhere with low summer rainfall, like Utah.

3rd - Soil and Depth

People constantly underestimate the value of getting to know your dirt when they first start a garden. This is not the garden of Eden and you will probably need at least some intervention no matter where in your yard you are planting. If you are starting from scratch your rule of thumb should be 50/50; fifty percent topsoil (dirt) and fifty percent compost soil. Springville City has a yard waste disposal center that sells really inexpensive compost soil by the yard. I suggest finding something in you local area or going to a nursery and getting it in bulk. If you are dong a large garden the bags of soil from Home Depot are going to cost you a lot. You also, need to make sure you have the right drainage for your plants. If you have heavy clay soil which my yard has in abundance then you will probably have to add some sand to the mix to get it draining properly. You don't like having wet feet and I can tell you that most of your vegetables wont either. Some lower maintenance plants will do fine just about anywhere and I suggest starting with things like peas, lettuce and spinach if you don't have time to worry about soil this year.

My best advice for a first time gardener is to build a raised bed. You can control so much more with a raised bed than when trying to dig out a garden bed. The raised bed is a perfect way to make sure you are getting well drained, quality soil. It also helps allow for deeper roots, which is necessary for plants like tomatoes if you want a full crop. You can buy a raised bed from most hardware or gardening supply stores, but they can get pricey and tend to be pretty limiting with space. If you are building one, find an online tutorial and make it right the first time. My bed is made out of cinder blocks with a fabric lining so we don't have to worry about the cement changing the pH for a while. You can also use rot resistant woods like cedar and redwood, composite or high quality plastic, but remember to reinforce he corners or you might have it blowing out after a few years. If you don't have the time, money,or energy to do it right, when will you have the chance to do it over? Find an online tutorial and make it right the first time. If you don't have the time, money,or energy to do it right, when will you have the chance to do it over. If you are doing it straight into the ground, be prepared for a lot of work and I suggest buying a rototiller. You will most likely have to buy dirt and soil for your raised bed either way so keep that 50/50 rule in mind when filling it up.

5th - Sunlight

Most fruits, vegetables and flowers need full sun exposure which means about 8 hours of direct sunlight per day. Leafy greens like spinach, lettuce and chard as well as root vegetables like carrots and potatoes can grow in partial shade or against a light fence with a lot of reflected light, but you will have a longer growing time which mean more time before you can harvest. You can also put your cool loving plants in the shadier areas to keep them going longer once the heat of the summer hits. Here in Utah we can grow most things since we have both cold and hot weather, but the growing seasons may be cut short so pln accordingly.

6th - Space

Plants need space to grow. When you buy your seedlings or seed packets pay attention to the space requirements and then actually follow them. Lettuce and spinach need about 8 inches between them. They can grow closer, but you will get the most from each pant if you give them the space they need both above and below the ground. Plants like Zucchini need a lot of space for their leaves to grow, but they also suck Nitrogen out of the soil like a vacuum so if you want to companion plant closer than 36" you will need to keep that in mind. You can find a lot of great companion planting guides online which ca help you maximize your space, but you will still need to make sure they are all getting what they need. Another great way to maximize on space is to use a method called succession planting. I will do an entire post on that, but basically the idea is that when one quick maturing plant is done you replace it with another. When your lettuce is done you can add some compost and plant carrots in the same spot.