Garden Planning

[sky]

I am trying to come up with a design for next years garden on my small plot and am interested in how people plan and design their gardens. Which of these purposes for growing a garden do you use when planning your garden?

Garden to sell produce for a side income
Garden to produce food in season
Garden to produce food for preserves throughout the year
Garden to learn how to garden
Garden to minimize work while maximizing food
Garden to exhibit permaculture principles
Garden to create a food forest
Garden to grow perennial plants
Garden to maximize vitamins
Garden to produce high value crops
Garden to produce favorite foods
Garden to produce heirloom or specialty crops
Garden to produce foods that one uses on a daily basis
Garden to provide self-sufficency
Garden to maximize calories (energy)
Garden to produce transplants for sale
Garden to produce food from plants that are easy to grow
Garden based on family tradition
Garden that is resistant to drought
Garden based on biointensive methods (raised beds, high density)

[George the original one]

Garden to sell produce for a side income - not at this time, though we use our surplus as social currency
Garden to produce food in season - yes, because "freshest is bestest"
Garden to produce food for preserves throughout the year - not preserves, but concentrate on food which keeps without processing
Garden to learn how to garden - yes, always learning
Garden to minimize work while maximizing food - yes
Garden to exhibit permaculture principles - no, not intentionally
Garden to create a food forest - probably not in the way in which this is meant
Garden to grow perennial plants - yes: blueberries, strawberries, apples, filberts
Garden to maximize vitamins - yes
Garden to produce high value crops - $$ value? yes
Garden to produce favorite foods - yes, it's not worthwhile growing food you don't eat (unless you're marketing it)
Garden to produce heirloom or specialty crops - not specificially, but I try to choose open pollinated varieties so that I'm as independent as possible and try different plants to see I like them
Garden to produce foods that one uses on a daily basis - absolutely
Garden to provide self-sufficiency - yes
Garden to maximize calories (energy) - no
Garden to produce transplants for sale - not at this time
Garden to produce food from plants that are easy to grow - yes (e.g. if it doesn't grow in my climate, then it has to have some special value)
Garden based on family tradition - though there is family tradition, it is not my motivation
Garden that is resistant to drought - absolutely... this sounds weird when I live in a location with abundant rainfall, but it doesn't rain here in the summer
Garden based on biointensive methods (raised beds, high density) - no... drought tolerance is kind of the opposite of biointensive. My raised beds are informal in the veggie garden, so there are no walls to move around

[George the original one]

You didn't ask about:
gardening for beauty
gardening to attract pollinators
gardening in straight rows or haphazard where the seed falls
vertical gardening
using season extenders (row covers, greenhouses, indoor seed starting)
and probably something else that escapes my mind now that I have to write about it...

[jennypenny]

Our focus changes a little every year. Lately, our priorities have been
--adding plants to attract bees and butterflies
--growing only the vegetables we love (it's hard to motivate myself to weed stuff I don't like)
--expanding our growing season
--growing from seed
--lowering water needs (a big fail this year)
--rotating crops to avoid diseases and pests


That's about the extent of it. I wish I could say we do a better job of planning, but I enjoy gardening less when I impose too many rules on myself.

[7Wannabe5]

Garden to sell produce for a side income- Not currently, but likely in the future.
Garden to produce food in season-Yes
Garden to produce food for preserves throughout the year-Yes
Garden to learn how to garden-Yes
Garden to minimize work while maximizing food-Yes
Garden to exhibit permaculture principles-Yes
Garden to create a food forest-Yes
Garden to grow perennial plants-Yes
Garden to maximize vitamins-Yes
Garden to produce high value crops-Yes
Garden to produce favorite foods-Yes
Garden to produce heirloom or specialty crops-Yes
Garden to produce foods that one uses on a daily basis-Yes
Garden to provide self-sufficency-Yes
Garden to maximize calories (energy)-Yes
Garden to produce transplants for sale-Not currently, perhaps in the future.
Garden to produce food from plants that are easy to grow-Yes
Garden based on family tradition- No
Garden that is resistant to drought-Yes, to some extent, but not most important focus in my region
Garden based on biointensive methods (raised beds, high density)-Yes

Probably the main reason why I love gardening is that it is a constant source of consternation, joy and novelty. Yesterday, I discovered slugs munching upon some of my tomatoes, and that one variety of squash I do not recall planting is now growing into something resembling giant white flying saucers. It is impossible to learn and master the whole of the realm of gardening, so you can always find some new challenge.

[sky]

So here is my garden story and a few options. First of all, my wife manages 90% of the yard area, and her part looks fantastic. It is a decorative garden very popular with butterflies and pollinators, hummingbirds and many other types of birds. We have peaches, blueberries, gooseberries, walnuts and currants in her part of the garden. It is an excellent patio sitting area where we spend a lot of time in a beautiful place.

My part of the garden is about 12 feet by 50 feet, with a few extra small plots. The 12x50 is to the north of the garage so the actual usable area is about 3x50 due to the shadow of the garage. It is also a storage area for wood, pipe, tires and other junk. There is a six foot high fence along the north property line which I nailed some fencing on to and made a trellis. I live on an old sand dune which has a thin layer of topsoil from leaves deposited over about ten thousand years since the glacier melted.

https://imgur.com/a/5Thsw
https://imgur.com/a/w6l75
https://imgur.com/a/qEdj5

This year I set up a hydroponic irrigation system which for the most part was used in a vertical hydroponic tomato system, a few pail planters and some tray hydroponic planters. I also irrigated a grape vine, which is doing well. A gourd plant started itself near where my hydro system spilled over on to the ground and it tried to take over the entire plot.

This year was the first year that I have seen healthy happy plants in this plot. In the past they withered and died due to lack of water. So I have learned that if I want to grow food, I need to irrigate. In past years, I tried pole beans, which are a fairly hardy plant, but they died in the heat of summer. Leafy greens died as seedlings. Tomatoes went nowhere, even with frequent watering by hand.

There are some invasive grasses coming in from the adjacent properties. At the moment I have a tarp over the garden area in an attempt to kill weeds.

Here are some options that I am looking at:

Build raised beds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juf7atmodPk
The goal would be to have a continual harvest of greens and vegetables throughout the growing season. It would require setting up irrigation and buying a few yards of compost to fill the beds, because I can't make enough compost.

Build intensive beds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaBvXbD ... bi&index=5
The goal would be to intensively grow a few crops and freeze them (carrots, beets, beans, squash). This would require irrigation and fertilizer.

Grow a long row of cherry tomatoes using hydroponic fertilizer and try to sell them from a self-serve table in front of my house. This would require irrigation and fertilizer.

I have room in my basement to start plants under fluorescent lights, so that is helpful for all of the above.

[brighteye]

Does someone knows of ressources (books) of how to plan and start a permaculture garden? I am a complete beginner when it comes to gardening, so I need a really, really, really basic instuction on how to start.

[George the original one]

@sky -

3'x50' = 150 sq ft -->> You don't need much compost. If you mixed in 3" of a rich compost/manure mix this fall so it could cook over the winter, you'd only need 37.5 cu ft of it and future years would just need a 1/4"-1/2" refresh.

Sandy soil is known to need extra irrigation because the water percolates away. Compost will help retain some (the sponge effect), but since you're not changing the subsoil, it will always be thirstier than other soils. So your solution set should be oriented towards water storage & distribution to keep the garden irrigated rather than trying to make the soil something it is not. Luckily, that solution is also useful for intensive gardening which is in line with making the best use of your space.

No matter how/what you garden, I would prioritize getting a weed barrier in place along that fence or you'll be in a Forever War with the neighbor's weeds.

[7Wannabe5]

@sky: I think what you mostly need is deep mulch because you have green weeds growing there. Don't worry about making compost offsite. Just keep dumping whatever organic debris is generated from your wife's part of the garden or anything you can scavenge. Pile it up. Don't worry about confining the bed with boards. Just get the highest part of the mound to about 2 ft. Then dump some free dirt in to fill most of the air space, but don't compact. Then steep some compost tea in your water barrels, and dump it on top. Then apply top layer of whatever black gold compost you have. Then layer of wood chips or shredded leaves or cardboard or whatever is readily available in your realm. In the spring, don't turn the heap. Just plant right in the heap wherever you can grub a hole for the transplant or see with your fingers, adding a cup or two of compost as necessary right where you plant if your debris is still too big and lumpy. Any weeds that come up just hack at ground level and toss the greens right back on the heap. When your transplants are established and your seeds have sprouted, apply another layer of mulch and plant a bunch of bean seeds in any of your gaps . What you are simulating with mulch is a the canopy tree layer. If you don't disturb the mulch, you will encourage fungal growth. The compost tea will inoculate bacterial growth. Plants need water to move nutrients. When the soil is nutrient rich, the plants need less water for healthy growth. You might find this somewhat inspiring:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcZS7arcgk

@brighteye: I think "Gaia's Garden" is the best introductory perma-culture manual. This is what I am studying now that I wish I had studied first.

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrc ... 2p2_053860

[saving-10-years]

Sadly one of the things we do is

Garden to deter pests/plant-predators

We have a LOT of rabbits who will get in and eat things that are not protected. But some things are safe to grow as they won't eat courgettes and similar, potatoes or various other crops. Great list and thread.

[vexed87]

Wait, people plan their gardens? This must be where I am going wrong

[sky]

The garden should be designed to reflect the fact that the gardener is extremely lazy.

With sandy soil, I think it is clear that no matter which gardening type is chosen, a lot of organic matter needs to be added. I will try to collect the leaves that fall on the yard and move them to this area. I will also buy some compost and create a bed in front of the fence. I would like to have a row of climbing plants on the fence, an 18" walkway and a 30" bed.

I may use a plastic mulch and plant seedlings through it by cutting it. The invasive grass is going to come back again if I don't stop it somehow. I currently have cardboard and tarp laying down on the area. I will probably prep the beds in October.

In the spring, I will construct a drip irrigation system with a timer, running off of the house water spigot. If I can afford it, I will add a fertilizer injector system.