Garden Planning

Project Grow provides the plants, but there are many other important parts of managing a garden. Follow the tips below to increase your garden's success and learn more about sustainable gardening!

While no garden is perfect, making these considerations can increase the success of your garden and reduce your work load.

1. Location, Location, Location!

Before planting, read the instructions on each seed packet and determine if they require full sunlight, partial sunlight, or shade. Once the above is determined, you can decide where to place your garden. When choosing a location for your garden, also consider your water source. Is the garden close to a spigot or sprinkler system? If neither water source is available, locate your garden close to the house, to minimize the distance you need to carry water.

2. Prevent Garden Pests!

One of the largest threats to your garden will be pests. Fencing is crucial for keeping rabbits, deer, and other animals from munching on your vegetables. Another way to protect your plants from pests is by using garden containers or raised beds. This can be done inexpensively with any of the ideas below. Get creative!

3. Goodbye Weeds, Hello Mulch!

Another obstacle of gardening is controlling weeds. The easiest way to reduce the number of weeds in your garden, is to prevent them from growing in the first place. There are several ways to prevent weed growth, most of which involve blocking weeds from sunlight. Mulching is the most common method of weed suppression. Mulching is the addition of wood chips, hay, cardboard, newspapers, or any other organic material between plants. This keeps sunlight away from weeds, while holding moisture in the soil.

4. Companion Planting!

When planning your garden, think about what vegetables are being planted near each other. Some plants can harm the growth of other plants, and need to be planted away from each other. Companion planting is the practice of growing different plants together allowing them to complement each other. For example, dill and basil can act as a natural pest repellent, helping protect tomatoes from hornworm. Garlic and onion produce strong scented chemicals that often harm the growth of other vegetables, so pay attention to where they are planted. Before planting your vegetables do some research on companion planting and visit our companion planting blog post!

5. Bring on the Bees!

Another important part of plant growth is pollination. Your garden will thrive if you attract more pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and humming birds. Planting flowers throughout your garden can be beneficial, as well as adding a hummingbird feeder. Marigolds are especially helpful, because they attract pollinating insects while repelling pests.

6. Keep that Garden Tidy!

Keeping track of what is planted and where can allow you to have a successful garden year after year. Drawing a map of how you planted your garden one year can help you determine what you want to change or keep the same the next year. It is also important to label each row of plants a garden, so you can tell them apart once they start growing. Different plants need different amounts of light, water, and time to grow, so you need to know which plant is which. Labels can easily be made with twigs, old silverware, or popsicle sticks. as shown below.