Garden planning time!

A few years ago I decided to start growing veggies in my backyard. My dear husband raised an eyebrow (I had abandoned projects a few times) but nonetheless supported my new endeavor, going to the garden store, helping me till the soil, planting rows of seedlings with me, etc.

Here is one of the rows of corn we planted last year:

Some of our strawberries and peas:

For my 40th birthday, I asked people (those who asked what I wanted) for garden seeds. I got so many that I need to make the best use of the space I have and probably will need to grow some in containers.

We know by now where our tomatoes grow best, that the area by the deck is the Row of Death because nothing grows there — meaning we’ll probably do a row of containers there — and that our strawberries need to be high up off the ground or else the snails will get to them before we do. But it is always good to read up as much as you can, especially if you’re a novice like me. I like the idea of grouping items either because they’re all the same type, i.e. greens like lettuces, chard, spinach, or by theme.

I found some free garden plans at BHG.com and thought I’d share them with you in case you haven’t seen them already. Some of my favorite layouts are:

The Salad Greens Garden

The Heritage Vegetable Garden

Inspired by Italy Garden

There are many more garden plans with detailed layouts as to the specific plants and how many, what zones each plant is appropriate for, etc. Some of these may not fit exactly with the seeds I have or the size of the area where they’ll be planted, but they are great guidelines and have already given me some ideas for this year’s garden.

Are you planting anything this year?