Beginner 20x20 vegetable garden layout8/11/2023 Here are two important things to take into consideration when you’re planning which vegetables to grow in your garden. But, what’s worth it to grow depends upon you – what you like to eat, what you buy on a regular basis, and which vegetables are on your priority list. When you’re tight on space, it’s even more important to plant and grow vegetables that will give you the biggest bang for your buck. We eat a lot of kale in our house, so growing it is a top priority each season. If you have a plot in a community garden, I have some specific tips for making the most of that space, including the best vegetables to grow, in this post. You can always expand your garden in the coming years after you’ve fallen in love with growing your own food. If you’re not sure how much you’ll like growing your own food, or you don’t have a sense of how much time is required, then I suggest starting small. If you’re starting a small vegetable garden or considering downsizing to a smaller garden, you need to be honest with yourself about how much time you truly have to devote to your garden. But, planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting from a garden of this size is a considerable commitment of time for many months of the year.įor me, it’s time I spend joyfully, and I have almost 20 years of gardening experience under my belt. At 1600 square feet I’m able to grow a lot of food for my husband and I. My garden is pretty large, especially for a city lot. A 4’ x 8’ raised bed is a common size, but you can build whatever size fits best in your garden space. If you’re thinking about building raised beds, starting with two or three will allow you to grow a handful of different vegetables and will also be easy to manage. That’s much more manageable for most busy folks.Īnd, surprisingly, you can actually grow a lot of food in a small plot like that if you garden efficiently. There were a lot of gardens that got overtaken by weeds and were suffering from neglect.Ī more appropriate plot for beginning gardeners would have been about half that size, 10’x10’. Over time, I noticed that for many gardeners this size was often too big for them to keep up with. After working in my own plot, I often took strolls around the garden to see what other people were growing. I had a plot in a community garden for many years and the standard sized space was 20’ x 20’. One thing that’s often not shared is how many hours it takes to maintain these large spaces. Try not to be overly influenced by the many photos on social media romanticizing huge gardens and mini-farms. How to Make the Most of Your Small Vegetable Garden So, if you’re new to gardening, I encourage you to keep it simple and start small this season.Īnd if you’ve already hopped on the tiny garden bandwagon, here are my top tips on how to start a small vegetable garden and make the most of it so that it’s bursting with produce this year. You’re more likely to be successful, which means you’re going to have a lot more fun.Īnd greater success will make you excited about continuing to garden the following season, and hopefully for many more seasons after that! It’s much easier to keep up with a small garden during the busy summer season. Over the years I’ve met thousands of gardeners who get excited about the idea of growing their own food and then dig up a huge section of their yard. If you said, “starting with a garden that’s way too big”, you’re right! So, embrace the challenges, enjoy the unexpected surprises, and read on to discover plenty of great garden plants and layout ideas for your own backyard oasis.If you had to guess, what’s the most common mistake beginning gardeners make? The bottom line is you're never done learning about plants and your garden. And whether you're an experienced gardener or a complete newbie, Mother Nature will continue to throw you some unexpected twists and turns along the way. They evolve through the years as you learn more about the plants you love. It's also important to be patient because gardens aren't built overnight. It's essential to read plant tags carefully and make sure a perennial, shrub or tree can survive winters in your USDA Hardiness Zone (find yours here). That will dictate what plants will likely thrive in that area. For example, an area that's full shade in summer may be full sun in spring. Watch that space for a few days to get a sense of what's happening at what time of day. For starters, look at the area you want to plant: Does it get full sun, which is 6 or more hours per day? Or maybe it gets only part sun, which is about half that, or full shade. Starting a garden from scratch may seem daunting for a novice! But we've got you covered with tons of great ideas and free garden plans for every type of yard, whether it's big and sprawling or teeny-tiny.
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