Planning for Vegetable Garden Layouts

Growing vegetables in your garden is a great way to get them fresh, and also to escape the consumption of harmful chemicals that are used to ripen and preserve them. However, it is difficult to follow the traditional ways of growing vegetables in small gardens in the urban areas. For example, instead of having long rows of plants you can have small beds with paths in between, for you to move around easily in your backyard garden. Discussed here are few aspects that could be of great help while planning a small vegetable garden.

Location
The vegetable garden should always occupy the sunniest part of the yard. It's only the leaf crops that may grow in limited sunlight. In case such a place is not available, you could have them planted in containers, and place them on a sunny patio or deck, or even hang them in baskets on the porch. Vegetables that grow well in containers are lettuce, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, beans and cucumbers.

Open Soil or Raised Beds?
Raised beds are a better option than open soil, to grow vegetables at home. Raised beds warm up faster and also retain the heat for a longer span of time. They provide better drainage, and allow you to use compost with minimal waste. Raised beds also help in maintaining the soil integrity as you cannot walk on the soil between the beds while tending the plants. Materials that can be used for making raised beds are lumber, bricks or concrete slabs.

Vegetable Garden Layout
Now that you have decided on raised beds, you must take care that the beds are not wider than 3 or 4 feet, since you desire easy maintenance of your vegetable garden. There should also be paths between the vegetable beds that would allow you to move easily while weeding, watering or harvesting the plants without trampling them.

Preparing the Soil
For a good harvest, you must prepare the soil well, using organic humus like compost, peat moss or well-processed manure. The humus must be well-mixed with the soil before planting the crop.

Which Vegetables to Grow Where?
In order to ensure proper sunlight and circulation of air, you must plant taller crops like peas, beans and corn in the north direction so that they don't overshadow other plants. Plant the medium-sized plants like cabbage, cauliflower and tomatoes in the center. Let the shortest crops like carrots and beets grow in the southern end of the garden. You must also remember that certain vegetables do not grow well if put together. For example, do not grow tomatoes next to broccoli and onions next to beans.

Crop Rotation
This is a common practice in agriculture, but can also be applied to a vegetable garden. Crop rotation prevents soil from becoming deficient in certain nutrients. Growing the same plant on the same soil every time also makes the soil prone to certain pests and diseases. The best way to start with crop rotation for your garden is to classify your crops into the following groups:

• Root crops like potatoes, carrots, beets, etc.
• Brassicas like cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, etc.
• Other crops: This includes all the other vegetables excluding the above.

Plant each group in a different area of the vegetable garden each year.

Having a vegetable garden not only allows you easy access to fresh vegetables, but also provides a healthy way of relaxation, as it has been proved that gardening is an effective way to ease out stress.