Plan Your Urban Garden

What does every plant need to thrive and grow? Even more than water. Sun is the correct answer. Now take a look at your property on a nice sunny day and make notes on what parts see the most sun (8+hrs preferably). These are your best areas for a garden. Consider trimming back some trees if they are blocking out the sun completely. Don't rule out your front yard! My front yard sees much more sun than my back yard, so it was obvious that my garden would have the most success in the front.

Delicious Home Grown Zucchini and Cucumber

Now how much square footage can you spare? Consider your first year an experiment that will help you learn the basics. Do you have a 3' x 12' strip that you could dig up? That's a great start. The more land you can devote to a garden, the more homegrown veggies your family will be eating. My first year I experimented with a 3' x 12' strip, 6' x 10' strip, and three pots in my driveway. My garden has been so successful that each year the grass I need to mow decreases while my garden increases.

After you have mapped out the land that is available, think about what vegetables your family would eat. Don't waste your time growing food you will throw away. Cucumbers, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, potatoes, onion, etc. The list can go on and on. Once you have your list, look up the room each plant needs to grow(typically 3' diameter minimum). This will help you determine how many plants you can grow in your allotted space. Do you want to have more plants than what you can fit? Do you have room for pots? Pots can be an urban farmer's friend.

Make a rough sketch of your property with the location and measurements of your garden. Play around with where you want to plant each vegetable so everything fits best.

Cucumber hint: Cucumbers are a vine plant. Build an upright trellis for the vine to climb, thus opening up more garden real estate.

After you have picked your vegetables and completed your sketch, step 1 is complete. Next post we will talk about purchasing seeds. Remember, I like to save money. Growing vegetables from the seed is much more affordable than buying the plants from Lowe's.