I recently received the following question, and thought I would address it in a post–that way YOU can all chime in with your answers, and I can attempt to give one of my own.
Hi Mavis!!
I have been following the blog for a little over a year and am a beginning gardener. I search your posts for similar plants and use your tricks whenever possible. I’m wondering if you have tips and tricks for garden layout? Is it as simple as group plants together that need similar light and place tall plants in the back/short plants in the front?
I am not sure whether you are trying design a vegetable or flower garden, but either way, most of these tips apply.
First and foremost, grow what you love. Whether you are growing flowers or vegetables–if you have always loved the way the look, or you know you will eat it, those plants are a good place to start. Next, consider your space when deciding where to place the plants you love. My backyard is shaded in spots and has full sun on the back patio and full sun on the side yard from the early to late afternoon {where I decided to put my garden boxes}. When I started planning the backyard, I had to consider the amount of sun in each area.
As far as how to place them together in an eye-pleasing sort of way–yes, I do try to put the taller plants toward the back and the shorter ones up front. You DO have to think about the taller plants shading the lower plants as well. For example, if you do lavender in the back, it may shade out the next row a bit, so choose a complimentary plant that can handle being shaded–or even better, one that prefers to have its roots shaded.
In general, for flower gardens, I try to plan out a color scheme. I learned it years ago on one of the DIY channels and have been pretty committed to it ever since. So, when I plant a flower pot for my patio, I may choose three colors, like pink, purple and green {randomly chosen for the sake of an example}. When I choose my flowers/plants for the pot, I try to stick to shades of those three colors.
Limiting the amount of colors actually really does make the whole pot seem more put together. I think on the show all those years ago, they mentioned something about too many colors overwhelming the eye. Either way, I like to have a color scheme. In fact, the concept usually trickles out into my beds as well.
Finally, for perennial gardens, really think about how the plants will mature. I think a lot of times, people over plant the area in an attempt to have immediate results, but as plants grow {sometimes together} they will crowd out other plants, if they aren’t spaced with enough room to mature. It makes the beds look chaotic, rather than well designed.
I think those are the basic design elements I try to stick with. I hope they help get you started.
Do any of you have any design rules you go by?
~Mavis
Mary Ann says
I have a question also. What do you recommend planting in a shallow planter? My husband made me a darling three tiered planter that I put strawberries in but they just are not thriving. I wondered if it is too shallow for their roots. It is about 4 inches deep.
Sue says
Where I get stumped is how to incorporate rotating beds into this approach.
Dale says
This suggestion is for raised bed vegetable gardens. Last year I installed raised beds in my garden area. I layed it out with a 2 foot perimeter bed and 3′ between beds side by side. unfortunately I only spaced them 2′ apart end to end. This beacme a proplem when I bought a 2 wheel wheelbarrow. As it turns out, the wheel base on the wheelbarrow is 25″ so it wont fit down the narrow 2′ isles. The border bed works well and after trimming and stapeling the fence to the top of the border frame, weedeating became a breeze not having to hit the fencing makes it much faster to weedeat and saves a lot of line
Ebonie says
I feel like a rock star just pulled me up on stage!!! Thank you so much for answering my question! I’m doing square foot raised beds in my backyard full of veggies (tomato, peppers, eggplant, okra, zucchini, green beans, carrot, onion, peas, lettuce). We’ll be getting a fence in the winter and I want to plan the space well. Do you draw out your plans and make a garden blueprint?
Pam says
The hubby and I sat down with graph paper to configure our “kitchen garden”. We have several acres planted with seed corn and millet (we use them both in animal feed) but the kitchen garden covers about an acre and has everything we use to eat fresh and for canning. Dale commented on one thing I was going to suggest – be very careful of your spacing. I use a garden wagon while I weed/harvest. Make sure you leave enough space between your raised beds to accommodate anything you may need to drag between them. I’m in the southeast and my entire kitchen garden is full sun all day long so we built shade covers for some of our raised beds. The sun here will burn tender plants to a crisp if we don’t shade. Pay attention to companion planting – it helps make laying out your garden a lot simpler.
Ellen in Clackamas says
I agree with Pam about the shade cloth. Here in Portland we have had a number of days in the 90’s (more like August weather) and I had just put out some veggie starts. I knew they would get baked so I pushed 4 4 foot pieces of rebar into the box corners and hung an old sheet over the top. Luckily that and judicious watering has kept everything alive. The weather is more seasonal now (in the 70-80’s) so was able to take the cloth down and let the sun do it’s thing
Amber says
When I plan my garden I also try to have a couple of plants (especially perennials) that flower each month. This way you always have something to look forward to