Creating a Kitchen Garden, pt 3: Planting Plans
Over the last 2 weeks we have covered a lot of ground learning how to create our own kitchen garden!
At this point you should have a solid idea about where to put your garden and have made a plan to build or purchase your raised bed. But it’s not time to start buying plants yet! I know it’s hard waiting to fill up your new raised bed, but trust me. This final step has the potential to save you a lot of money.
If you’re like me, once I get to the local nursery, I lose all of my good sense and budgeting ability and start to go a little crazy. However, if I go with a planting plan, I know exactly what I need and how many of each plant to buy. It doesn’t matter how great the dill looks, if I don’t have room for it, I don’t have room for it. Think of it like a grocery shopping list for plants.
This week, I want you to focus on creating your planting plant. Here’s how:
Drawing Time!
Measure your raised bed.
Draw out your bed on paper.
Then, draw a grid on top of the drawing to indicate 1’x1’ spaces (this is just for reference when figuring out how many plants can be put in a single square foot).
Drawing of 4’x4’ bed; grid added for spacing purposes
Choosing What to Plant
This may go without saying, but only plant what you like to eat! If you’d like to keep a nice green salad ready in the fridge every week, pick a bunch of different greens to grow. If you’ve dreamed of making homemade pickles, cucumbers are a must on your list. Tomato sandwiches in August? Ew. But if that’s your thing, plant all the tomatoes.
Download our Veggie Planting Plan if you need some help deciding what to plant. While the list is not exhaustive, it does include the most common veggies and how many of each to plant in a square foot. A little explanation on that – I prefer using an intensive planting method. That means, 6 weeks after you’ve put all your plants in the soil, you should not be able to see the soil because of all the growth. A regular internet search would tell you to plant 4 lettuce plants in a square foot … I like to plant 6. There is a method to the madness, though. Intensive planting keeps weeds choked out and also helps to maintain your soil’s moisture since it isn’t exposed to direct sun. As long as you are harvesting regularly, your plants should stay healthy and happy. And you maximize every inch of your planting space.
Shop Till You Drop!
Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: SHOPPING!
Using your planting plan, you now know what plants to purchase and how many of each you need. Once you’ve got your plant babies home safe, refer to your plan and get digging. A word to the wise here, label your plants as soon as they are in the garden. You’ll be surprised how much everything looks alike once they are out of their nursery pots. And even though you have a planting plan to reference, there are almost always changes that need to be made in the moment. You can use popsicle sticks, pre-made cute little things from Etsy, or a million other options you can find on Amazon.
Next week is the 4th and final part in our Creating a Kitchen Garden series: Maintenance Best Practices. Now that you’ve done all this work, you’ll want to keep these plant babies alive!