Final Garden Design

I've been working on a garden design for a few weeks now, and I've finally completed it! I love our garden, and I am super excited to start planting! We actually have quite a bit of work to do before we're ready to plant, so we'll get started this weekend. We have two compost bins that Josh built. One has turned into gorgeous dirt, so I'll spread it over the ground with some additional fertilizer before Josh tills everything up. Once it's emptied, we'll start using that one, and let the other one compost away in peace. It'll be ready to spread before winter hopefully!

I planned the design based on past experiences, and what we love and use all the time. There are a couple of newbies in there as well.

Here is what the finished product will look like:

A) large tomatoes
B) cherry tomatoes
C) a. sugar snap peas; b. blueberries; c. blackberries
D) bush beans
E) cucumbers
F) bell peppers
G) spaghetti squash
H) a. basil; b. rosemary; c. cilantro
I) marigolds
J) spinach
K) kale
L) red leaf lettuce
M) green leaf lettuce
N) onion

The spinach, kale, and lettuce will have very spread out plantings - that way we don't end up with an entire row of everything all at once. What we don't use, I'll freeze in ziplock bags and add to my morning green smoothies (sounds gross, but you can't taste the greens even a little!)

Marigolds probably seem random, right? We garden organically, and they keep away lots of unwanted bugs. Planting them in with the veggies is called companion planting, and it's a great way to start an organic garden! You can also group together certain kinds of veggies to produce better results, both in production as well as decreased insects/disease. I'm relatively new to gardening, so I'm definitely still learning all about it! I read the other day that anyone who grows any type of plant should keep a journal. You should record things like the name of the seeds you planted, your production results, what types of problems you had, weather, etc. This way you can research solutions over the winter and hopefully avoid some of the same issues the following year. I will be starting one this year for sure!