Garden Planning

As mentioned previously the key to a successful companion garden is in the planning. You will want to include in your garden your favorite veggies and fruit so your garden may be different from the sample we discuss in both size and selection. There are a few simple steps in planning your garden.

First, write a list of the vegetables you definitely want to have in the garden. Keep it to the top ten you would prefer. Then make a list of vegetables you wouldn’t mind having in your garden, but that aren’t essential. Keep that one to a limit of five.

Next, determine the interactions that would be detrimental to each one of the first ten you want to plant in the garden. Use the information at the end of this book for a list of common vegetables and fruit and the detrimental effects when combined with another vegetable.

Next, think about the height of each full grown vegetable plant and the effect that the taller plants will have on smaller ones.

Tomato and corn plants will cast long shadows into the garden so plants that need full sun exposure will suffer if placed in between them.

Lettuces, Cabbages and more delicate plants benefit from some shade time. But don’t forget the rules of companion planting!

Corn and tomato plants don’t grow well together and neither do lettuce and cabbage.

Finally, read through the list of non-vegetable plants that can benefit the vegetables in your garden and decide whether to plant marigolds along the borders with garlic and onions to help keep the pest population to a minimum.

There is a lot of information to piece together based of course on the vegetables you choose to include in your garden and the various interactions these vegetables will have with the surrounding plants. No one starts building a house without a plan, you shouldn’t build a garden without one either.

As just one example of a planned companion garden, we will use the 4’ X 4’ square foot area discussed in the building the raised garden section.

There will be sixteen ‘cells’ or squares in this garden. You can plant one row or four squares of each vegetable or a different vegetable in each square.

Don’t forget your garlic and onions should already be growing in the cinder blocks!

In some cells or squares there will only be enough growth room for one vegetable. This depends on the size of a full grown plant of that species. The garden example below will produce eleven different types of vegetables.

The corn and tomatoes are separated by two rows because they don’t grow together well.

The carrots are in a row away from the tomatoes although they could grow in the same square to avoid stunting their growth.

The summer squash will provide good ground cover for the tomatoes without interfering in the growth process. All these elements work together well.

The garlic and onion borders are safely sequestered in the cinderblocks and won’t affect the growth or development of any of the veggies. The addition of herbs or flowers can aid in the growth of some of these vegetables.

Planned Cinder Block Garden Bed