Category: Garden How To (Page 1 of 5)

From the ground up. Digging into garden basics and beyond.

Vegetable Garden Design Basics

Let’s get your garden dreams onto paper so you can make harvesting from your garden a reality this summer! A little planning can go a long way. To that end, I’ve created a step by step Garden Planning Guide for you.

First – let’s get clear on what YOUR garden goals are. Setting an intention up front (and knowing it will change with/in the seasons) can be a welcome guidepost later in the planning process. Try to not to compare your gardens or goals to anyone else’s.

Also, I’ll suggest you start small and manageable and plan to add on as you get comfortable with growing more and more. I really want gardening to be a joyful experience for you- not a slogging chore hanging over your head.

Did you know I have a FREE Garden Design Class video on my YouTube Channel? We go over all the basics covered here plus even more details so check it out if you’re looking for more information.

Let’s Dig In!

Before We Dig In

Let’s plan making our vegetable gardens places of beauty for us and the rest of nature that we want to invite in!

Vegetable garden with wood raised beds in spring with a red colander full of recently harvested salad greens

The more you start using your front and back yard, the more you’ll want to make the most of every square foot.

Mapping it out on paper will help you see your space in new ways. Keep in mind water, easy access, electrical and zoning requirements for sheds, chicken coops etc.

There are as many ways to design and implement a garden as there are gardeners. And, if there’s a friend or neighbor’s garden that you admire, ask them if you can use their plans in your space; imitation is the highest form of flattery…

Focus on growing what you and your family like to eat, and what will grow well in the space you have. Know Your Growing Zone!  Follow THIS LINK to find your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone.

2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, updated 11/2023

Call Before You Dig

#811 is the national number to call to request that all buried utilities be marked before you start digging. Plan to give them a few days lead time to mark buried electrical, cable and water lines.

Layout Basics

Raised beds in vegetable garden full of spring veggies.

Garden beds function best when built to the 3-4-foot wide range.

Main pathways are best kept at 2 feet wide. Some smaller gardens can get away with 18” pathways, but if you need to get a wheelbarrow into a space, you’ll need a minimum of 2 feet.

Just a reminder that beds do not have to be straight. Depending on materials, the shapes are limited only by your imagination and the space itself.

Basic Planning Steps

  • Draw the garden perimeter.
  • Draw in hardscapes. These non-plant items include fences, paths, and fixed items, now you’ve got a ‘Base Plan’. STOP and make copies at this point so you can play with design.
  • Draw rough outline of garden bed shapes and sizes.
  • Make a list of all the plants you want to grow in your garden (grow what you eat).
  • Draw plants into beds (remembering orientation, spacing, trellising, harvesting accessibility).
  • Add in companion planting options.
     
  • Add in succession planting options.
  • Revise, revise, revise.  
  • Save your plans from year to year and make notes and use for planning crop rotation.
Wide angle of a vegetable garden with metal and wood built raised beds. Seen through a garden gate.

Orientation

When starting your plant layout keep in mind the suns’ orientation. Plant taller plants on the north end of the bed so you don’t block sun from other shorter plants (unless you want to create shade for lettuces etc.). If you plan on making any of your raised beds into cold frames, know that an east west orientation (with the window slanted towards the south) is recommended.

Design Your Layout Sketch

vegetable garden design sketch with colored pencil

Next is sketching the shape of your garden. Get outside and measure existing spaces or walk the area and measure it out. Draw the perimeter of the space to scale on graph paper. Most garden beds will work well drawn to a scale of 1 foot to 1 square on regular graph paper. Next, add existing hardscapes that won’t be moving. Then, stop and make copies of this ‘base plan’ so you can markup many drafts without having to repeat this step again!

Now’s the time to refer to the list of ‘want to grow’ plants you’ve been gathering. If your list of what you want to grow is longer than what you have space for, narrow the list down by considering what your original garden goals were. Keep in mind what your family likes to eat most, what you could buy from a local farmer instead, and what is most cost effective to grow. This is the tough part- rarely is their room for all the things we want to grow. Now is the time to compromise.

basket of colorful tomatoes set in path between two raised beds with vegetables growing over the edges.

Plant Spacing

How you space your plants is going to depend a little on the kind of gardener you are… Do you like things orderly, or does a little chaos feed your soul? Of course, read the seed packets and consider their recommendations. Many of those packets focus on ‘row’ gardening, although some are starting to include square foot spacing as well.

Most gardeners (us included!) struggle with remembering just how big plants really get by the end of the growing season. Giving plants ample space will help them flourish and make your late season gardening jobs more enjoyable too.

Spacing plants too close can decrease air flow and light, both of which can lead to weakened plants. Weak plants are more susceptible to disease and pest pressure. I tend to crowd my plants a little but am aware that I need to pay extra attention to them. Also of note, the more crowded the plants, the trickier the harvest.

three cabbages and three broccoli growing in a 4 foot wide raised bed.

For me, spacing ends up looking like this in a 4 foot wide beds:

  • 24 carrots
  • 12 onions or garlic
  • 8-10 beets
  • 4-5 pak choi, celery, head or leaf lettuce
  • 3 broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, kale, peppers or potatoes
  • 2- Tomatoes
  • 1 zucchini, summer or winter squash

Row spacing will vary based on plants, and you can really play with space when it comes to plants you’ll trellis like pole beans, cucumbers and squash! More information on Playing with Space by Growing Vertically in my online class, coming soon. I also tend to interplant a lot which can alter plant spacing.

Side view of a vegetable garden with a mix of flowers and vegetables growing in summer.

Place Your Plants

Taking into consideration the elements we talked about before: orientation, vertical planting, and plant spacing, start placing plants into your ‘Base Plan’. Know you’ll likely move things around quite a few times as you work this out.

a harvest basket full of beans and peppers sitting on the corner of a wooden raised bed.

This is the step where some garden alchemy happens – you’re using your imagination along with your experience. This process gets easier to see each time you do it. Think about your garden through the seasons, imagine pollinators, harvesting, and how the sun changes. Envisioning your garden in fall can help you get the most out of your space without it becoming overwhelming!

*Confession: It is still hard for me to remember how big broccoli plants really get as I’m transplanting tiny seedlings into the garden!

Getting a plan on paper will help you visualize the garden better but remember there’s nothing like seeing a garden grow throughout the seasons. Living the experience is really what it’s all about- and nature is the best teacher.

Try keeping a record of what you grew in which garden spaces. I tend to lean on my Instagram account and story archives for this, along with a spreadsheet of seed starting dates and a few notes on how plants performed. This practice helps you fine tune your garden skills year over year. It also helps you practice crop rotation in the future.

a vegetable garden that has been heavily planted with companion plant flowers.

Plan space for companion flowers to help with pest defense too. Flowers add beauty, pollinators, habitat and joy to any vegetable garden.

Consider succession planting options for growing multiple crops in the same garden beds throughout the season.

Consider the rest of the ecosystem when garden planning, see your garden as part of nature and work with it instead of against it.

All that dreaming you’ve done up to this point will pay off in the long run with happier plants and heartier harvests.

I hope this helps you Dig In and plan your best garden yet!

-Michelle

Soil Blocking for Seed Starting Success!

Soil blocks produce some of the best transplants from seed starting I’ve ever grown. This is my hands down favorite way to start tomatoes, peppers and my earliest cold hardy crops.

Soil and person using a soil blocker to start seeds

The method uses a metal ‘press’ that you fill with an oversaturated (think cement slop for the right consistency) seed starting mix. You get this mix packed into the ‘press’ and push a lever to pop out the cutest soil cubes you ever saw. And if the mix is done right, they stick together great, even though it seems like they’re defying the laws of gravity.

A cube of soil made by a soil blocker

This has proven a great way to get your seedlings off to a solid start and use less plastic. It was brought over to America in the 1970’s by Eliot Coleman, the OG Organic Gardener.

Soil Blocking Benefits

A tray full of green and red seedling started in soil blocks

There are a few stacked bonuses to starting seeds this way. One is that it uses less plastic overall. It also creates a good environment for a seedling’s roots to ‘air prune’. This basically means the root hairs stop trying to grow out and instead bulk up closer to the plant. This avoids any circling of roots in a pot so no worry about root gridling. The air pruning process primes the plants for less transplant shock as well. The soil blocks also have great germination rates. They’re almost impossible to overwater as the blocks shed excess water right away.

Seedlings started in soil blocks on a tray with ID tags

The standard for seed starting trays is the “1020” which is roughly 10” X 20”. I mostly use a solid 1020 tray with a mesh 1020 nestled inside this for my soil blocks. But, I also have an assortment of older pots that I use to plant into, always with a solid 1020 tray underneath. I absolutely swear by Bootstrap Farmer’s trays. They cost more up front but will literally never need to be replaced- so much stronger then the box store trays!

You can also start soil blocks on any tray with a lip, and I’ve got some old school lunch room trays I’ve repurposed for this.

Getting the Seed Starting Mix Right

Soil blocking supplies displayed. A soil block maker, a tray, a bucket of soil, a watering can and soil blocks already made.

Start with a sterile seed starting mix. Do not use regular garden soil. There are quite a few good brands out there, I’ll use Promix if I’m buying a pre bagged blend. But when I do my main seed starting, I mix up my own, to be able to control the exact contents (yes, I’m a control freak) and to save money!

I buy compressed bricks of organic coco coir, like these, to make up about half of this mix. You’ll get roughly 2.5–3 gallons from one compressed brick after soaking in 1+ gallon of water and letting it expand for a few hours.

I have used peat in my soil blocks for years, knowing that it is a hotly debated medium for seed starting I’d been looking for alternatives in addition to the coconut coir. I trialed wool pellets from Kestrel Farms Pellet Co. for the first time in 2024 for my soil blocks. I am loving this medium so far. It is holding together like the peat and holding water as well too. I will update on my trial once the results are in!

There are lots of opinions and ways to create a good seed starting mix. Here’s what I found works well for me when starting soil blocks. If you’re making a seed starting mix for starting seeds in pots instead of soil blocks, you can skip the peat moss altogether.

Seed Starting mix of ingredients including compost, coconut coir, perlite, blood meal, bone meal, azomite clay.

🌿Soil Blocking Mix🌿

3 parts coconut coir
3 parts peat moss (*or 2 parts wool pellets)
2 parts compost or 1-2 parts worm castings
2 parts perlite
1/4 cup blood meal
< 1/4 cup bone meal
< 1/4 cup Azomite (aka rock dust)

SOAK COCONUT COIR FOR AT 2+ HOURS PRIOR TO MIXING

Here’s a link to my Amazon seed starting page if you’re interested in seeing all the products together. But remember, reusing any existing trays, pots and food grade plastic is an option too!

Pepper seedlings started in soil blocks

The soil blockers cost a little more than trays and pots but can make endless soil blocks for you – and all your garden friends. This is something I love demonstrating at schools too- it really is like playing with mud!

Enjoy starting seeds however you choose to go about it- and marvel at nature’s will to grow!

Dig In,
Michelle

Season Extension: Garden + Harvest into Winter

One last harvest deep into winter from all my veggies grown under cover

Fall temps can quite literally cool our northern garden jets once September hits its stride and apple season arrives. But for those of us that enjoy those frost sweetened crops and don’t mind gardening into the cool of autumn, Season Extension opens another mini-season of gardening and harvesting!

For those just getting started on season extension, you may be wondering why we bother with this extra work?

For me the reason is that by keeping plants alive in the ground, it allows them to hold onto their nutrients, compared to if we harvested at the first sign of frost. Food loses around 30% of its nutrients within three days of harvest.

Practicing season extension can add weeks or even months of harvesting FRESH FOOD from your garden. And isn’t harvesting healthy food one of our main goals?

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The Amazing Aronia Berry

If you love growing beautiful medicine, that also attracts the pollinators then let me introduce you to Aronia Berry, aka Chokeberry. Actually, you may have already met Aronia Berry while walking in the woods or edges of prairies in the Midwest of America.

Officially named Aronia melanocarpa this cold hardy North American native woody shrub is worth adding to your landscape for its adaptability, form, fall color and of course, its fruits!

Knowing + Growing

The Aronia Berry tends to stay around 8 feet tall (depending on variety) and is much less picky about soil as it has deeper roots than the Elderberry. They are hardy to -40F or USDA Zone 3. They’re also don’t have any pest issues and are disease resistant.

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Harvesting from Your Garden

Harvesting from your garden is the moment we’ve all been waiting for!

You’ve probably heard it’s best to harvest from your garden in the morning. Maybe you’ve also heard not to harvest from your garden when wet… These can seem contradictory especially on damp, dewy mornings. But there’s more behind the ‘not wet and not wilted’ reasoning.

I’m sharing some best practices to harvest lots of delicious and nutritious food to make your garden healthier and more productive.

Vegetable harvesting  spread out in front of a garden gate

Why Not When Wet?

We should generally hold off harvesting from our gardens until plants are dried off because when we open a wound on a plant from harvesting by cutting or breaking off we’re leaving an entrance on the plant for diseases.

Fungal and bacterial diseases (blight, powdery mildew, rust, etc.) multiply while the leaves are wet. So, the chance of them getting directly into a wound is greater with a wet plant as well. This timing also makes it harder for the plant to fend off the diseases in general.

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Growing Joi Choi + Recipe

Let’s get you growing Joi Choi! This is the Pak Choi (aka Bak Choy) everyone can (and should) grow.

Close up of Joi Choi pak choi plant growing in garden

There are few veggies that bring me as much JOI in the garden and on my plate as this veggie, so I’m declaring myself a founding member of the Joi Choi Fan Club! She’s as delicious as she is beautiful!

This has consistently been one of the easiest veggies to grow. It is ready also one of the fastest maturing early spring veggies, ready to harvest within 30 days of transplanting in all but the coldest spring weather. This means I can usually get at least three successions of Joi Choi in each season in my zone 4 gardens.

Read more about Succession Planting HERE

It is way more heat tolerant than other Pak Choi I’ve tried. Meaning it keeps growing a lot longer, and therefore bigger before it bolts. I mean look at those Thick stalks! All that stem equals weights of close to 2 lbs. per average plant if harvested all at once. Last fall I harvested a single Joi Choi that was over 4 lbs heavy and still tender and crisp in October!

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Cucumber Comparison

Cucumber slices of different varieties of cucumber! Marketmore, Armernian, Dragon's Egg, Mini Muncher cucumbers
Taste testing tray- Left to Right: Telegraph, Dragon Egg, Mini Munch, Armenian

We love growing cucumbers! But there are many differences, so let’s do a cucumber comparison.

They’re a favorite of the vegetable garden and one of the homegrown treats my kids most impatiently look forward to munching fresh of the vine – as well as sliced (with ranch) – then fermented and pickled all winter long.

Needless to say, we grow a lot of cucumbers!

*This post includes affiliate links*

There are different cucumber varieties including slicing, English (burpless), pickling and then you can get into the specialty varieties that have been saved for their unique characters for centuries. These specialty varieties have a special place in my heart.

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Growing Ginger in the North!

Like anything you grow at home- ginger just tastes better than store bought. And with how much I love ginger’s bold and distinct flavor of course I grow it. Plus, growing an exotic, tropical plant up in zones 3 and 4 is pretty darn empowering.

Then there’s the fact that most ginger sold in the U.S. is imported from China, Brazil or Thailand…and has been grown without much regulation and then shipped thousands of miles. Add in that is a beautiful plant that smells amazing and you’ve got to try growing this at least once!

Ginger Botany

Zingiber Officinale roscoe
Classified as an aromatic herb, the part of the ginger plant we most often eat is  called a rhizome, the underground stem of a plant. But with homegrown ginger you can enjoy the stems as well- I chop the stems and enjoy them in tea!

Native to Southeast Asia this plant likes if hot and humid. So if you have a greenhouse you’re a step ahead, but dedicating your warmest space to this plant should get you a happy harvest too. Growing ginger is an 8-10 month project, so we try to get started at the end of January here in Minnesota zone 4. And yes, these plants will be LARGE before they head outside, so plan for space similar to a tomato and they may even have to stay inside longer.

Here’s A Ginger Growing Timeline

  • Jan 20-Feb 20- Start soaking your rhizomes
  • Jan 27- Feb 27  pot up into soil, in a tray to sprout
  • March 1-15 pot up again into deeper pots with ample space
  • June 1- 15 Once temps are 65+F outside, you can move to final growing space outdoors

Growing Ginger

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Harvesting, Preserving + Using Herbs

Filling your basket with fresh picked herbs is one of those  garden routines. It is by far one of the more glamorous parts of gardening (much better than mixing compost or weeding, right!?!) so don’t skip this joyful garden practice.

Whether you are growing herbs for cooking, herbal tea or the medicine chest there are a few tips to harvesting and preserving that I’ve learned along the way…

Favorite Homestead Herbs

Here are a few of my favorite (which also happen to be the easiest) herbs to grow. Watch a recent video of me harvesting herbs growing in my garden HERE on my @forksinthedirt Instagram.

Perennial Herbs

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Lessons from the Garden

Symmetry within the circle of our season — that’s the overarching lesson from the garden. But just one of the ways gardening teaches me year after year.

It is perfectly absurd to search for a beginning or an end to this cycle; is it when the seeds start forming, when I harvest my saved seed out of the garden, as I store it over winter, or when I plant it next spring that is “the beginning”? Is it when the food emerges, when its ripe, when I harvest, when I eat it, or when I compost the excess that is “the ending”? 

Taking into consideration the piles of compost, continuously added to by our hens, and all the other intertwined inputs and harvests from our little backyard homestead garden- I’m proud to announce that I can I find neither beginning nor end… instead I find a naturally flowing cycle that swallows its own tail year after year. A process without any one formula, rather a myriad of methods and infinite accomplishments along its way.

That being said; we all like to “take stock” every so often. The end of the calendar year, as the garden lays sleeping and frozen under the snow here in Minnesota seems a fitting time as ever. So, I’m taking a look back on this year of growing with you to share what I gleaned from my gardens. Or rather, what lessons my garden unearthed for me. I’ve added links to previous posts at the end of most topics, as it seems the lessons I learned this year are also perennial. But as with gardening- the roots grow deeper and the harvests increase with each passing year. I hope you can take a few of these ideas and let them inspire you to grow and harvest more (veggies, sustainability, peace) from your gardens this upcoming season. Let’s Dig In!

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