This is an old construction phrase, but very relevant in your garden. If you were building a house, you would not just start nailing random boards together. Well…you might, but it’s a bad idea. You use blueprints. The same goes for your garden. You are about to build your own little ecosystem. You will need to do some thorough research and develop a plan BEFORE you start stocking up on all those cool looking seed packs or hording flats of vegetable plants or even pushing that shovel into the soil. It’s hard, I know. Patience is a virtue. Trust me though, it really sucks to dig out a huge raised bed and move it when you realize most of it is in the shade… You do get to start using your very first official garden tool: a notebook! How exciting, right?! It can be virtual or otherwise, but you need one place to keep track of what you have to work with and what your goals are. Eventually, you will use it to record what you planted and other useful information. Let’s start planning that build!

Things to Consider

1. Goals. What is it that you hope to accomplish? Do you want a neat bed of colorful flowers in your front yard? Do you want to grow your own food? Are you just sick of mowing your lawn and want to fill the space with something you can mulch around and weed from time to time? If you said, “YES!” to all of those: slow down, Killer. You’ll burn yourself out before you even get started. Actually, there IS a way to do all of this at the same time. It’s called edible landscaping. I haven’t tried this on a grand scale yet, but I like the idea of it. Settle on one or two goals to start off with. You can always do more later.
2. Time. It is probably one of the most valuable resources you will ever possess. One or two plants won’t take up much time to care for, but an acre of corn or cucumbers will definitely require a significant sacrifice of that precious commodity.  The amount of time you have will help determine the number or types of plants you choose to grow. How many minutes can you commit to your garden each day? The biggest chunk of time will be spent on prep work to get it started, but you should plan on devoting at least a few minutes every day or two to each plant. Not only will you be checking the soil moisture, but you will be watching for potential pest or disease issues. (As Benjamin Franklin said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This is so very true in gardening.) There’s an added bonus though: it’s relaxing. I find it to be almost meditative to get out among my plants.  As long as you avoid getting carried away, your garden can actually be a wonderful stress reliever. Be realistic about how much time you can be out there.
3. Sun Exposure. Another important factor in planning your garden is how much sunlight is available in your growing space. The best way to determine this is to spend some time outside over the course of a few days noting where the sunlight is hitting the ground at various times of the day. It’s also a great excuse to go outside and play. If you are planning an indoor garden, find out what windows bring in the most light throughout the day. Most fruit and vegetable plants need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight a day, so keep this in mind if you want to grow edibles. I found that I didn’t have as much sunlight in my yard as I had hoped. Unfortunately, there is not much that you can do to change your garden’s sun exposure that isn’t expensive and/or labor intensive. However, you can still grow some wonderful plants no matter how much direct sunlight you get.
4. Growing Season. Some plants can go from a tiny seed to harvest within a few weeks. Radish, I’m looking at you. Others, like tomatoes, take much longer to reach maturity. The length of your growing season determines what plants will thrive, as well as whether or not you can start them from seed or must use transplants. Knowing your plant hardiness zone takes a lot of the guesswork out for you. Check out the USDA website for more information on what that means and how they determine the zones.   http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
5. Water Sources. Most people know that plants need water…even houseplants. ::hangs head in shame again:: Even if you are planning to grow things outside, eventually you’ll have to water it because “it can’t rain all the time.” 13 points to you if you can name what movie that is from… You need to have a plan for those times when you have to supplement Mother Nature. We have rain barrels that we use most of the time, but lemme tell ya: that watering can sure gets cumbersome after a while. Even so, I try not to use the garden hose unless I absolutely have to. Think about what would work best for you.
6. Soil Quality. Pedology is the study of soil. That’s right. There is a whole branch of science devoted to studying soil in its natural environment. Why am I telling you this? Because soil is a complex matter. Hehe, get it? Seriously though, it’s difficult to cover soil in depth in this particular post. So I’ll just hit the high notes for now. Some plants get pretty picky about the soil they are growing in. Others are happy as long as they are in some. If you are planning on growing anything directly in the existing ground, you’ll need to know what you are actually planting it in. Is it sandy, loamy, clay? What nutrients does your soil already hold? A simple soil test can answer these questions. Contact your local extension office for information on how to do this. Regardless of what the soil test reveals, you will usually have to amend it in some way depending on what you want to grow. That’s actually pretty easy to do though. So far the biggest issue I have personally faced with soil is drainage. My soil is lovely red clay. Great for the kids to squish in, not so great for draining excess water. After a massive rainstorm, the water just sits there. A lot of plants are offended by this. Go figure.
7. Kids and Pets. Ahhhhh, the little beings we cherish and spend our lives with…they can be the most difficult factor involved in gardening. Okay not really, but they do have to be considered. The most obvious thing that comes to mind in regards to children and pets is where the garden will be located. Kids like to touch everything. They run, jump, throw things, climb… am I forgetting anything? They can’t help it (and we wouldn’t want them to even if they could), but these things aren’t always good for your plants. So don’t plan on planting that fragile vine on a trellis next to an area the little darlings like to play soccer. Pets are pretty much just kids with more fur. Planting something where they are used to playing or pooping is not going to end well for you or your plants. The less obvious thing to consider is the toxicity of all parts of the plant and how likely your kids (furry or otherwise) are to try to chew on it. Take tomatoes. The fruit of the tomato is delicious and nutritious for humans. The leaves of the plant though are not safe for anyone to consume. Another example would be grapes. According to AKC.org, ingesting grapes can be fatal for your pooch. Be sure to keep this in mind when planning what plants will be accessible to children or pets.

I know it seems like a lot to take in, but it’s really not as difficult as it may appear. Honestly, the hardest part is just getting started. In the words of a very wise teacher, “Take chances, make mistakes and get messy!” (That’s Ms. Frizzle from The Magic Schoolbus, of course.) Now go outside and play!

I guess I should go ahead and knock out my first disclaimer: I randomly break out into song or insert movie quotes into any conversation I may be having. Sometimes I mash them up. I don’t know why. It’s just part of who I am. Pop culture has its hooks in me I guess. This is true even in the texts and emails I exchange with family and friends, and will probably raise its ugly head here in blog world. (Oops, already has…) Hopefully, I’ll never get sued over it. Some people may find it a bit annoying. You have been warned. 🙂

I plan to approach this blog from the point of view of someone who does not grasp the concept of this mythical thing known as “free-time” because that someone is me. When I started gardening, I was working full-time. My husband worked at least 70 hours a week. Every. Single. Week. He had an hour and a half commute also. (Both ways…uphill…in the snow too, I think) AND we were raising three school-aged kids. I would come home, help the kids with their homework, make dinner, clean the kitchen, do laundry, bathe kids and FINALLY get outside after dark to decompress in my beloved tiny garden. There were nights I had to use a construction light to work in the garden when most people in the neighborhood were settling into bed. Looking back, I am not really sure what I was thinking. I think it was just the desperate need to escape the severe stress we were enduring at the time. Circumstances are slightly different today as I am not working outside our home, but we now have another child to raise. So I still find there is limited time to devote to my little green babies. Even with such a tight schedule, I have been able to grow a lot of delicious food and beautiful flowers. In fact, this year I had so much that I was able to share my harvest with family, friends and neighbors. THAT, my friends, is a wonderful feeling. I’m no expert or magician, so I am confident anyone else can do this too.

As I have previously stated, I pretty much just jumped into my backyard garden without a lot of thought. I do NOT recommend this. I ended up wasting so much energy, lost so many plants, and we won’t discuss the monetary aspect. It was pretty fun to give it shot though, so I won’t say it was a total loss. That being said, I hope I can help you avoid making the same mistakes I did. My next few posts will be breaking down the steps of starting a new garden.  Next week is the first day of autumn, so this is the perfect time to get started.

You are probably thinking, “Wait. What?”  Yes, autumn is the best time to start thinking about that spring garden. We’ll get into the why later. 

Okay, let’s garden party.