To “plant” your vegetables to scale on your graph paper you may need to use your seed packet as a guide for proper plant spacing, or research the recommended spacing for mature plants if you plan to buy seedlings. If you plan to make your beds circular or curved, it will be a little more difficult to draw them to scale using the graph paper, but the squares will still give you a sense of square footage for each bed.Īfter you have your beds or rows laid out, the next step is to “plant” your vegetables in the squares by drawing them in. Rows and beds can be as long as you like. Walkways between your beds or rows should be about 18″-24″ wide (5-8 squares). A general recommendation is to make your rows no more than 3′-4′ wide (12-16 graph paper squares). Once you’ve drawn the outline of your growing space, you will want to break it up on paper into rows or beds. If you have a very large growing space, you can tape multiple sheets of graph paper together, or find a larger drafter’s size piece. If your growing space is about 10′ long by 5′ wide, you will draw a box 40 squares long by 20 squares wide on your graph paper (representing a total of 800 square feet). This means that four squares by four squares (16 squares total) on the graph paper represents one square foot in your garden. A good rule of thumb is to use the squares on the graph paper to represent a 3″ by 3″ inch space in your garden. Since spacing is often an issue for many gardeners, making your garden design to scale from the beginning will help you to provide adequate spacing for your plants as you put them in the ground. Graph paper is an ideal choice, because it allows you to draw your garden to scale. Next, recreate the shape of your growing space on a piece of blank paper. Make sure to measure the length and width. A simple spring-loaded tape measure will do the trick. Read: Companion Planting – Which Plants Grow Best Together? Good MeasureĪfter you decide the size and shape of your garden, rows versus blocks or square raised beds versus circular, you will want to measure the dimensions of your growing area, if you haven’t already.
Is your goal to get the highest yield out of the smallest space? Are you hoping to market your vegetables or preserve and store them? Are you looking to minimize the amount of weeds that grow? Or is your priority to create a unique and aesthetic garden with less of an emphasis on production? Your design will be based in part on your motives and goals for your garden. Before starting your design on paper, you will want to decide generally how you want your vegetables to grow. You may have typically divided your garden into long rows or approached it using a method of block planting to increase higher yield. You don’t need anything fancy, just a sheet of paper.ĭepending on the size and shape of your garden, there are a number of different design approaches. Designing your garden on paper ahead of time is an important step in planning your garden, and can make the difference between a well-organized and successful garden or a chaotic and poorly managed one.
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