Deciding what to plant in a small vegetable garden layout
I like to suggest starting with your shopping list. What items will appear each week? For me, that means lettuce and other vegetables like spinach, swiss chard, kale and bok choy, cucumbers, onions, various herbs, peppers (I usually grow at least one pepper to make habanero jelly, and various other bell peppers), odd root vegetables like beets and carrots. One thing that doesn't come up often on my shopping list is tomatoes. But it's not because I don't like them. They can't compare to what you grow yourself (or buy at the farmers market in the summer). So tomatoes are always on my growing list. And I often grow more than I need - any extras are frozen for winter meals.
I also recommend growing at least one new vegetable. It's fun to watch it grow, then give it a taste test at the end of the season. While it's easy to get carried away and want to grow everything, you only have so much space. I always seem to get more seedlings and seeds than I have room for. That's why my collection of loft beds and planters has grown over the years. What if you have extra seedlings? Don't let them go to waste! Tuck them into perennial gardens or pots.
Calculate Spacing for Raised Beds
Read your seed packet (or plant label) carefully. They should provide the height and width of mature plants, as well as spacing recommendations. Keep in mind that one of the benefits of raised garden beds is that you can plant vegetables more closely together (this is called intensive planting or gardening) rather than in rows like in a traditional underground garden. This also helps control weeds and can reduce the need for frequent watering. You do want to keep an eye on your garden and tiny plants as they are growing to keep the air flowing, which can help prevent disease.
Many gardeners find Mel Bartholomew's square foot gardening method helpful. On your loft bed, you divide the space into 1x1 square foot squares. Then you follow his plan to determine how many plants or seeds should be added to each square. Density depends on plant size. So that could mean a tomato or a few carrots. This is a useful way for beginners to get organized.
Tips for Vegetable Garden Planning
Assess which direction the sun is coming from and make sure not to plant tall crops in front of shorter crops. I learned this lesson the hard (fun?) way a few years ago. A pack of PastelDreams zinnias seemed like the perfect flowers to grow them in front of one of my raised beds. For some reason I didn't read how tall they would grow. Then the answer is three to four feet tall! This means they cast a little shadow over the vegetables behind them at certain times of the day. I am very careful about growing shorter varieties now.
I always grow columnar basil near some of my tomatoes (I include it in my grocery list plan). It grows nice and tall, doesn't get lost in the shade of tomatoes, and makes a lot of pesto! Of course, there are plenty of great basil varieties to discover.
Choose compact plants that spread. They may have been bred with containers in mind, but they're also perfect for raised beds. If you grow a winter squash in your raised bed, it can easily take over the entire garden! However, a compact breed won't have as many pigs, and if you plant it strategically, it will pour down the sides. You can also plant pumpkins in front of peas...and once that's done, the same trellis can be used to train pumpkins.
Continuous Planting Program
Many newbies don't realize that the vegetable growing season doesn't end when you're growing heat-loving plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons. For example, the space created in the garden with peas can be used later in the summer to grow root crops or vegetables like Swiss chard and kale for fall harvests. This is called continuous planting.
Also, add some compost to the raised bed when you've removed the summer peas or garlic and are ready to plant something else. This will add some nutrients back into the soil. Now you're ready to plant more!
I like to grow garlic in one of my raised beds in the fall, but keep in mind that you can't grow garlic in that garlic space until around July.
My Shopping List Favorite 96"x24" Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Layouts
OK, let's get to the layout. This loft bed has eight rows. For the rows of onions, vegetables, and root vegetables, these photos do not represent the exact number planted. They are just a placeholder to indicate where they are going. According to my shopping list, I'll grow two rows of onions; one row of two tomatoes and one columnar basil; one row of three pepper plants (one pepper, one snack, one bell - or both); A row of kale, spinach, or Swiss chard (from seeds); a row of two cucumber plants (patio variety); and several rows of root vegetables (from seeds). In the picture, I included beets and carrots, but you can add radishes or turnips. I also sneaked in a few herbs, curly parsley and flat leaf parsley.
96"x24" Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Layout for Home
This is another layout idea for a family plot. Sow double row/grid peas or beans at the north end. Then, add two rows of onions, one row of two tomatoes (probably the cherry variety and one sliced tomato), one row of two pepper plants (one hot and one snack), and one snack cucumber (all three in the tomato cage) medium), a row of butternut squash (dwarfs over the edge) and zucchini (plant or seeds) - I love Burpee's lemonade squash - and a row of carrots (from seeds).
