How do I Design a Vegetable Garden Online?

Vegetable garden plans and tips for growing are available online.

The Master Gardener Program of the American Horticultural Society (AHS) provides website links to gardening programs in each U.S. state and Canadian province. The Master Gardener program "is a two-part educational effort, in which avid gardeners are provided many hours of intense home horticulture training, and in return they 'pay back' local university extension agents through volunteerism," according to the AHS website. Information about how to design a vegetable garden is available through local university extension programs, such as the University of New Hampshire Extension's "10 Steps to Success with Your Vegetable Garden."

Instructions

1. Choose an online tutorial from the Resources below or a local Master Gardener program. Master Gardener programs promote responsible and sustainable horticultural practices such as reducing pesticide and fertilizer use, protection of water quality and improvement of soil vitality.

2. Choose your garden site. Colorado State University Extension Master Gardener Steve Aegerter recommends, "If your gardening space is limited, think about garden plants that will grow up, rather than out." Vegetable garden site recommendations may vary according to local climate, soil conditions, and available home space.

3. Design the composting area of the garden. Many local Master Gardeners provide hands-on composting workshops to help educate gardeners on the essentials of creating fertile soil for vegetable growing. The Los Angeles Smart Gardening Program also provides online education about worm composting and backyard composting (see Resources).

4. Draw vegetable plots using information from a local Master Gardener source. Cass County, North Dakota Extension provides online directions for companion planting, the system of providing mutual biological support between plant species (see Resources).

5. Study ongoing care requirements such water needs of individual vegetables, successive planting and local frost dates for autumn harvesting. Consult the online USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map for frost temperatures (see Resources).

Tips & Warnings

• Consider practicing the "low-till" method of gardening to conserve and enhance soil fertility.

• Don't plant the same crops in the same place each year. Rotation planting reduces disease and harmful insect infestations.

References

• The American Horticultural Society: Master Gardeners
• University of New Hampshire Extension: 10 Steps to Success with Your Vegetable Garden
• Colorado State University Extension: Planning Your Garden

Resources

• LACounty.gov: Backyard Composting
• North Dakota Cass County Extension Service: Companion Planting
• American Community Gardening: Starting a Community Garden
• U.S. National Arboretum: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map