Planning Your Garden

Planning Your Garden

Gardening is a treasured hobby for many people. It’s a way to relax, spend time connected to the Earth, all while providing a moment to breathe in the aromas of soil and flowers. It’s also a way to become food-independent, allowing people to grow their fruits, vegetables, and herbs on their own – the way they want it grown.

However, that’s not true for everyone! Gardening may seem intimidating to others, especially beginner gardeners who don’t have the years of hands-on experience. People who’ve never started their own garden often say they have a “black thumb” holding the perception that there’s a steep learning curve to growing plants.

We’re going to help make it a little easier for you!

At CedarCraft, we’re big fans of the Square Foot Gardening concept developed by Mel Bartholomew.

Square Foot Gardening is a uniquely simplified system of gardening that eliminates 80% of the:

  • Space
  • Work
  • Weeds
  • Watering
  • Waste

Square Foot Gardening creates a planting grid within your planters with each crop having its own square. 

There are four spacing guidelines:

  • Extra Large fruits and vegetables are allowed one plant per square for 12 inch spacing
  • Large fruits and vegetables have 4 plants per square for 6 inch spacing
  • Medium allows for 9 plants per square for 4 inch spacing
  • Small fruits, vegetables, and herbs have 16 plants per square for 3 inch spacing.

You can use the seed packet to find out what spacing your plant needs. A tomato or green pepper plant needs one per square, while radishes and carrots need 16 per square. There are online planning guides that can help you map this out, too.

This system works perfectly with your CedarCraft planters. We’ve broken down the square feet in each one of our planters for you:

 

CedarCraft Cascading Planter

 

 

CedarCraft Elevated Planter

 

CedarCraft Urban Planter

 

CedarCraft Raised Garden Planter

 

Once you have a grid system mapped out, you’ll need to double check a companion planting guide to make sure your plants can share the same planter. Some plants don’t grow well together.

  • Beans: Don’t plant near chives, garlic, leeks, onions, peppers, marigolds
  • Peas:  Don’t plant near chives, garlic, leeks, onions, peppers
  • Broccoli and Cauliflower: Don’t plant near peppers, squash, strawberries, tomatoes
  • Tomatoes:  Don’t plant near broccoli, cauliflower, cilantro, cucumbers
  • Dill: Don’t plant near carrots

 

You can follow our CedarCraft Pinterest boards for gardening tips, companion planting guides, and examples of what people are growing in their own Square Foot Gardens!

  • Handy Helen says...

    Beautiful display of all your gorgeous pieces!! And this information is fantastic and so easy to understand! Way to grow!!

    On May 30, 2015

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