Part 2: Planning your garden
A lot of factors go into planning a garden, and planning for your garden will happen over and over, every year. It is often recommended to keep a gardening journal. You can track important info like, what you have, how it did, what didn’t work, and why. It’s good to reference these notes each year when you are planning for the new season and if you plan on regrowing things you tried before. The most important factor in planning your garden is your space. Do you have a garden plot? Raised planters? Or are you using containers on a deck? The space that you have will dictate to some extent what you can plant and how much you can plant. You will also need to factor in how much sunlight your designated spots will get. Most plants need 6 or more hours of sunlight, although the type of sun is just as important as the amount. Morning and evening sun is not as strong as mid-afternoon sun. Some plants will not tolerate the direct afternoon sun beating down on it and others demand the HEAT WAVE. So tracking the sun for a year is always beneficial to better understanding what kind of light source you are working with. This can be done as you experiment with what to grow and fill out the gardening journal. Gardening is a lot of trial and error and not everything will work out every time.
So how do you decide what to grow? I always start with a grand wish list. If I had unlimited space with perfect growing conditions, what would I grow? I usually flip through multiple seed catalogues and write down anything that intrigues me. I am not ashamed to say the highlight of my winter is when those seed catalogues start showing up in the mail, I grab one and my cup of tea, & tuck in dreaming about greener things. After I’ve made my wish list I will go through and start eliminating things based on my limiting REALITY factors.. Space, light, and ranking will usually narrow the list down significantly. Then it’s just a matter of bargaining with myself, “what will I try this year, what will I save till next year.” If it’s your first year, I strongly recommend keeping it very simple. I wouldn’t plant more than 5 direct sow items, at least not for the first year. You want to set yourself up for success, and overwhelming yourself may lead to possible failure and no one wants that. In my first year, I planted peas, beans, carrots, lettuce and spinach (a blend of direct sow and starting early seeds). I had a lot of success, it was easy to maintain and I got a great yield (which my son promptly ate before anything ever made it inside. My poor husband never even got a single pea that first year, my kid ate them all right off the vine.)
Take your time when planning out your garden, all the time you need and then take some more. Go over it multiple times, look at it from all angles. Nothing need be written in stone, you can always leave room for something to change. Being flexible will help ensure you have a bountiful garden and have fun doing it.
– Authored by: Marissa L.C.
Alberta Witches Association 