When you first decide that you are going to use your back garden for growing vegetables you may feel a sense of slight panic about how you are going to plan, what seeds you want to plant and how, if you can, succeed at vegetable gardening. Let me put your fears at rest because if you follow your heart and a few simple tips you too can have a beautiful well planned vegetable garden to be proud of.

When first planning a vegetable garden you need to know what kind of soil you have to work with as the type of soil you have determines what vegetables and plants that you are going to be able to grow successfully. If you feel that your soil is not of the best quality you can mix in large volumes of ready made compost that will increase your soils potential, fertility and moistness. If you are on a budget then why not try and make your own compost. All of the kitchen leftovers such as vegetable shavings and cuttings, fruit cores, pips and seeds, any degradable food waste should be placed into a hole that you should dig in the corner of your garden. Once full place a layer of the soil loosely over it again. Within a few days to a week you will have fresh, organic compost that has cost you nothing. Some local council provide you with free composting bins to help with recycling, this is a rich source of compost that is perfect for giving your garden nutrients.

The next thing you need to plan is what vegetables you want to plant and where you want to plant them. Now you have managed to make your soil fertile and ready for planting you need to decide what type of beds you want to create for them. You can create open soil bed that is marked out using wires or even small fences to separate them and then the seeds themselves are planted directly into the open soil. The other option is raised beds. Raised beds have a few advantages over open soil beds as they are often more effective and the outcome more guaranteed in success. It all comes down to the amount of sunlight you get on your plot, the amount of rain and watering and also how much you fertilize your soil. But open soil beds are just as effective if not more in other ways.

Vegetable garden layouts are a personal choice but they can hinge on exactly what you want to grow and how you want it all to look. Making your vegetable garden layout special and unique to you is something that needs planning. You need to plan for your vegetable garden layout to be practical for you to use, functional as a garden itself and somewhere that has plenty of sunlight. Sunlight and water are something that your vegetable garden cannot live without so when you first choose the right spot for you, take into consideration how much light that spot has to offer you. The spot has to be able to receive at least seven hours of sun everyday, more if you can to optimize growing conditions. The next thing to consider is water, what is your area like for rain fall? If it rains a lot then there is not much you need to concern yourself with but if you get little or practically no rain at all then you need to make room for irrigation which will supply your vegetables with all of the water they will need. Now you have both of things decided you can begin to actually put pen to paper and start designing the functional elements to your vegetable garden layout. Firstly think about your beds, what size do you want them? How wide, how long? Think about how much space you will need at least between each bed so that you can get between the beds to do your pruning, get your gardening materials and equipment with you so that it allows you to look after and care for your seeds right into their mature state. There is a standard size that most people stick to in this part of the design and that is three feet wide per bed and three feet between each bed, the length of each bed is up to you! The overall design can be practical as well as aesthetically pleasing to the eye. You will be spending a lot of your time in your vegetable garden so you need to ensure that you are totally comfortable and happy with the layout and how that layout makes you feel. Yes vegetable gardening can be hard work but it is also something you can do that calms the mind and soul.