If you are serious about growing your own food, having a good map of your garden space is essential. At one glance it can show you what is planted where, any day of the year. It will also show when one crop is expected to come out and the next go in. My garden map is the one thing I refer to more than any of my other garden records throughout the year. Here is a copy of the map of part of my garden. As you can see, I add color to easily identify the crops grown.
To make your map, measure your area and draw it out, showing where the beds are. If you are making a garden for the first time, you need to decide where those beds will be. I prefer to run my beds from east to west. Four feet is a good width for most people. People with a shorter reach may prefer a 3’ wide bed, but I wouldn’t go any narrower than that, unless you are planting against a wall or fence, then the bed might be only 2’ wide. The wider the beds are, the more efficient use of space, but there is a limit. You need to be able to reach all parts of the bed without stepping in it. I would caution against anything wider than 5’. Label each bed with a number or letter or, in some cases, both. My large garden has four sections (A,B,C,&D), with each section having 9 beds. So I have A1-A9, B1-B9, etc. Maybe you want to give each bed a name. It’s your garden. Labeling helps to identify each bed in your planning. To get the measuring done, a 100′ tape measure is a great help and is fairly inexpensive.
There is more to a garden map than the outline of the beds. It helps your planning if all the beds contain the same area. Many of your crops will occupy a whole bed—tomatoes, corn, and potatoes come to mind. Some will need less space, such as lettuce and zucchini. Those can be grouped together in a bed. You will need to plan rotations and put those rotation arrows on the map. It is not good to keep planting the same thing in the same place year after year. That goes for things in the same crop families. You can plan so that the crop, or group of crops, that are planted in each bed rotates to the next bed the next year. There is a lot to explore in the area of rotations. Eliot Coleman has a chapter in New Organic Grower about rotations. Also, The New Self-Sufficient Gardener by John Seymour is a good resource on the subject. My pet peeve with computerized garden maps that are often available is that they only show you the plan for one year, with no rotations. It may be that part of your garden is shady and you have specific crops that go there. In that case you would have two rotation plans—one for the shady area and one for the sunny part. Maybe you have both large and small area beds. If the large areas are twice the size of the small areas you might do as Brent did in my garden plan video and count each large bed as two beds. Or, you might have a rotation schedule for the large beds and one for the small beds. If you have only one garden bed, consider rotating the spaces within the bed.
Once you have the map drawn, complete with the rotation arrows, have some copies made to play with. Write in the names of the main season crops you will have there and the beginning and end dates those crops will be in the beds. Your garden is out there every day all year soaking up the sun. Fill in the beds for the rest of the year with additional crops, cover crops, companions, etc. If you don’t plant something there, Mother Nature will. Once you think you have everything like you want it, take a good look. If you have overwintered cover crops or eating crops such as greens or carrots in a bed, the group of crops rotating to that bed the next year needs to begin with what’s already going to be there. If you plant garlic in bed B3 in the fall and the next year the crops from the current year B2 will be planted there, that selection of crops from B2 needs to begin with garlic. Most often it is a cover crop that will be overwintering. If a bed is the first to be planted in the spring with onions, lettuce, and sugarsnap peas, the cover crop planted there in the fall needs to be one that will winterkill. Or, you could prepare the bed in the fall and cover it with leaves. Pull them back two weeks before planting time to allow the soil to warm up. You can click on the pictures in my posts and they will each open larger in a new window. If you take a closer look at my colorful garden map you will see a couple places where the rotations don’t match for the next year. That’s because it shows what’s there right now as the first crop, but I’ve made some changes for next year, so the last crop in the bed will be with the new plan. For more information on planning cover crops for sustainability, refer to my blog posts Planning for Soil Fertility and Compost Materials on August 9, 2011 and Choosing Which Cover Crops to Plant Where on August 23, 2011. For cautions on bringing in outside sources of mulch and compost read Killer Compost from July 26, 2011. My video Cover Crops and Compost Crops IN Your Garden takes you through the year from March to November, showing you the different cover crops and how to manage them using only hand tools.
It is good to have a “to-scale” map, but in some cases your working map might look a little different, with the beds large enough to write in all the necessary information. Just as long as you know how much area you are working with and that what you are planning for that area will fit. In my video, Develop a Sustainable Vegetable Garden Plan, I work through the rotations in this 4-bed plan. I’ve had people tell me they really didn’t understand rotations until they saw me explain it in the video. That video comes with a companion CD that includes this 4-bed map, plus worksheets to help you plan when your crops need to be planted, how long the harvest will be, and when the bed will be ready for the next crop. In addition, the CD has a 7-bed rotation map that corresponds with Betsy’s Garden at Sunfield Farm, the garden you see in the video. That map is included as a real-life example of a working rotation.
Now that you have your map as you like it, label it with the year and “Proposed”. Take two more blank maps (which is why you need to make multiple copies) and label one “Actual” and another “Amendments”. Put them in your garden notebook and fill them in as you go along. At the end of the season, you will have a record of what actually was in each bed and when. You will also have a record of anything you may have added during the year on the amendments map. Have fun with your garden maps. Spring will be here soon and you want to be ready.
Hi just want to say I have enjoyed your blog and helpful hints. On the subject of winter cover crops, I am glad you have mentioned the problem you can have with early spring crops like onions. Thanks so much for clearing up a problem for me. Winter rye has been a good cover crop here in western Pennsylvania, but by thinking ahead a little more, oats would be a better cover crop in those areas of the garden, where I would plant onions in the following spring. “Choosing Which Cover Crops to Plant Where”
I know from experience the planning of my garden on paper or on the computer in fairly exact dimensions has helped design a more efficient guide. This takes in consideration of companion planting, rotations, as well as space accommodations.
Sheri, I’m happy to hear that you are already into planning. This winter has been so mild here in Virginia we will be lucky if the cover crops we had planned to winterkill actually do. I have been trying to decide if I should go out and take a hoe to the oilseed radish to get it on it’s way to decomposing or let nature take its course. One year I had oats planted in the bed on the south side of a compost pile. That pile sheltered the oats and they never winterkilled. That would have been a good spot for overwintering greens. I like to have Austrian winter peas in the places that I will be planting early, but not the earliest time in spring. They can grow all through March and are easily pulled out for compost whenever in April I get around to it. The soil is friable and ready to plant.
I’ll be in Pennsylvania on March 10, speaking at the GardenWise event sponsored by the York County Master Gardeners. In September I’ll be back in Pennsylvania at the Mother Earth News Fair.
Hopefully we should see you at the Mother Earth News Fair in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. Enjoyed it so much last year, we’ve already made plans to attend this year.
Sheri, I’ll be there again both as a presenter and as a vendor. Watch for the schedule. I’ve heard there is another event in that region for that weekend that has previously been scheduled for October. So, book your room early–now is not too early. Last year all the hotel rooms within a 75 mile radius of Seven Springs were booked.
Hi Cindy! It’s really tough to see your garden map, are you able to repost a cleaer image or perhaps put in a table what the boxes say? I get a lot out of this blog and have learned a significant amount… speaking of which, I recently ordered the Cover Crop DVD of yours from Bountiful Gardens and eagerly await it’s arrival! Thanks- Sam
Sam, you’re going to have to do the best you can with that map. It’s only there to show what a garden map would look like and inspire you with the color, not necessarily to show you what’s in my garden. You will each decide that on your own. The CD that comes with the garden plan video has a 7-bed detailed map that is a good teaching tool, along with the 4-bed map in the blog, which is also on the CD. Some of my other post will help you plan to have enough cover crops for the year to feed back the soil.
[…] Comments « Making a Garden Map […]
[…] and the space is empty until you fill it again. If you worked out your garden plan and made a garden map back in the winter, you will have an easier time filling those spots. You should already have […]
[…] put in cover crops that will be ready to harvest when the bed needs to be ready for that next crop. Make a map of your garden, showing each bed with the crops for the whole year. What you plant now will be the first crop […]
[…] of your notebook. You will need to know what crops you are planting and where, so you will need a garden map. After consulting your seed inventory and garden map, make a list of your crops and what needs to be […]
[…] will be in your garden for the year. For a refresher for that kind of planning, read my post on Making a Garden Map. You will know what you need ahead of time and can plan your coldframe plantings accordingly. My […]
[…] I urge anyone wanting to sell produce from their farm someday to learn to grow as much as they can of their total food needs first, fine-tuning the timing and quantity to their family’s needs. With a good garden plan, you will know what to expect and when to expect it. You’ll also learn how much you can produce in the area you are working with. When you do decide to grow for more than your family, you will have an idea of how much area you will need, when things will be ready and how much you would have to sell. You can also anticipate if you will need to change methods or add equipment. Your garden plan is your business plan for the business of managing the food production for your household. My DVD Develop a Sustainable Vegetable Garden Plan can help you with that. You might also take a look at my blog posts Keeping Garden Records and Making a Garden Map. […]
[…] your garden map you will know how much space you have available. My post Making a Garden Map can help you with that. It becomes a balancing act, deciding how much space to allot for each crop. […]
[…] throughout the year and when it was planted, particularly, what is in there now; but the subject of garden maps is a whole other post. Once I became a certified Ecology Action GROW BIOINTENSIVE Mini-farming […]
[…] I am writing this now so you put them in the plan you are making for this year’s garden. Make a garden map and fill in each bed with everything that will grow there for the entire year—all 12 months. Add […]
Hi Cindy,
I would really love to watch your video “Cover Crops and Compost Crops IN Your Garden” but $40 is just so expensive. Do you plan to have it on Amazon Prime at any point for rent? My family stopped buying DVDs years ago and started renting online instead. It is a much, much more sustainable way to go these days (cuts back on the materials and shipping).
I really hope that your videos will be available to rent soon. Your blog has provided so much useful information! I can’t wait to learn more.
Thank you!
Warmest regards,
Anya
Hi Anya, thank you for your question, because others might be wondering the same thing. So, I will explain. You will not be seeing my videos on Amazon. I think a society is in peril if its citizens depend too much on one company, such as Amazon, to receive services and products. I am happy that you find my blog posts helpful and enjoy putting my blog out there for all so access freely. There is a cost, however, for me to do the work I do and to maintain the website. The funding comes from the sale of DVDs and books through my website. I do not receive grants and you will not find a “donate” button on my website. Think of the DVDs as teaching workshops, rather than just videos to watch, but workshops that you can visit over and over. There is so much information in each DVD that it is helpful to review segments again when you are working on that subject in your own garden. With a DVD you do not need an internet connection to do that. The cover crop DVD is $35 and the garden plan DVD, with companion CD is $40. There is a discount if you buy both together, and we usually offer an additional discount from Thanksgiving to New Years to encourage gift-giving. Shipping is free to you and supports the post office. You could ask your public library to buy the videos. There might be a local garden group that maintains their own library and might be willing to purchase the videos for loan. Or, you could buy the videos and donate them to the library yourself if you do not want to keep them, getting double use for the money spent. That benefits you and all the library patrons. I produced the videos to relate the information that I was teaching at the community college to others who couldn’t take my classes. Considering how much tuition costs, the DVDs are a bargain.