Where To Plant Your Garden

The first step when planning a vegetable garden is where to put it. You have to work with what you’ve got. Anybody can garden, whether you have a small balcony or a few acres. Understanding your space will help you understand what you are able to grow and how much.

Where is your light coming from? Ideally you want southern exposure for a steady stream of all day light. Eastern will give you cooler morning sun, Western will give you hot afternoon sun that might overheat plants, and Northern sun is the least favorable. Northern facing gardens will receive the least amount of light and are more likely to have shadows fall on them. This is for a garden in the Northern Hemisphere.

How much light does the area receive? You want 6-8 hours of light a day. Check for buildings, trees, or shrubs in the area and if necessary make sure they won’t cast a shadow on your garden space.

Is there water? You need water! The closer the water the better. You don’t want to start to hate your garden because watering becomes too much of a hassle. Do whatever you need to do to make watering as easy as possible.

What kind of soil is in the area? The best way to test soil is to send in a sample to a testing lab. Another option is to use an at home soil test. Once you have test results you can start amending your soil’s Ph level to grow what you want. A super basic understanding of soil is that you want a rich dark soil. Look at what is growing in the area and how well it is growing, that is a good clue to your quality of soil. Also consider your area. Are you growing in what was previously farmland or where a torn down chemical plant used to be.