Here it is, my 2018 raised bed garden plan. I have included some really helpful diagrams showing space requirements of each plant! I plan my garden layout as efficiently as I know how by companion planting and interplanting different types of crops together.
I start all my plants from seed indoors to supply my garden. I use heirloom varieties so the seeds are viable to produce a future generation of plants. This allows me to be completely self-sufficient without needing to shop at a greenhouse or nursery for plants. If you are interested in saving your own heirloom vegetable seeds, check out my E-book “Saving Vegetable Seeds – a quick start guide“.
I also practice succession planting to maximize efficiency in the garden. When one plant is harvested, I plant another in the same space. Don’t forget, your produce is only as good as your soil. Take as much care in preparing your beds as you in growing.
If you want to create your own computerized garden layout just like this one, check out my Garden Design and Planning Tool! Plants are pre-formatted with their mature sizes, so you will get the spacing right without having to research each crop individually.
Raised Bed Garden Plan
If you are new to gardening, you may like my Veggie Garden Supply List to help you get started. It includes everything you need from starting seeds indoors, to canning the garden harvest. For more unique gardening accessories, check out these Most Wished for Gardening Accessories!
The overall size of my garden area is 40ft by 20ft. Each of my diagrams have a square foot grid in the background to show how the plants are spaced. I’m going to break each raised bed down but before I do, let me define some of my wordage.
Definitions:
- Early – a variety that will produce its harvest early in the year, leaving available garden space for replanting.
- Late – a variety that takes a long time to mature and produces a harvest late in the season.
- Perennial – a plant that will live many seasons.
- Reseed – an annual variety I planted last year that will regrow itself from dropping seeds.
- Overwintered – a plant that was sown the previous season, went dormant over winter and will be harvested this season (typically spring).
- Seed – plants I plan on letting go to seed so I can harvest and save it for the next planting season.
- Trellis – plants climbing a trellis
- Ground – vine plants that will spread out and grow on the ground.
Bed 1
- Asparagus (early, perennial)
- Beefsteak tomatoes (reseed, late)
- Parsley (overwintered)
Bucket 1
- Beefsteak tomatoes (reseed, late)
- Lemon balm (perennial)
Bed 2
- Strawberries ever-bearing (perennial)
- Onions
- Garlic (overwintered)
Bed 3
- Bell peppers
- Acorn squash
- Rosemary (perennial)
Bed 4
Bucket 2
- Tomatoes
- Peppermint (perennial)
Bed 5
Bed 6
- Roma tomatoes (reseed, late)
- Basil (in cement blocks, seed)
- Nasturtium (in cement blocks)
Bed 7
- Mixed gourds (trellis)
- Pumpkins (ground)
- Radish (early, seed)
- Kale (early)
- Dill (seed)
Bed 8
- Snap peas, pole (trellis, early)
- Cucumbers (trellis, mid-late)
- Broccoli (seed)
- Brussels sprouts (seed)
- Dill (in cement blocks)
- Nasturtium (in cement blocks)
Bed 9
- Green beans (pole)
- Watermelon (late, ground)
- Spinach (early, seed)
- Carrots
Bed 10
- Asparagus (early)
- Cherry tomatoes (late, reseed)
- Lettuce (in cement blocks)
- Nasturtium (in cement blocks)
Bed 11
- Dry Beans – black and kidney (seed)
- Cilantro (seed)
- Butternut squash
- Spinach (early)
Bed 12
- Paste tomatoes (mid-late)
- Lettuce (early)
- Cilantro
- Basil
Garden Bench
Bed 13
- Hot peppers (chili and pablano)
- Small sweet peppers
- Swiss chard
- Cucumbers (trellis)
- Carrots (leave to overwinter)
- Red Onion
Bed 14
- Potatoes
- Sage (perennial)
- Green beans
When I was first starting out gardening I wished someone would have shared detailed garden layouts like this. I hope this will help you in planning out your garden!
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I love seeing your plan, your layout/containers. My issue comes to when I’m trying to figure out what to plant next to each other or what grows better in what type of container..I love gardening but get so overwhelmed with where to put what I normally do in the ground gardening but really trying raised gardens to year with the hope of harvesting seeds etc.. Would love more advice on how we know what to plant where..
April, I think a lot of people have this question! It has taken years of researching and trial and error for me to figure this out. I would love to put together a post with all this information for you and anyone else who wants these answers.
I would love ideas, am in the planning stages of constructing raised garden
What a great plan!!! So many different beds for your veggie gardens! Good luck this season!
Thanks! It’s actually been a helpful reference for me while planting them!
Thank you so much.
This is the clearer plans I saw.
I’m a more than beginner town girl newly installes in country.
I am a visual learner and your help is priceless.
Thanks again.
I’m curious the thought process for building the trellis on the north side of the boxes. Like is there a reason/benefit? Please don’t read that as accusatory 😊 I’m genuinely curious why. This is all new to me. Thanks!
Yes, that is very intentional. Here in the northern hemisphere (I am in Michigan), we get the most direct sunlight from the south. By orienting the garden south, plants get the most amount of sunlight possible per day. The trellises on the north side of the garden beds cast a shadow on the paths behind them and not on the vegetables growing in front of them.
Can you tell me how tall your trills is? I want to put one up but am worried about blocking sun to my raspberries that are only about 3 ft behind my raised bed
My trellises are about 6 feet tall with 30 inch walkways in between raised beds. I don’t have any shading problems since the summer sun is so high in the sky.
Thanks so much for this lay out , going from traditional gardening to raised beds this year . I’ve always done companion planting and was wondering how different it would for raised beds . Good to read about the trellis in comments , here in NW Ohio would be about the same issue with sun and will make me think a bit more on my lay out . Again thank you for all your hard work !
HAPPY PLANTING ❣️BTW found you on Pinterest .
I love the visuals of the garden beds. I am just wondering if the number of veggies you have in the pictures is true to real life planting? It seems like it should be but when I went to plant in the same size, it seemed like too much. I am also wondering if you have any plans on fruits gardens. Thank you.