• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Site Index
  • Fall Homesteading
  • Shop
    • Profitable Homesteading System
    • Jumpstart Your Homestead
    • Organized Chicken Keeper
    • G.O.A.T. Herd Management System
    • The Ultimate Planner for Breeding Goats
    • Couponing for Beginners Planner
  • Nigerian Dwarf Goats for Sale
    • Nigerian Dwarf Goats
  • About

Mranimal Farm

All About Silkies, Nigerian Dwarf Goats & More

menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Site Index
  • Fall Homesteading
  • Shop
  • About
  • Contact
  • ×
    Home » Gardening

    Sep 13, 2016 · Modified: Jul 2, 2023 by MrAnimal Farm This post may contain affiliate links. · As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Garden Planning - 4 Basic Things to Know to Start your Garden

    550 shares

    Four Garden Planning Basics

    Even though Spring and Summer garden seasons are over, and we are not planting a Fall garden this year, we are thinking about our garden planning.  We usually start garden planning for our Spring garden in the late Fall/early Winter.

    Having a solid plan for the garden well ahead of time to actually plant just makes things run so much smoother.

    Here are our top 4 garden planning basics:

    1)  How much space will you have?

    This is the first, most important thing to decide since your space will dictate how much you can actually plant.  We do a version of square foot gardening.  Therefore, we know how many boxes we have set up.

    This makes it super easy for our planning as we can just decide how many boxes (or ½ or ¼ boxes) of each thing we want.

    But, depending on your available space, you may want to do container gardening, create a victory garden or just have a huge area of standard garden rows.

    garden planning

    2)  What types of plants and how many of each?

    Now that you know how much actual space you have to plant in, you can make your wish list of plants.  Making your crop list is probably the most fun part of garden planning.

    We have a few yearly "go-to's" including growing zucchini, growing yellow squash, several types of tomatoes and several types of winter squash.  Each year, we usually then add in something new and fun -- this year we did lemon cucumbers and chocolate peppers.

    garden planning

    When deciding how many of each plant you will want or need, some things to think about are:   how much does that plant typically produce, how much do you like it, will you want to preserve or freeze some to last through the year.

    3)  Where will you get your seeds?

    Ok, so you might think it's too early to buy your seeds.  However, we have found that we can often times get some AWESOME Black Friday deals from Grow Organic.

    These sales make it TOTALLY worth having your seed order pre-made so that if you catch a great deal you are prepared to take advantage.

    garden planning

    4)  Expansion ideas?

    Fall is a great time to build new infrastructure if you'll need it.  Since you've already figured how much space and what you'll grow, you can now add new boxes, trellising, etc.  We made the grid below but you can also buy one.

    garden planning

    Or, if it is your first garden, you can get all of those items set up.  Other things to think about are if you have berry patches or fruit and nut trees as the Fall can be a great time to order those too!

    You Might Also Like:

    [pt_view id="5f37129sdf"]

    More Gardening How-To's & Tutorials

    • Two white buckets with blueberry bushes in them.
      10 Best Crops to Grow in Containers To Maximize Space
    • Zucchini plant in clay soil.
      Gardening for Beginners: 7 Tips For A Successful Garden
    • Hand holding a small cucumber with a yellow flower on the end.
      8 Spring Garden Crops To Kick Off The Season
    • Started tomato plants in a seed tray.
      Seed Starting Problems + Their Solutions

    Primary Sidebar

    kristin, justin and goat

    Hey, we are Justin & Kristin! Welcome to MrAnimal Farm where we share our knowledge on homesteading, livestock and poultry, gardening and food preservation

    More about us →

    Popular Posts

    • Differences Between Ameraucana, Aracana and Easter Egger Chickens
      The Araucana Vs Ameraucana Vs Easter Egger Chicken
    • Chickens That Lay Green Eggs - What Chickens Lay Green Eggs
      Chickens That Lay Green Eggs - What Chickens Lay Green Eggs?
    • brooder box for chicks
      Chick Brooder Plans - How to Build a Brooder in 3 Steps!
    • Curled toes in Chickens
      Curled Toes in Chickens - Causes and Treatment
    • Goat Toys
      DIY Goat Toys: Cheap Toys to Keep Your Goats Busy
    • hen or roo
      How To Sex A Chicken & Tell A Hen From A Rooster

    Fall Homesteading

    • Fresh carrots and beets being held over a wooden table.
      15+ Fall Garden Crops For a Longer Harvest
    • Molting Chickens
      Molting Chickens - What, Why & How to help!
    • two butternut squash on a wood board
      Can You Freeze Butternut Squash ?
    • Goat Breeding Planning - Using ADGA to Make the Right Matches
      Goat Breeding Planning - Using ADGA to Make the Right Matches

    Footer

    Amazon Affiliate Disclosure

    We are a participant in the Amazon Services, LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

    Privacy Policy

    For details on our privacy policy click here.

    Copyright © 2025 · MrAnimal Farm