Many options are available for building your garden. Building your garden in containers is an increasingly popular route to take. You can move some containers into more or less sunny areas as needed. Raised bed gardens provide a more orderly and structured garden. Both containers and raised beds are easier to weed as they are up above the ground itself.

A lot of people skip the garden planning stage and grab a shovel and start their garden. Simple gardens can be built by digging out a plot of ground down to the dirt, adding any topsoil, raking it out and then planting seed or plants and finally watering it all in.

Spending time creating a garden plan usually gives the best results. Having a garden layout really helps if you are going to a greenhouse or garden store to buy your plants. Figuring out how much mulch you will need is much easier if you have a plan.

Determining what plants you want to grow and their sunlight needs is critical. Planting corn or other tall plants between the sun and melons, radishes, squash, broccoli, cabbage or any other short plants will almost guarantee that you will have less than desirable results.

Some plants grow well together and some do not. Those that do are called companion plants. Some plants like onions and strawberries are complementary, or companion plants. Plants like spinach and potatoes should not be planted near one another. Using a garden plan will help you determine the best placement for complementary companion plants and how to keep the poor companions apart.

Germination schedules are different for each type of plant too. Radishes for example germinate in as little as 4 days and can be harvested in 25 – 35 days. If you have planted radishes in a vegetable garden, what will you want to plant when you harvest your first batch?

A good garden plan will help you in all of these garden areas. A garden design helps you for the following year too.  You will be ready to plant as soon as the threat of frost is gone.