Today starts a new series here at Veggie Gardener - Planning Your Vegetable Garden. This series will run over the next few days, and covers quite a bit of garden planning topics.

Today's installment will be on my definition of a garden plan, and the importance of creating one.

The installments for the rest of the week will pertain to gathering the information you need to create a dynamic garden plan, and putting all that information together in order to have a fun and productive gardening season.

If you are new to vegetable gardening or are still on the fence on whether you should grow your own fresh vegetables, then please read 5 Reasons To Grow A Vegetable Garden.

What Is a Garden Plan?

A garden plan is just how it sounds - a plan for your garden. Generally, a garden plan is a visual aid that guides you in the design, layout, and budgeting of your vegetable garden.

Your garden plan can be constructed in whichever manner you prefer - whether it is a hand drawn map, a computer generated image, or just a list. Your plan can be tailor-made to fit your specific needs.

Why Should I Create a Garden Plan?

Many vegetable gardeners may be asking themselves that very question, but creating a solid garden plan is key to growing and maintaining a successful vegetable garden.

You do not want to go to that important job interview without a copy of your resume or a list of references, do you? I would hope not.

So you definitely do not want to start your vegetable garden without a solid plan.

Imagine a carpenter trying to build a home without a detailed blueprint. Think of a garden plan as the blueprint for your vegetable garden.

If you are still on the unsure about preparing your own garden plan for the upcoming year, here are three good reasons to create a garden plan:

Layout & Design

One of the most important objectives of a garden plan is to create a design, or layout, of the vegetable garden. A well thought out garden plan will help you determine how many plants will fit in your garden area with sufficient plant spacing. This will alleviate overcrowding, which can contribute to the spread of disease and lower overall production.

A garden plan ensures the garden is well organized, maximizes space, and increases productivity. No one wants a vegetable garden that looks like the Amazon Rainforest. You want the garden to be efficient and easy to maintain.

As a friend of mine always says "An organized garden is a happy garden".

A garden plan will enable you to maximize production by giving you the ability to better plan and track companion planting, and crop rotation as well.

A great tool for easily creating a great garden plan is using GrowVeg.com. GrowVeg.com is an online garden planner that gives you the ability to easily and quickly create a garden plan that you can print out.

GrowVeg.com supplies a planting guide, a list of all the items in your vegetable garden, and much more. You can click here to sign up for a free 30-dat trial.

Budget

Garden planning will assist you in determining a garden budget. Many gardeners grow their own fresh vegetables in order to save money on their overall grocery bill, so keeping your gardening on a budget is crucial.

A garden plan will enable you to determine precisely how many seed packets you may need, how many transplants, how much organic fertilizer or compost, the number of supports you may need for vining plants, and so on.

It would be difficult to come up with a true estimate for all these items without a garden plan.

Tools & Equipment

You can determine better estimates of what tools and equipment you may need to keep your garden well maintained and thriving.

It can be very frustrating when you set out to perform certain tasks in the garden, then realize you don't have the necessary tools available to accomplish what you want to get done.

This can be eliminated by having a good idea (through your garden plan) of what tools and equipment you need for your garden.

Listing what tools and equipment you may need is a very vital portion of the garden plan for someone that is planning their first garden. The initial costs of gardening tools can add up quickly, so it is important to list what you need to get started and estimate the costs.

A good garden plan can mean the difference between a highly productive and fun vegetable garden, or one that is an underachiever and a handful to manage.

Late winter, or early spring is the opportune time you should start formulating your garden plan for the upcoming season. If you plant a fall garden then mid to late summer would be the ideal time to start formulating your garden plant for that vegetable garden.

Now that we have discussed the importance of creating our vegetable garden blueprint, it is time to get to the task of creating it. Tomorrow we will discuss some fun and exciting ways to begin the planning of your vegetable garden. I hope that you come back tomorrow to continue planning your vegetable garden.

To Browse all the installments of the Planning Your Vegetable Garden Series:

Planning Your Vegetable Garden - Gathering Some Information

Planning Your Vegetable Garden - Using A Garden Planning Tool

Planning Your Vegetable Garden - Purchasing Your Seeds

Planning Your Vegetable Garden - Start A Garden Journal