Garden Planning - Design Tools

August – the dog days of summer. Yes, especially here in Phoenix, AZ. We just had the hottest and driest July on record (since late 1880’s!) and does my garden ever look like it! My water bill is up and at least my plants are alive but not much production from them.

That led me to start researching ways to increase the amount of food I get from my garden (also known as yield). Every gardener has a different way to do it and it differs from coast to coast. One thing I know for sure is I still have more research to do before I decide what I will do in my garden this fall.

I came across a cool software program that helps me determine how many of each plant I can fit in the garden bed. It has just about every vegetable, herb, tree (flowers, too) and the mature plant size. It also has botanical information on the plants.

All I do to start is put in the garden bed measurements and then drag and drop the plants, easily rearranging them until I get them just the way I want them. I can save the plan, start another one and play with it on the computer until I get one I like. Just think about how much time and effort this will save me when I go to plant them!

Here, you can check it out and play with it yourself for 30 days for free and then it is only $25 a year! Click on this link. GrowVeg.com

In Arizona we can plant 2- 3 time a year so this will pay for itself in no time. No more moving plants around and damaging the roots or break the delicate stems of the transplants. And if you are planting seeds and you crowd the plants or find out you put plants next to each other that shouldn’t be, you have to wait a few months until they get big enough to move. Why waste all that time when you can thoughtfully plan it on paper?

Try it and tell me how you like it

OK back to the drawing board – or computer screen that is!

Happy Digging,

Doreen aka The Garden Goddess
www.down2earthgardens.com