When planning out a vegetable garden for the year, it is very important to have a plan of action. In short, it is a list of tasks that must be accomplished by a specific date in order to produce everything on time. This sounds stressful, but is not as complicated as it may seem! Start at the beginning of the year and add tasks for each month leading up to summer. This may include purchasing supplies to planting seeds by the correct date. This is the planting calendar for North Carolina. Grid paper is a very helpful tool for garden planning and makes things easy to understand later. For those technologically inclined, consider a spreadsheet program.

Preparing your growing space is always the first step, and will inform you of any limiting factors which may impact what you can produce. Rotating your soil and adding necessary amendments if a soil test has indicated as such is great to perform very early on. Cleanup and marking paths is also something to do when there is nothing to grow.

Making sure you as the gardener have sufficient room to work, harvest, and simply pass through is often forgotten! Paths should be no less than 3 feet wide between plantings. This is usually sufficient space to get a wheelbarrow or garden cart into the garden to assist with chores like weeding, pruning, and harvesting. It also ensures accidental crop damage does not occur. Broken plants, knocking off unripe fruit, or even stepping on lower growing produce can all be issues with too little room.

Space is the most limiting factor for any vegetable garden. The goal is to use the available space as wisely as possible to be both efficient and easier to manage. Some crops require either large numbers for a substantial harvest, or the plants themselves can attain larger sizes. Both of these situations require more space than smaller crops with either a higher yield per plant, or more numerous plants that take little room to cultivate. Raised beds in particular have more space limitations.

A very important factor to consider is the use case of your chosen crop. One does not need to plant as many tomatoes for sandwiches as compared to canning and making homemade tomato sauce. Fresh beans and dried beans are much the same in this regard.

For simple math to calculate the number of plants needed: multiply the yield each plant produces by the amount needed for a project by the number of people using it.

Example: A person makes canned green beans for their entire family each year. The variety they like to grow produces around one pound of beans per plant. It takes two pounds of green beans per quart using their chosen recipe. If they plan to make two quarts per person, and there are 8 people we now have all the numbers we need to calculate the number of plants:

16 quarts of beans will require 2 pounds per jar, and each plant produces one pound of beans. 16 multiplied by 2 equals 32 plants!

Once this has been done, one can then calculate how much space that crop will need in the vegetable garden: One pole bean plant needs about 6 inches of space in width between each seed and a full 3 feet in width between rows. At two plants per 12 inches, it will take 16 feet of row to grow a sufficient amount of pole beans. Or, two 8 foot rows spaced 3 feet apart.

Plan for crops of greater importance to your needs first. Grow what you eat, and grow the varieties best suited to your individual uses. Some cultivars are better suited to canning, while others excel when eaten fresh (ie. ‘Roma’ vs. ‘Beefsteak’ tomatoes).

A single winter squash vine may fill an entire raised bed by itself, leaving no room for anything else. The same space may have room for 8 tomatoes, 24 green beans, or other crops that make better use of the space. One may need to weigh how valuable certain crops are before sacrificing so much room.

Growth habit can help to determine which situations make the most sense to grow them. Plant growth habit can vary by cultivar, typically between either a vining or bushy form. Tomatoes, beans, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and cucumbers all possess bush varieties. These plants are more compact, require less space and support, and often yield earlier. They are ideal for raised beds and containers, but will often have a smaller yield overall.

Vining forms of the same plants require significantly more space, and often require trellising as well. Short raised beds can easily accommodate this, but taller ones cannot. Putting a tall vine in a tall bed may leave fruit out of reach and difficult to harvest. 

Interplanting can be very useful if space allows for it. Slower growing crops leave open space for weeks, making perfect openings for vegetables that develop rapidly. Lettuces and radishes are great options for both spring and fall while major crops take their time getting established. This can also help to suppress weeds by occupying the same space first. These are harvested before the long term residents reach a larger size and fill that space themselves.

Lastly, be aware of perennial crops and ensure they can have a more permanent location. Plants like artichokes, asparagus, perennial herbs, and strawberries are primary examples. Some of these plants can take several years to produce a harvest. While not a perennial crop, garlic has a very long production time, and should be treated similarly. Assume the locations for these crops are off limits for anything else. However, before they mature there will be room to grow other things for a season or two.

Overall, grow what you want and need the most. These things take priority for space limitations, and by giving them what they need first will ensure a successful bounty.