How to organize your vegetable garden?

How to organize your vegetable garden?

The time is over when the vegetable garden was considered a purely functional space to be stored at the back of the plot. If properly planned and maintained, the vegetable garden can be just as beautiful as the planters. 

Choice of layout 

When designing a vegetable garden, you can opt for a traditional geometric layout. Or create a sort of floral border, incorporating useful vegetable plants into it. The geometric diagrams become simple and effective. A classic arrangement is that of a circle or a square divided into several sectors.

It can be installed both on a plane and in the form of raised trays. Such beds warm the ground faster and do not stagnate. To keep the beds in shape, they are framed by walls made of different materials such as wood, metal or bricks.

Sketch on tracing paper 

Postpone the general plan and carry out several options for the layout of the functional spaces and the composition of the garden. You will then be able to assess the advantages of each land-use solution and choose the best option or combine the best elements in the final sketch. On each sketch, it is necessary to note the following elements: 

• The fences delimiting the land and the fences inside the land, the drainage pattern, the systems and pipes for gas, sewage and water supply, septic tanks, wells or boreholes (all these elements must be far from each other).
• Residential and service buildings.
• Garden furniture, shelters, terraces, barbecues, sculptures, vases, fountains.
• Paths and trails, retaining walls, ponds, rock gardens, outdoor lighting, landscaping (shrubs and flowers).

Design and orientation of paths

The main paths must connect all the structures and functional areas of the land, namely the house, the swimming pool, the barbecue, the vegetable garden and the chalet. Their design is subject to several requirements: they must be non-slip, harmonize with the color of the elements and offer an ideal trajectory.

No interesting element of the garden should be left out. A large rock garden, for example, often sits in the middle of a lawn and many small details are simply not visible from the main path.

Many ground covers planted on rocky soil simply look like specks of rock in the distance, a background for junipers and smaller shrubs.

All this is changed if the path is led to the rockery. This also facilitates the maintenance of this rock. You can also arrange peripheral paths to artificial ponds and flower beds. A colorful flower bed can be planted on one side of the path or large mixed flower beds can border the path on both sides.

How to vary the perspectives within your garden? 

A walk in the remote corners of the garden does not have to be boring. For a change of mood along the way, alternate between open and closed spaces, letting the path guide you through shady trees and tall shrubs before emerging into a sunny clearing. 

Where to rest? 

Benches, stumps, swings and deck chairs should be placed along the walking route. They should be placed in such a way that you can find a sunny place and comfortable shade at all times.

What to plant and where? 

Lots of vegetable crops are really nice in general like green lettuces, beets, onions and neatly tied tomato plantings. Hardy vegetables such as zucchini and pumpkins are attractive in their own way and must be correctly positioned on the plot. The design of your vegetable garden will be particularly impressive if you choose plants that contrast in color, shape and texture.

You can create a nice pattern, for example by alternating green and red leafy lettuces or beets. Large, conspicuous plants are usually used as single plants, such as ornamental cabbage. Their pretty, pink-hearted shoots will grace any resting surface and grow brighter every day through late fall.

Setting up the decoration of the vegetable garden

A well-framed vegetable patch is as important to vegetable garden design as a picture frame. In Europe, borders of short-pruned boxwood bushes are traditionally used for this purpose. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to create such a framework in France. In winter, the boxwood will need to be carefully covered, but even with such a cover, success is not guaranteed. It is therefore preferable to bet on inert materials. A pretty wicker willow border, wooden planks or a decorative concrete patio can serve as a border. The creation of such a construction will require some expenses, but the result will pay off all investments.

How to organize your vegetable garden in the best aesthetic way

For the beauty of your home and garden of course, a vegetable garden is above all healthy vegetable plants. But that doesn't mean you can't grow flowers.

On the contrary, a few blooming marigold or marigold bushes will not deprive your favorite cabbage or beetroot of their nutrients, but their fragrance will ward off pests and their colorful flowers will give a pleasant touch to your garden. If you make an effort, you can also find space in your vegetable garden for climbing roses.

If you place supports with these plants in several places, you can create spectacular vertical flowering zones. The coating should not be forgotten either. The space between the trays can be decorated with an interesting mulch, such as bark or colored wood chips, and a gravel seed tray. And then your vegetable garden will be no less beautiful than the largest flower vegetable garden.