10 Steps to Planning your Dream Garden

If you haven’t planned your 2023 garden yet, put it on your schedule!

Get your planning done now so that when planting time comes, it’s smooth sailing through the busy and exciting spring season.

Spring will be here soon.

Here are the 10 steps to planning your dream garden:

1. Put it in your schedule.

   Give yourself ample time to plan. Take care of yourself by giving yourself quiet time to sit, think, and plan. I like to give myself 60-90 minutes of “focus time” for projects like this. After 60-90 minutes I need a break!

2. Write out all the plants you’d like to grow.

   How do you decide? If growing veggies and herbs, grow ones your family already loves to eat. If growing flowers, choose ones that complement where you are expereince-wise. Grow beginner flowers (link to blog) if you’re newer to gardening. Grow harder ones if you want more challenge.

3. Get real about what you will be growing this season.

   Now it’s time to whittle down the above list into a manageable “Core Crop” list. For starters go for 5 veggies, 5 flowers and 2-3 herbs.

4. Pick your varieties.

   Now is the fun time! Once you have your “Core Crop” list, you can dig out those gorgeous seed catalogues and get specific about what you’re growing. Pick varieties that do well in your climate and growing location. Read the descriptions carefully so you get all the information.

5. Plan your seeding dates.

   This is the most challenging part of your planning. I like to create a spreadsheet for this. That way each year I can make adjustments or just do what I did last year.

   Need more guidance on this, GET ON MY EMAIL LIST to get notified when The IncrEdible Garden Course opens again - this is my signature online course that teaches you everything you need to know to grow a highly successful backyard oasis filled with food and flowers your family will love.

6. Plan for succession planting.

   In other words, don’t plant all your broccoli seeds at once! Plan to seed accordingly so that you have crops continuously all season.

7. Draw your gardens.

   Use grid paper to draw all your gardens.

8. Draw in your crops.

   I like to make note of all my planned seeding dates (if direct seeding) or all my transplant dates (if seeding indoors) right there on my garden drawing (or map).

9. Put your first seeding date in your planner or calendar.

   Plan for success by having all your tools and supplies ready to go so on your first seeding day, you can get right to work.

10. Start your garden journal.

    This can be a note on your phone (I use Evernote) or a paper journal where you write down everything you notice, see, or experience in your garden. It’s where you write down your failures and your successes. There’s nothing worse than failing at the same thing twice because you forgot to take note of it. This is how you become a better garden!

Garden Supply Check-list

Spring will be here faster than you think and with that, it’ll be planting time! So let’s get organized.

I want to get you set up early so you’re ready to break ground, or pop those seeds in the soil, as soon as you can. 

With supply chain issues going on this year I also want to make sure you buy anything additional that you need soon so you have EVERYTHING you need for a great growing season.

Here’s my challenge to you: over the next 10 days, grab this checklist and head into your garden shed for an early season inventory!

Seeds - inventory what you have - most seeds are viable for 2-3 years

Potting soil for seed starting

Grow lights

Shelving for your plants and lights

Trays and domes - you can use these again and again just be sure to wash before planting

Heat mats & thermostat

Timer for your lights

4 packs or 6 packs - you can use these again and again just be sure to wash before planting

3 inch pots or 4 inch pots - you can use these again and again just be sure to wash before planting

Gallon pots - you can use these again and again just be sure to wash before planting

Plant labels - buy or make your own

Dish gloves or latex gloves - for seed sowing indoors these help keep my hands from getting all dried out

Watering can - I like a kids specific one for watering indoors

Soil test - DIY kit or identify a lab to send out to

Organic soil amendments per your soil test

Compost - home-made or commercial

Trowel

Weeding tools

Pitch fork or broad fork

Bed prep rake or stiff tined rake

Pots and planters and/or garden beds - I know they’re all covered in snow, just make a plan, especially if you need more

Trellising and staking supplies

Garden journal or calendar

Your garden plan and garden map

Garden gloves - I love having a leather pair and a more waterproof pair

Knee pads or equivalent

Did I forget anything? Comment below to share your must-haves for the season.

Tried & True Garden Varieties

Giant Orange Marigolds.

In order to get you growing an amazing and fail-proof garden, I want to get you started with some of my tried and true varieties.

Since I’m a flower LOVER and flower grower this list will be flower heavy. BUT I also want you to have some of my favorite varieties for your veggie garden.

Over the years I’ve rubbed shoulders with vegetable farmers (quite literally - my husband managed a large vegetable CSA at the same time I started my flower farm) and tested different varieties myself.

Often just choosing the right varieties will set you up for success in the garden. And with SO many fun and beautiful varieties out there - how do you know what to choose?

By putting your ear to the ground and being committed to experimenting!

Wiser growers than I have told me to commit 20% of my farm to new varieties. I’m recommending this to you now too.

Don’t go overboard with new stuff - then you risk wasting too much valuable garden space to varieties that you’re not actually sure will produce well. Stick to tried and true varieties and dip your metaphorical toe into fun and exciting new ones each year.

So now on to my tried and true varieties that I know, you’ll love.

First, for the flower garden:

Ammobiom

Ammobium aka Winged Everlasting.

Centaurea - Classic Magic, Blue Boy OR Black Button

Calendula - Orange Button

Cosmos - any Double Click Variety

Cynoglossum - Chinese Forget-me-not OR Firmament

Dill - Bouquet

Ornamental Grass - Frosted Explosion

Marigold - Giant Orange

Nasturtium - Trailing

Nigella - Albion Black Pod

Poppy - Breadseed OR Shirley

Shirley Poppy.

Rudbeckia - Cherokee Sunset

Saponaria - Pink Beauty

Scabiosa - Black Knight

Snapdragon - Potomoc varieties OR Madame Butterfly varieties

Bunches of Potomac Snapdragons.

Strawflowers - Copper Red OR Purple Red

Sunflowers - Procut varieties OR Sunrich varieties

Now for the veggie patch:

Beets - Touchstone Gold & Chiogga

Broccoli - Belstar

Belstar Broccoli just starting to grow crowns.

Carrot - Yaya

Cilantro - Calypso OR Cruiser

Cucumber - Diva OR Socrates

Kale - Red Russian OR Lacinato (also called Dinosaur or Black)

Red Russian Kale co-housed with Dahlias.

Peas - Sugar Ann OR Sugar Snap

Pumpkin - Cinnamon Girl

Spinach - Corvair

Tomato - Sun Gold

Zucchini - Dunja OR Blck Beauty

There you have it! This is by no means a comprehensive list but it’s meant to get you on the right track to a highly productive garden this season. 

So now on to ordering seeds! GO HERE to read all about my favorite places to place your order.

2019 Must Grows! 10 of my favorites from the garden that YOU must try

Each year I try to take copious notes on all my varieties.

At the end of the year I pour over these and decide on what varieties were rock stars and which varieties to cut in the year to come.

There are obvious choices and often tough choices to make as I plan my garden for next year.

Lucky for you, I’ve done all the hard work! Read on to find out what varieties I absolutely LOVED.

Maybe you can try these in your garden next year!

Ferncliff Copper Dahlia after harvest

Ferncliff Copper Dahlia. This was a cheery little ball dahlia on a tall and gorgeous plant. Sort of a red-orange-copper color in a psychedelic ball shape.

The flowers just kept coming all summer! And they are great tuber producers. So before you know it, you’ll have tubers to give away.

Shirley Poppies in full bloom

Shirley Poppies. Folks, this was my first year growing poppies for cut flowers!! I’ve grown the breadseed poppies for seed heads but always felt a bit intimidated about using the flowers as they’re notorious for being short lived in the vase. No more!

These Shirley poppies were out of this world! Easy to grow from seed - I just tossed them in the garden. And prolific - they bloomed through the heat of summer until frost. I even figured out how to keep them happy in the vase for almost a week! (hint - cut just as you start to see color peeking from the bud)

Ruby Silk Grass after harvest

Ruby Silk Grass. Now an annual must-grow.

Last year was a trial year for this and I almost didn’t grow again… I planted it in a shady area with poor soil and it was not happy.

But this year, wow! It was part of my main garden and it did great! If you fancy clumps of golden red grass in your garden (which I highly recommend) you will love this.

I planted about 20 seeds per cell (started these inside) and had gorgeous bunches of colorful grass ALL summer. Plus, it dries great for everlasting bouquets or winter crafts.

Potomac Snapdragons in a variety of colors.

Potomac Snapdragons. It is always hard to decide on which snapdragons to grow each year - there are so many different varieties, colors, sizes, etc. But hands down, my two favorites this year were Potomac Red and Lavender. You can also buy Potomac mix if you prefer a mix of colors.

These guys bloomed ALL summer. They last a long time in the vase without a fuss. And once you cut them from the garden, they just keep sending up new flowers! They even bloomed through the first couple frosts in the fall.

Purple Red Strawflower in a boutonniere

Copper Red & Purple Red Strawflower. These fun flowers always remind me of my first childhood garden!

They’re easy to grow and so fun. Copper Red and Purple Red are vibrant and striking colors that would look great in any garden. And of course the great thing about strawflowers is the everlasting flower you can save and display all year!

Now on to my favorite edibles!

Sungold Tomatoes. Hands down the most prolific cherry tomato I grow.

Golden orange in color and SUPER sweet. If you can only grow one variety of tomato, grow these!

Chocolate Pear Tomatoes. I couldn’t list just one tomato, especially after this hot tomato-happy summer!! This is a fun open pollinated variety of tomato, which means they have not been hybridized so you can save the seeds!!

Sweet, pear shaped and reddish-brown in color. If you can grow two varieties of tomatoes, grow these too!!

Dunja Zucchini. If you like zucchini, you will love these! This is an easy to grow variety that will give you lots of zucchini to get you through the summer.

Red Russian Kale. Hands down this is my favorite kale. It has a smoother leaf structure and the leaf is a bit thicker which makes it a bit “meatier”.

You can grow this into a large plant to harvest big leaves or plant many seeds close together for a salad mix.

Magic Molly Potatoes. I usually let the valley farmers grow my potatoes.

But this year I decided to grow my own for 3 reasons:

1) We have a couple marginal garden beds that are a bit sandy - just perfect for potatoes;

2) Just for my 4-year-old son since nothing is more fun than digging potatoes as a kid;

3) I’m trying each year to grow a little more of my household’s food on our tiny urban lot!

So if you want to grow potatoes too, try these!! These are delicious and a unique deep purple color!

So there you have it! My faves of the 2019 growing season!