Ever wanted your own garden to pick from but not sure where to start? Here are some ideas to get you started, even for the smallest of spaces.
Vegetable garden ideas: Types of vegetable gardens
A good leg to begin on is with a foundational idea of what type of garden you envision.
Container garden
These can range in size from windowsill to large pot, or any other recycled container for that matter. Old tires anyone?
In-ground garden bed
These are great if you actually have your own backyard.
Raised-bed garden
Great in backyards, even in temporary places if you’re renting. Easy to build with wood if you have an outdoor sun-shiny spot!
Window box garden
Got no space? Here’s a setup that takes no space!
Vegetable garden design ideas
This will depend on the type of vegetable garden you’re considering, as well as where your garden is sited, your climate, and what season you’re planting for.
Vegetable garden ideas for small spaces
Don’t have the space for something awesome and elaborate? Get creative and opt for something awesome yet tiny and space-saving!
Climbing plants
Tomatoes and passion vines will grow vertically if you give them something to grow up on.
Vertical gardening
Think shelving on walls, or hammering things into fences!
Hanging planters
You know the type – think macrame hanging contraptions.
Indoor container gardens
Like their outdoor counterparts — really anything that holds dirt is a candidate!
Vegetable garden ideas: What to grow
So you know what type of garden you want. But what to put into it? The following are excellent candidates, but the details depend on your location, climate, season, etc.
- Tomatoes
- Potatoes
- Garlic
- Onions
Vegetable garden ideas for keeping pests out
Pests is a broad term when we could be dealing with mammals, bugs, pets, or a number of predators that like to prey on your garden. Here’s a general tips-n-tricks overview.
Repellents
- Moth balls or fish spray for deer
- Various poisons for bugs and rodents
- Neem oil
Fencing
Keeping pets out and other non-flying, non-climbing nuisances, if they’re not too desperate.
Plant variety
Less of any specific thing means less appealing for any particular predator. This is why monoculture is bad news.
Water in the morning
This will give those veggies and their rooting and aerial parts the strength they need to conquer the day, and they won’t be sitting swampy to rot or grow mildew through the night.
Keep plants healthy
This is your best defense (…from insects and disease at least). Insects prey on stressed plants. Give them room to breathe, healthy soil, and their desired quantity of daily sunshine.
Attract frogs and birds
Attracting and accommodating these beneficial species will magically keep others away – due to the circle of life and the food chain. Additionally, ladybug nymphs eat aphids!
Create healthy soil
This creates healthy plants less susceptible to disease
Trapping
This one’s last on my list for a reason. But sometimes there’s no other way to halt those pesky coons. Could be cruel depending how it’s done, and not totally recommended.
Vegetable garden ideas for creating rich soil
- Make compost
- Spread wood chips
- Dead leaves – skip the bagging and spread them around
- Cow dung compost
- Other types of compost like vermicompost
- Other methods of soil building
There you have some vegetable garden ideas to at least get you started! Let me know if I’ve left anything out.