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5 Simple Ways To Find Vegetable Garden Ideas & Inspiration
Growing your own food can be as simple as having a couple of planters or pots on your decking area to using your whole garden to grow produce. Regardless of where you're growing, you'll most likely want a vegetable garden that has a selection of produce, is visually appealing and easy to manage and maintain.
To create your vegetable garden paradise, you need some initial garden inspiration and ideas for layouts. Luckily we know several fantastic places to turn. Gathering vegetable garden ideas will help you maximise your growing options and create a space that matches the creativeness and attractiveness of the flowers that bloom in the garden.
- Browse & Create Pinterest Boards
- Speak To Local Allotment Holders
- Subscribe To YouTube Channels
- Visit Open Gardens In Your Area
- Talk To Experts At Your Local Garden Centre
5 Ways To Find Vegetable Garden Ideas
Recently, there has been a surge in the number of people growing produce at home. This number continues to rise, with more people looking for vegetable garden ideas to help them start creating their own.
Naturally, the first place people turn when they have questions about gardening is the internet. Here we find endless vegetable garden ideas that can be mimicked or drawn upon for inspiration when creating our own vegetable gardens.
The internet is brimming with sources showcasing various vegetable garden ideas so we've pulled together the best resources you can use to generate ideas and layouts for your own project. Let's dig in!
1. Find Vegetable Garden Ideas on Pinterest
Pinterest is an excellent resource for garden inspiration, with professional garden designers frequently using it to create mood boards for their clients. The vast number of pictures and videos will help you find inspiration, and you can 'pin' your ideas to a board for future reference. In addition to ideas, you can learn a few DIY tips that will be undoubtedly helpful when you begin your vegetable garden. Follow WM James on Pinterest for great garden inspo!
2. Visit Your Local Allotments For Garden Inspiration
Why not take a trip to your local allotment for vegetable garden inspiration? Aside from gathering inspiration for your vegetable garden, such as what to plant, materials to use or layouts to use, you can might also receive advice from the owners of the allotment you visit that will help you refine your ideas. If there are available plots at your local allotments you may even be able to enquire about how to get an allotment.
3. Subscribe to Gardening Channels on YouTube
Turning to YouTube for videos around ideas and inspiration on vegetable garden ideas is almost as popular as turning to Google for articles and blog posts for garden inspiration. There is an endless resource of videos on YouTube that can provide you with valuable knowledge, such as what you should know before starting a vegetable garden.
4. Visit Open Gardens In Your Local Area
Going to visit open gardens in your local area is another excellent resource for garden inspiration. You can see a variety of gardens in different shapes and sizes, some similar to your own. You can note what they have planted, what planters they have their vegetables in, and how they have maximised the space they had available.
5. Speak With an Expert At Your Local Garden Centre
When visiting your local garden centre, spend time looking around the displays as you see how they have arranged particular vegetables. The experienced staff can provide tips on how to style your vegetable garden and what planters to use. Additionally, you might find that there are gardening classes on offer, which could be beneficial for designing your vegetable garden.
How To Start Planning a Vegetable Garden
Now that you’ve spent time gathering inspiration and vegetable garden ideas from various websites and other sources, the next step is to create a plan of action. We recommend taking the time to write down your ideas and plans to have something to work from and even create a mood board with your favourite garden images and ideas.
A few questions that will get your vegetable garden planning off to the best start possible are:
- Where in your garden will your new vegetable patch be positioned? Some of the key things to think about here are which parts of the garden get the most sun/shade, spots protected from the wind and whether the area has sufficient drainage to prevent waterlogging and oversaturation.
- What types of vegetables are you planning to grow? – Choose vegetables that you, and your family, like to eat. It will be a waste to plant vegetables that you know nobody will eat. If you are a beginner, you may choose to grow easy vegetables such as green beans, lettuce, peas or carrots.
- Have you set a budget for the project? – Before starting, set a budget on how much you are willing to spend on things such as seeds, plants, planters and equipment. This will help to prevent you from overspending during your planning stages.
- Do you need to buy any new gardening tools and equipment? See what equipment you currently have before buying new tools. If you need to invest, buy quality gardening tools and maintain them. They will go a long way if stored and looked after, making the investment more than worthwhile.
How To Choose The Best Vegetable Garden Layout
Before you start planning and planting, take a look at our vegetable garden layout considerations below. Knowing these will save you time and prevent you from re-planting vegetables due to bad conditions or due to problems with common garden pests and diseases.
- Crop rotation - Do not plant the same vegetables in the same place every year. If you do, the soil will not be able to replace the nutrients effectively, and you'll get worse crops as the years go on. Read our crop rotation tips for more details.
- When planting your vegetables, it is essential to plant them in the right areas based on their sun/shade requirements. The right amount of sunshine will nourish your plants’ growth and enable them to thrive. Some vegetables, such as peppers, require the warmest, sunniest parts of the plot. Whereas others, like lettuce, require partial shade.
- Gardening can bring calmness and reduce stress. However, planting for long periods can take its toll on your back. As such, you should choose to plant crops that require regular attention in containers and raised beds. Raised beds help reduce the strain caused by bending down, while containers allow you to easily transport plants onto a table where you can tend to them.
Taking Your Vegetable Garden Ideas From Dream to Reality
Turning your dream garden into reality is not complicated and is really quite fun. Taking the time to plan your garden by utilising the above suggestions, including Pinterest, YouTube, and blog posts like ‘Vegetable Gardening For Beginners’ will help achieve your dream vegetable garden and many years of enjoyment.
Visit our online gardening shop to pick up any bits of gardening equipment your might be missing, and start getting those hands dirty!
