As you are planning your vegetable garden layout, you should consider a few simple things that can make the process easier and help you avoid potential mistakes. Among the simplest things to consider, and easily overlook, is what types of vegetables you and your family will actually eat. This decision will affect your layout, since the vegetables you grow can determine where you should put them. You should also think about your vegetable garden layout in terms of sunlight available, space to use, and consider using raised beds for your vegetables.
As you plan your vegetable garden layout, you might begin by considering what types of vegetables you want to grow. There is no single right answer to this, as you should grow what you and your family will actually eat. Once you have a sense of what you want to grow, then it should be easier for you to plan the layout for your garden. You might also consider using space in a flower garden for growing vegetables, as well as growing in pots and other containers if you do not have a great deal of space for your garden.
Tall vegetables such as peas, corn, and beans should be grown at the north or south end of your garden. This prevents them from blocking out sunlight and keeping your other plants in the shade. You should try to place your garden in the area of your yard that receives the most sunlight. Your vegetable garden layout should be designed to ensure as much sun as possible for every plant, so consider planting your rows or groups going from east to west, so the sun travels across them and they do not shade each other throughout the day.
Traditional vegetable garden layout was typically built around the idea of vegetables planted in long rows. While this is still a feasible layout, there are other ways to design a garden and place vegetables together when planting. One of the most popular types of vegetable garden layout now uses raised beds for growing vegetables in groups together rather than long rows.
A raised bed can consist of simple mounded earth or self-contained structures such as wooden boxes or concrete troughs. The use of raised beds in a vegetable garden layout allows you to potentially take better advantage of smaller planting space. If you are working within a small area, for example, you could do several groupings of raised beds together, rather than worry about long rows of seeds you do not have room for. Raised beds also tend to be more functional since the raised dirt warms faster and easier, allowing you to plant sooner in the year.