Planning plantings at your summer cottage in the spring. Placing plants on the site - planning the garden and vegetable garden

Most of our readers have a dacha or a plot of land that we definitely want to keep in order and beauty. Therefore, many begin to plant gardens or vegetable gardens within the boundaries of their summer cottage, as far as the hundred square meters allow. But in order to do everything beautifully and efficiently, you need to know the rules and features. Some have a developed imagination and love very much creative ideas, which means it won’t be difficult for them. What about everyone else? We want to help you with this. In this article you will find tips on how to carry out planning on your own, what rules exist, how to find suitable plants and how to plant them correctly, how many beds are needed and how to place them taking into account your acres. And also which ones can be used decorative elements and is it worth doing this at all? We will post several photos in the article that you can use to create your own ideas.

The easiest way to have a beautiful front lawn
You've certainly seen the perfect lawn in a movie, on an alley, or perhaps on your neighbor's lawn. Those who have ever tried to grow a green area on their site will no doubt say that it is a huge amount of work. The lawn requires careful planting, care, fertilization, and watering. However, only inexperienced gardeners think this way; professionals have long known about the innovative product - liquid lawn AquaGrazz.

First, it’s worth understanding what planning is and where to start. Layout is the optimal breakdown for the site, which will ensure the most rational use usable area for productive beds. But where to start? Many owners want to plant fruit trees and plant a vegetable garden on their plot, but the question arises: is it possible to combine all this? You can always combine everything, you just need to know how to do it correctly. Therefore, we would suggest that you start by creating your own unique idea arrangement of beds that seems ideal to you.

In order to create something of your own, look at several ideas on the Internet, photos on websites or in landscape design magazines. You can also find several video tutorials on design basics. Please note that you can create everything yourself, but if you think it is difficult and laborious, you can use the ideas of designers or their direct services.

Step-by-step instructions for planning

We want to help you organize your planning work correctly. summer cottage so that there are no unaccounted moments. If you decide to make a complex of vegetable and fruit plantings, then you should start with planning.

Create a sketch of your initial idea that will reflect general features that you want to see on the site. You can make a color scheme in two versions to immediately see what your site will look like in the spring and autumn.
Calculate the size of the plot in advance, find out how many acres it contains (most often there are plots of 4 and 6). You should know not only the general dimensions, but also some features, including the size to which plants can grow; planting should not be very dense.
Think about where you can place your vegetable garden. We want to say that many gardeners advise placing everything with south side. If you do not have this option, then try to make sure that your place is sunny, but with periods of shade.

Plan where best to make your beds

Write a list of plants that you would like to see in your yard. These can be vegetable beds, fruit trees, or ornamental plants and flowers. Later we will talk about the most common schemes that currently exist.
Consult with experts or read for yourself to find out whether the plants you choose are compatible with each other. To do this, you need to study the soil and fertilizer needs for each type of plant. And also the frequency of their watering, the need for solar energy and more.
Find out what the acidity of the soil is, whether there is groundwater, what the relief is, and the orientation of the area relative to the sun.
Consider how many beds you can create. Think in advance which processes you will carry out yourself, and which ones you will need help with.
Plant plants in a specific order. Seedlings cannot be in the shade, and bushes and low plants should be closer to the sun.
It is necessary to find out the fruiting dates of all trees and shrubs. And place all plants according to their ripening dates.
Take a photo of your work.

What should be indicated on the diagram, what plants should be used?

What should be indicated on the diagram

The planting scheme should be developed as correctly as possible and can easily be done with your own hands, without the help of experts. In order for you to take everything into account and not forget anything, we decided to develop special recommendations for you.

To start planting, you should always have a photo of the site. Since you cannot always be in close proximity to it, and your circuit will often require it.
Draw on the diagram the location of the house; if the site has not yet been developed, then the estimated size and location.
Indicate more than just dimensions personal plot, but also its distance from the boundaries of the site. If you decide to combine several types of plantings into one composition, then it is worth indicating what size each of them will be and at what distance they will be located.
Pay attention to painting everything with flowers. This is only important for decorative look. Thanks to this you will be able to see new point vision.

What plants can be used for the garden?

For your garden, you can use any plants you need:

cabbage,
carrot,
potato,
cucumbers,
tomatoes,
green,
beet,
eggplants,
pumpkin.

What site planning models are there?

In order to outline only the main points of planting, we decided to show you three main options for planning a vegetable garden and including a garden. It is worth noting that the choice should be influenced not only by the “liked” factor, but also by the topography of the site, the number of acres, and the expected number of beds.

Decorative model. This model is designed exclusively for lovers of unpretentious site management and assumes the presence ornamental plants and plantings. Most often, this model is embodied in the shape of a circle. Inside there are plantings of flowers and only ornamental plants (preferably tall ones to show off all the beauty). Outside, a kind of “frame” is created from fruit plants (currants, raspberries, strawberries). Very often they buy low shrubs that will not hide too much decorative flowers. If the site allows, then they plant in a semicircle behind fruit trees(their number depends on the size of the model). For example, you can look at photos of planting on the Internet.
Rectangular model. Its peculiarity is that here you do both a garden and a vegetable garden at the same time. Most often used for summer cottages square shape. The peculiarity is that you plant several beds of vegetables (as many hundred square meters of land as possible). Nearby there are several beds of berry bushes (currants, raspberries), selected according to your taste. For best view Fruit trees are also planted, but a little further away. The peculiarity is that with all the abundance of species, the square or rectangular shape is preserved.
Free model. Here the shape and size depend solely on the area and your capabilities. The scheme is the same: combine several vegetable and berry beds with fruit and decorative trees. As you can see in the photo, only your imagination plays a role here.

Planning is a very important thing, so we would like to give some tips for those who will do everything themselves. To begin with, it is worth noting that it is necessary to take into account all the natural and geographical factors of the site: size, lighting, temperature changes. If you still have a small area for a garden, then use the method more vertical beds, cucumbers, beans, peas feel great on nets and supports, tall tomatoes etc. Always pay attention to the compatibility of garden plants and their need for lighting. Also, you should not use old trees for the site; seedlings are quite suitable for you. If some process becomes unclear to you, we recommend looking at photos on the Internet, where you can also find instructions on the optimal number of beds and the correct calculation of acres. Planning on your own is a lot of work, but once you get into the process, you'll love it!

If desired, even in a small area, you can organically place both a garden and buildings and leave room for a beautiful gazebo or recreation area; the main thing is to approach this issue competently and thoughtfully. Such a landscape design technique as planning will help to realize your plans.

Garden and vegetable garden planning: preparatory stage

In order for all the plants in the garden to feel comfortable, it is necessary to choose the most appropriate ones for them. suitable places according to their preferences for soil and lighting. After this, it is necessary to conduct a detailed analysis of the site, which will help rationally arrange objects landscape design, which are both finished buildings and current plantings, as well as planned ones.

Your imagination has probably drawn a picture of the future orchard, mixborder or lawn. Guided by your inner feelings, make a rough sketch, without losing sight of any detail.
Measure the area planned for fruit and berry crops. Please note that for each tree with spreading crowns you need to allocate at least 4 square meters. area.
Choose a predominantly flat or slightly sloping area for your orchard.
For a vegetable garden, look for a place located on the south side; if this is not possible, choose another one, but sunny and moderately shady.
Conduct a soil analysis; for trees, select an area with fertile soils of acceptable acidity (chernozem, sandy loam). Also pay attention to the proximity of the location groundwater, as this can be bad for plant roots.
Make a list of crops that you want to see in the yard of your house, study the features of their life activity to understand whether they will take root there.
Plan the number of beds, think about whether you can handle the planting yourself, or whether you will have to call someone for help.

Creating a diagram and choosing a planning model

Drawing up a diagram is a very important point; thanks to it, you won’t have to constantly measure the distances between objects and take into account all the nuances of the distributed territory.

Start designing the site from the house or the area on which it will be built. Using paper or computer program make a plan of the area, draw the contours of all buildings on it, and also mark the points where trees already grow, indicating the dimensions.
Using the measurements taken earlier, draw the outline of the garden, taking into account the distance from the boundaries of the plot. If you need to create a composition from several types of trees, bushes and flowers, clearly indicate the sizes and distance between them.
It is most convenient to make a color sketch, this will make it easier and faster for you to navigate the project.

Garden layout: examples of models

There are generally accepted planting patterns, the use of which will greatly simplify your task and help you manage your territory wisely.

Decorative model. Involves creating compositions from decorative bushes, flowers and trees. Most often it has the shape of a circle: tall plants are planted in the center, and the edging is made of strawberries, raspberries or currants. Fruit trees are planted in the background.
Rectangular. In this option, the garden and vegetable garden are laid out at the same time. Plants are planted in rows: first vegetables, then raspberry bushes, gooseberries, currants (at your discretion). Finally, the area is planted with fruit trees.
Free model. The decisive factor in this case is the size of the plot. Although, even on 6 acres, creating a full-fledged plant world will not be difficult for a person with a developed imagination.

Do-it-yourself garden and vegetable garden planning: fresh ideas

You will no longer surprise anyone with vertical or pyramidal beds, gardens on slopes or parterre lawns. We offer several new ideas that will make your dacha even more beautiful.

Decorative vegetable garden

Usually, after harvesting, the beds are empty in the second half of summer, making everything around gray and dull. Decorative vegetable garden - great solution this problem. If you use your imagination and plan the planting wisely, your dacha will soon be transformed beyond recognition.

To make your vegetable garden look more attractive, you can give the beds non-standard forms: ornaments of squares, circles, intersecting lines. Mini garden beds will fit perfectly into garden style, if you create a background of perennials suitable colors. A border of boxwood, bush aster, lavender, parsley, low-growing basil or other crops will help separate vegetable plantings from other plantings. The entrance area will be decorated with an arch entwined with roses, clematis, and vines. Weaving from willow or walnut rods will serve as a fence.

When planning an assortment of vegetables, combine varieties with different growing seasons. First, sow early crops (radishes, salads), and between them plant the plants that will replace them (zucchini, squash, peppers). Give preference to bush varieties, so it will be easier to care for the beds. Don’t forget about flowers: hollyhocks, marigolds, calendula will not only become a bright decoration, but will also last until the frost.

Dream garden

Wherever the garden plot is located, the layout is not only about the correct placement. It is equally important to harmoniously combine the beds with lawns, front gardens, paths and other elements of landscape design, without which it cannot exist. suburban area, into a single composition.

If the plot is small and you want to place several objects, you can make a multifunctional structure, for example, instead of a separate gazebo, attach a terrace to a garden house. It is also best to combine flower beds and vegetable beds using parterre lawns.

Cover a boring fence or an unattractive building with decorative landscaping from trees with a dense crown or trellises entwined with vines. On the contrary, highlight landscapes that are pleasing to the eye with decorative frames.

Think over the routes: make those that will be used more often as convenient as possible for movement, and make the walking areas winding and winding. Draw the outlines of the tracks on the diagram.

When planning a garden, do not forget about views. It is especially pleasant to observe the picturesque landscapes from the windows of the house, while in the gazebo or sitting on a bench. Therefore, plant beautifully flowering large plants in recreation areas, as well as fragrant herbs and flowers.

Garden and vegetable garden planning photos of originally designed plots

Gardeners and designers are coming up with more and more new options for designing a dacha area. Take a closer look, maybe you will like something too.

Looks festive and lively country house, if you decorate its facade and the surrounding area with beautifully flowering decorative deciduous trees, vines, columnar conifers. In the middle of rounded flower beds, spherical or weeping trees look impressive.
A romantic garden in a rustic style looks simple and beautiful. The idea is natural compositions and unpretentious plants.
A clearly structured vegetable garden area, consisting of many rectangular beds framed by boxwood borders, looks equally expressive in summer and winter.

Bottom line

The layout of a personal plot allows you to work out the overall picture of a garden or vegetable garden on paper so that the lines of compositions, lawns, and fruit and berry plantings form a harmonious pattern.

Country geography: how to properly place beds.

How to properly place beds and fruit trees on your site
The harvest has long been harvested, and it is snowing outside the window. It would seem that it’s time to take a break from dacha troubles, but the thoughts of many gardeners are already devoted to the future dacha season: what to plant and where, what fertilizers and seeds to buy, how much and what kind of film is needed for greenhouses and greenhouses...
And there seems to be nothing complicated here - just place potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beets, onions and garlic, green crops on your acres, because everything else: trees, shrubs, raspberries and strawberries have long had their rightful places.

But in practice, everything turns out to be more complicated - you have to compare a lot of different factors in order to accept, sometimes, only one single the right decision. Moreover, for this it is not enough to know which crops are light-loving and which are shade-tolerant - you also need to take into account the fertility of a particular area, which crops grew here in the past, and preferably, not only in the past year, and which crops will grow nearby peacefully and without conflicts.

Therefore, truly passionate gardeners and gardeners have to plan and record their gardens no less painstakingly than accountants do their reporting. For example, my grandfather had a huge ledger with detailed plans gardening over several decades, starting from the 50s. In fact, information for so many years is not needed - in most cases it is enough to have data for 3-4 years, but here the truly accounting character of the grandfather was reflected.

Everything is simpler for me, fortunately I have a computer at hand, and it’s enough for me to simply record the year on a plan drawn once in the appropriate program and note where and what crops I grew. But the majority probably still have to draw such a plan by hand - in this case, it is more reasonable to draw a plan once indicating trees, shrubs, greenhouses, greenhouses and permanent ridges, then make a dozen photocopies, and on each one mark the crops planted in this or that year - it will be much faster.

How to reconcile all the pros and cons
Even if you have all the necessary information, it can be difficult to find the right solution. You start posting, and it seems like you managed to plan almost everything, but last stage It turns out that, for example, there remains a bed for cabbage in which this same cabbage grew the year before last and at the same time suffered from clubroot. This means that you can’t plant her here, and everything starts all over again. Again we have to redo the plan, look for a new solution and draw it again.

If you are familiar with a similar situation and every year you give yourself a headache planning and re-moving crops around the garden, then try interesting solution, which I recently read about (I don’t need it, since I do everything on the computer, but most gardeners will probably find it very useful). True, to use this approach, you must have rectangular beds that are similar in size, and each vegetable must be planted on its own bed (that is, not in company with others).

In this case, you can plan like this: take last year’s site plan (or better yet, plans for 3-4 years) and a blank sheet of paper. Draw this sheet into identical rectangles and write on them: potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, etc., listing everything you plan to plant. Moreover, if you always occupy two ridges with garlic, then, accordingly, there should be two rectangles with the name “garlic”, etc. Cut the paper into separate rectangles and begin to assemble a puzzle called “entertaining vegetable garden” on your plan, placing rectangular ridges in the desired way in your favorite places on your plan. It's not scary to make a mistake here, because... It’s easy to fix everything by moving the “wrong” rectangle to a new place. Try it, and this method will turn out to be much simpler than playing out all the situations in your head and repeatedly and painstakingly redrawing your plan.

What factors need to be considered when planning a vegetable garden?

First, everyone loves vegetables. sunny place. Only green crops, which include onions on the feather, and perennial onions like chives and slime, partially tolerate partial shade. This means that in the small shade of a house, fence, trees and bushes you can sow and plant onions and some herbs. Although you won’t get much harvest in this case, you still won’t be able to grow anything else in these places.

The second is the compatibility of vegetables: who is good with whom or, conversely, bad. Cabbage cannot live with tomatoes and beans. Cucumber - with potatoes. Tomatoes - with fennel. Potatoes - with tomatoes and pumpkin. Onions and garlic are very unpleasant for peas and beans, and hyssop for radishes. Only carrots get along with everyone, although from the point of view of protection from carrot flies, it is preferable to sow them in company with onions. This was about bad neighbors.
What about the good ones? Here are other examples. All vegetables of the celery family (carrots, parsnips, parsley, celery) go well with the onion family: onions, garlic, leeks, shallots. White and black radishes work well with other vegetables. Radishes grow very well between the rows of bush beans - they become very large, tasty and not worm-free. Potatoes are not interfered with by beans, corn, cabbage, horseradish and onions. But each individually, because... There are several irreconcilable couples in this group.
Compatible with cabbage are onions, celery, potatoes, dill and lettuce. Tomatoes can be planted next to green and cabbage crops, asparagus and beans. Peas can coexist with carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, radishes, and corn. And so on.

The third rule is no less important - you need to take into account that the phytoncides secreted by some plants repel pests of other crops or prevent the development of some diseases. For example, onion phytoncides repel carrot flies, and carrot phytoncides repel onion flies. Dill protects cucumbers from diseases, and onions and garlic protect tomatoes. If you plant strong-smelling plants near the cabbage, such as celery, thyme or sage, they will muffle the smell of the cabbage and make it less attractive to pests. It’s a good idea to plant basil near beans to protect against bean weevils, garlic near roses to protect against aphids, and parsley near asparagus.

When planning, you also need to take into account predecessors, that is, whether a suitable vegetable grew last season in the place where you will plant another one in the spring. And here again there are numerous schemes! And the most important thing to learn is that you cannot plant the same crop in the same place. And, in addition, cabbage should not be placed after any cabbage or beets. Beets - after beets, cabbage and tomatoes. Tomatoes - after all the nightshades and peas.

The fifth thing that has to be taken into account is long-term crop rotation, a 3-4 year perspective. It's even more difficult here. Agronomy teaches you to alternate vegetables taking into account their needs in nutrients, in particular, in organic matter. Conventionally, in the first year (i.e. on fresh organic matter) they grow cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, mid- and late-ripening cabbage, leeks, etc., that is, those crops for which a lot of organic matter needs to be added. In the second year they are replaced by onions, peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes. The third comes the turn of root vegetables (carrots, beets, radishes, etc.), which have to add a fair amount of mineral fertilizers.

Features of garden planning
With the garden it turns out even more difficult, because we plant vegetables every year, and if one year your planning turned out to be unsuccessful, then perhaps next year everything will turn out much better.
We place trees and shrubs in permanent places for a long time, and once planted apple trees will supply you with fruit for the rest of your life. Therefore, when drawing up a garden plan, it is necessary to allocate separate permanent places for each type of tree, for vegetables, for flowers, and correctly calculate in advance where and what will grow in 10-20 years. And there are a lot of rules here too.

The first rule is that each group of crops (fruit trees, berry bushes, vegetables and ornamental crops) has a permanent place. A common mistake is the combined arrangement of crops, when vegetables, strawberries, and berry bushes are placed among young apple and pear trees. At first everything turns out well: the trees do not take up much space, there is enough light and nutrition for other plants. But over time, the trees grow, and then the catch crops fall into the shade and their yield becomes low. Therefore, the first rule of site planning is to allocate a separate permanent place for every culture. Of course, you can temporarily grow berry bushes, strawberries and vegetables among vigorous tree species, but then, when severe darkness sets in, they will have to be removed and moved somewhere else, which needs to be thought about in advance.

The second rule is to provide for the possibility of renewing strawberries, plantings of berry bushes, cherry and plum trees. Let's say strawberries bear fruit well in one place for 2-3 years. In the fourth or, at least, the fifth year of fruiting, it must be completely eliminated. Therefore, one bed is cleared every year in order to grow vegetables here the next year, and the vegetable bed is planted with strawberries.

Therefore, it is more convenient to place strawberries not in the garden, but in the vegetable garden and replace strawberry beds with vegetable beds. Currant, gooseberry and raspberry bushes can theoretically bear fruit in one place for a very long time, and it all depends on proper care. It is more profitable (from the point of view of saving your own time) to take good care of these crops and regularly prune and spray them, then in one place, subject to rejuvenating pruning, they can bear fruit for 10, 15 years or more. And everything will be fine. And if you take care of it poorly, then they won’t last long, the bushes will weaken from diseases, pests, improper nutrition and thickening, and you will have to look for another place for them and start growing and shaping them again.

The third rule of planning is respect for the rights of the neighbor. Your trees should not greatly shade the neighboring area. The distance from the tree trunk to the boundary should be at least half the generally accepted row spacing: for tall trees 3.5-4 m, for medium-sized trees - 2.0-2.5 m. In the strip between the trees and the boundary you can plant currants, gooseberries, raspberries . And under no circumstances should you plant tall trees and shrubs 20 cm from the border, which, alas, is not uncommon.

The fourth rule of planning is to reduce the height of plants as you approach the house. In order for the home to be dry and bright, the shortest plants should be placed near the house - flowers, lawn grass, some strawberries, vegetables, shrubs, and tall trees should be taken further into the plot.

The fifth rule is to take into account the characteristics of certain plants. Of the berry bushes, it is better to plant red currants and gooseberries in drier, but well-lit places, and black currants in lower, more humid (but not swampy) places. Raspberries and sea buckthorn are planted separately in specially designated areas of the site, since the first produces many root shoots, and the second develops long roots that interfere with the growth and development of other plants; Strawberries are planted in places where snow lingers well in winter. Growing strawberries between fruit trees is undesirable.

Chokeberry and sea buckthorn look good when planted in groups closer to home. Schisandra and actinidia are planted near the wall of the house so that there is protection from the wind and it is possible to create reliable vertical supports for them. Barberry and lilac are planted away from all other crops (somewhere apart), because their root secretions do not give life to other plants.

What should you do to reap a rich harvest from your plot every year? Is there enough fertile land, timely application of fertilizers and treatment of plants against pests? It would seem that here they are - the treasured acres, just plant them and reap the results. But it's not that simple. Conflicts exist not only among people, but also among plants.

But we are not trees, we can move away from our opponent, but plants do not have this opportunity. Therefore, before you start planting, you should develop a planting plan. And in order to draw up a plan correctly, you need to have knowledge of what crops grew in the previous few years in each plot, how fertile each plot is, which plants can be planted together, and which are best kept away from each other, and other factors.

Planning a vegetable garden

To arrange a garden you need to choose open area, since all vegetables love sunlight. Onions can be planted in an area near a house, fence and other structures in partial shade; they are the only ones capable of growing in shade. But you shouldn’t count on a big harvest.

Be sure to take into account the compatibility of vegetables. The celery family and the onion family are family friends. Cabbage will be a good neighbor for them, as well as potatoes, dill and lettuce.

Potatoes alone go well with beans, corn, horseradish, onions and cabbage.

Radishes acquire improved taste qualities and becomes larger if adjacent to bush beans.

Tomatoes are combined with greens, cabbage, asparagus and beans.

Carrots are, in principle, peaceful and can be combined with almost all crops, including peas.

In addition to carrots, peas are friends with cucumbers, potatoes, corn and radishes. And radish, in principle, has a good disposition, positively influencing other vegetables.

But cabbage, tomatoes and beans cannot boast of good neighborly relations.

Cucumber is not compatible with potatoes, potatoes with tomato and pumpkin, tomato with fennel.

You should not plant peas and beans next to onions and garlic, or radishes next to hyssop.

Planning a garden

Upon landing garden trees you have to use analytical thinking as much as possible, in particular the ability to plan for several years ahead. After all, a tree is not a potato; you can’t replant it next year. Not only do you need to choose the right planting location for each tree. It is also necessary to calculate the planting of vegetables, flowers, and bushes relative to trees.

Vegetables and shrubs should never be planted near young trees. It may seem at first good decision, since this arrangement saves space well. But in a few years the trees will grow, and garden crops and berries will be in the shade.

Of course, vegetables can be planted in a new place every year, but that’s if there is one. And not all shrubs will be happy about a quick change of place of residence. In general, when planning a garden, you should either immediately allocate space for each crop, or understand where it can be allocated in a few years.

Those who plan to grow strawberries, berry bushes, cherries and plums in the garden should know that each of these plants has its own ideal time to bear fruit in one place, and over time they will have to be replanted.

WITH berry bushes a little simpler. At good care they are capable of bearing fruit for a very long time in one place. With regular pruning and spraying, plants can produce a good harvest within 10 - 15 years without changing their place of residence.

But strawberries should not be grown in one place for more than 3 years. Therefore, one of its beds should be cleared every year for vegetables, and a vegetable bed for strawberries. In this case, it is immediately clear that it is more convenient to take the strawberries to the garden, so that it is easier to change the beds. In addition, it is better to plant strawberries in places where snow lingers well in winter.

When planting shrubs, it is necessary to take into account their preferences. Gooseberries and red currants like dry, well-lit areas, while black currants prefer wetter areas. Raspberries produce many root branches, while sea buckthorn has long roots. These plants interfere with the development of others, so they are planted separately.

Tall trees and shrubs planted close to the boundary can shade neighboring areas; this, of course, is unacceptable. Only by respecting the rights of your neighbors can you demand the same respect for yourself. Vigorous trees should be planted at a distance of two meters from the border, and medium-sized trees at least a meter away. The distance between the border and the trees can be filled with currant, raspberry and gooseberry bushes.

To ensure that the house receives enough light, tall trees should be planted deep into the site. And plant flowers, vegetables, herbs, strawberries, and shrubs next to your home.

To take into account all the nuances when planting and replanting plants, you need to know data about which plants grew in each plot over the previous 3-4 years. It would be useful to predict exactly how plants will be replanted not only in the current year, but also in the next few years.

In this regard, a computer makes life much easier. With the help of special programs, you can recreate a site plan and note in which year and where certain crops grew.

For those for whom this method is not suitable, you can redraw the plan every year with a simple pencil and store all the plans for the previous few years. True, this is not very convenient; you constantly have to erase the drawings and apply them again.

To simplify this process, you can draw and cut out identical rectangles from a blank sheet of paper, each of which will indicate a specific crop that the summer resident is going to plant, and try to assemble a “puzzle” for future planting on last year’s site plan.

The method is convenient because you don’t have to constantly erase and redraw missing details, and you can easily correct omissions by simply moving the rectangle to a new location.

Spring work on your own summer cottage begins with planning a vegetable garden. This may seem like a simple task. But in order to get a good harvest, it is necessary to take into account important factors that affect the location of certain crops and plant varieties in the beds. To ensure good harvest It is important to plant plants according to the cardinal directions, soil composition, required lighting, and the topography of the site. It is necessary to follow the rules of crop rotation.

Show all

Basics of proper garden planning

You can start planning your garden now. early spring when the snow melted and the soil dried out a little. For summer residents with many years of experience, this process is not particularly difficult. Those who are just taking their first steps in gardening should take into account the basic rules that you need to know in order to properly plant plants on your site.

If a summer resident decides to plan his garden for the first time, then he needs to pay attention to the following factors:

1. Cardinal directions. Planning the location of the beds should be carried out only in length from north to south. Placement from northeast to southwest is allowed. If you plant crops taking into account the cardinal directions, this will ensure a uniform supply sun rays on the garden bed, will prevent the development of many fungal diseases. In the southern part of the site, planting of heat-loving crops should be carried out. This could be beans, cucumbers, tomatoes. In the north, cold-resistant plants should be planted: turnips, radishes, rutabaga. It is recommended to plant corn on the north side, which can protect the beds from strong wind. Sunflowers, gooseberry or currant bushes are suitable for this purpose.
2. When creating a planting plan, you should take into account the composition of the soil, especially if plants will be planted in this place for the first time. Additives should be applied in the fall depending on the type of soil. The ideal time is a month before planting seedlings in the ground.
3. The scheme for planting vegetables in the garden should take into account the lighting features required for different cultures. The only one in an effective way influence on the illumination of beds is thinning or cutting down trees. It is not recommended to plant seedlings under the lush crowns of apple and pear trees. These trees can grow from the northern part of the garden bed. This way it will be possible to protect the plantings from strong winds. If in the northern part of the site there is land that can be equipped for beds, then shade-loving plants for which strong rays of the sun are undesirable should be planted there. It could be sorrel or onion. If you plant seedlings of tomatoes, cucumbers or peppers in the shade, they will wither. One more good option It will be possible to grow flowers in the northern part, since cultivating vegetables in such conditions is risky.
4. Relief of the site. If the site is characterized by the presence of some unevenness, then it must be taken into account that in the lowlands in the spring the process of snow melting will take place more slowly, and during periods of intense rain there will be water in such places. To get rid of excess moisture, you should take care of the drainage system in the form of small grooves. In these places you need to plant plants that require abundant and frequent watering. If the region is characterized by a hot summer period, then seedlings of peppers and tomatoes can be planted in the lowlands. In this case, you will not need to water the plants often.
5. Presence of weeds. If you plan to divide the area into beds for the first time, and before that there was a simple lawn with a large number weeds, this problem can be solved in several ways. You can remove the top layer of soil and take it away. Sprinkle peat, sand and manure onto the remaining soil. This method is not particularly popular among summer residents due to its high cost and labor intensity. The other way is simpler. It consists of simply digging up the soil, and in the first year only potatoes are planted. This will allow you to get rid of weeds and next year cultivate any vegetables, even very finicky ones.

Irrigation system

When drawing up a plan for the location of the beds, you should definitely think about how the plants will be watered. Crops such as peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and cucumbers need watering every 3-4 days. Therefore, the irrigation system should be quite convenient.

At a dacha, at a minimum, there should be a tap and long hoses that could be reached to the plants. If the plot has a large area, then a garden should be laid out on it or plants that do not need frequent watering should be planted, and the vegetable beds should be located closer to the water source so that the distance allows regular and special costs carry out irrigation.

It is important to note that you should not moisten plants directly with tap water. It should be settled, rainwater or from a local pond or river. Large containers are used for this: old bath, metal vat, plastic barrel. To ensure good pressure when watering, you should purchase a pump and place it in the middle of the container. You can water with a garden watering can, but this process will take quite a lot of time.

A good option for setting up an irrigation system is drip irrigation. If such a system already exists on the site, then the planting of vegetables will need to be “tied” to places provided with water.

Compatibility and rotation of crops

After the issue of watering, lighting and cardinal directions has been resolved, one more important point should be considered. Namely, compatibility and alternation of plants in the garden.

For proper planning of beds, it is important to remember the compatibility of crops, which consists in the ability to grow, develop and protect each other side by side.

The table contains the names of crops and the degree of compatibility between plants.

It is important to pay attention to the timing of crop ripening and planting. This will allow you to enjoy the harvest in the same garden at different times.

Features of crop rotation

Crop rotation is important point, which determines the degree of soil fatigue and the quality of the future harvest.

Otherwise there may bequite serious problems with growing vegetable crops.

Causes of ground fatigue

The following factors lead to soil fatigue:

1. Accumulation of pathogens and pests. For example, if you grow potatoes in the same place, the number of wireworms and Colorado potato beetles will inevitably increase.
2. Accumulation of toxic substances. This is another reason that confirms the need for crop rotation. Toxic root secretions – colins – accumulate in the soil. Many crops are quite sensitive to their toxins, such as beets and spinach. Therefore, if you plant these plants in one place, then every year the harvest will get worse and worse.
3. The need for adequate nutrition. Each vegetable crop has its own requirements for soil nutrition. It is important to take into account this feature of the crops being planted. If you plant related plants for several years in a row, they will suck all the beneficial substances from the soil.

To understand this more accurately, it is necessary to take into account that all vegetable crops can be divided into several categories according to how demanding the plant is to the soil.

To properly draw up a plan, you need to divide the site into 4 zones:

1. Perennial crops, such as strawberries.
2. Demanding.
3. Moderately demanding.
4. Undemanding.

Next year, demanding plants should be planted where undemanding plants grew. Those with moderate demands should go to the place where the demanding ones grew up. Undemanding plants should be sent to the bed where moderately demanding plants grew. This rotation should be done every year. This will allow the soil to rest a bit.

The table shows the predecessors and successors of vegetable crops. It is important to remember that the culture returns to its original place no earlier than after 3–4 years.

It is important to take into account the fact that human memory is not unlimited. It is very difficult to remember exactly what crop grew in a certain area 5 years ago.