There’s a reason more than half of all gardeners plan to grow edibles this year. Our Design Guide for Edible Gardens includes 40 of our most popular posts to make yours easy to plant, a pleasure to cultivate, beautiful to look at–and delicious to eat:
Photograph by Meredith Swinehart.
Garden Design and Layout
For more, see Hardscaping 101: Pea Gravel. For inspiration, see 136 images of our favorite Edible Gardens in the Gardenista Photo Gallery.
Garlic and echinacea are both blooming in A Cook’s Garden in Upstate New York. Whether your edible garden is tiny or vast, choose a design that mixes ornamental and edible plants.
Photograph by Laura Silverman.
Raised beds allow you to control the quality of soil.
Photograph by Marla Aufmuth for Gardenista.
If space is tight, even a single raised bed is enough for an edible garden. For tips, see Steal This Look: Water Troughs as Raised Beds.
An elegant deer proof fence for an edible garden on Long Island’s East End. For tips, see The Garden Designer is In: Deer Proofing an Edible Garden.
When you design an edible garden bed, lay out a drip irrigation system before you plant.
Photograph by Michelle Slatalla.
Architect Sheila Bonnell waters her edible garden the old-fashioned way on Cape Cod. For more of her garden, see Architect Visit: A Kitchen Garden on Cape Cod.
Photograph by Matthew Williams.
Choosing Plants and Seeds
In winter you can sprout seeds indoors to transplant into the spring garden. Early crops, such as lettuces, can be sown directly into the ground in March when the dirt soft enough to work with a trowel.
Photograph by John Merkl for Gardenista.
Photograph by Michelle Slatalla.
If you have a small space (or are growing edibles indoors, consider growing microgreens for salad.
What companions are you going to plant–and where? For tips about which plants are friendly (and which need their space), see our Field Guides.
Photograph courtesy of Star Apple Gardens.
Photograph by Kendra Wilson.
Kendra eats flowers in her salad. Not only are they delicious, they’ll also add a little color to the kale’s cheeks.
Photograph by Erin Boyle.
Looking for the basics?
Photograph by Erin Boyle.
Know your climate. If we’re in a hurry, we might skip over the pages of astrological advice and go right to the section on crop rotation.
Seed Starting and Cold Frames
In winter or early spring, sprout seeds in homemade newspaper pots.
Photograph by John Merkl for Gardenista.
A cold frame in fashion designer Courtney Klein’s San Francisco backyard is built of 10-foot-long redwood planks.
Cookbook author Marie Viljoen harvests year-round from an edible garden planted on her Harlem terrace.
What to Eat
Whether your edible garden is grand or humble, it helps to have a guidebook. We’ve dogeared quite a few pages of advice (and inspiration) about how to design, plant, and grow an edible garden.
Photograph by Jason Ingram.
Guides and Handbooks