Planning a Garden Layout with Our Free Software and Vegetable Garden Plans

Planning a Garden Layout

Use our free software for planning a garden layout that fits your unique needs!

Use our online Garden Planner to design your own unique vegetable garden layout.

Design Your Own Vegetable Garden Layout Using our Free "Vegetable Garden Planner" Software!

A good layout is about more than just fitting vegetables into the available space — it's about making sure each plant actually has what it needs to thrive once it's there.

Before you start placing crops on your plan, walk your garden at a few different times of day and notice where the sun falls.

A spot that looks perfectly sunny at noon in June can be surprisingly shaded by April or September, when the sun sits lower in the sky and nearby trees or fences cast longer shadows.

Getting this right matters more than almost anything else in your layout, since even the most carefully arranged garden will struggle if your tallest, sun-loving crops end up planted somewhere shadier than they need.

Beautiful raised bed vegetable garden.

It's fun and easy to plan a garden; just drag and drop the vegetables into your garden grid!

Many gardeners enjoy planning their vegetable garden as much as they enjoy planting it.

Some spend the long winter months perusing seed catalogs, and imagining their next gardening adventure!

Now you can easily plan your garden plot from the comfort of your living room.

Choose from lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, potatoes, peppers, and onions as well as many more herbs and vegetables.

Each square represents a square foot in your garden plot.

Select the width and length of the garden you wish to design up to 4 feet by 12 feet.

If you are planning a larger garden, you will need to improvise somewhat!

Vegetable Garden Design Software

Plan your garden layout with our free interactive tool!

Design Your Own Vegetable Garden Layout Using our Free "Vegetable Garden Planner" Software!

When planning a vegetable garden design using our vegetable garden design software, remember that some larger-growing vegetables such as zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, and tomatoes will need several square feet of garden space each.

If you are limited for garden space, order seeds and plants that are dwarf or smaller varieties.

The smaller varieties also work best in when container gardening.

Supplement your garden space with some containers if possible.

A container garden can be grown next to your backyard garden, or in a sunny location on your patio, porch, or balcony.

Many vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, radish and onions will grow well in a potted garden.

Raised Bed Garden with Containers as Well

As you place crops on your layout, think about height as well as footprint.

Tall plants like staked tomatoes, trellised cucumbers, and sweet corn should generally go on the north or west side of your plot so they don't cast shade over shorter, sun-loving crops like peppers and lettuce later in the season.

It's also worth leaving real, walkable paths between sections of your garden — eighteen to twenty-four inches is usually enough — rather than cramming every available inch with plants.

Paths let you reach the center of each bed to weed and harvest without ever stepping on your growing soil, which keeps it loose and well-drained all season long.

Planning a Garden
Sample Garden Design 4' x 4' Square Foot Garden

Square Foot Garden Example

This compact square foot garden will fit in many yards or patios with limited gardening space.

You can plant the 16 squares with your favorite vegetables and herbs.

Lettuce, onions, parsley, and a cherry tomatoes will give you fresh salad ingredients for several months of the year!

See our complete updated square foot gardening guide!

Planning a Garden Layout
Sample Garden Design 4' by 6'

This sample garden design offers 24 square feet of gardening space.

You can plant carrots, onions, a cucumber on a trellis, lettuce, radishes, parsley, a miniature tomato, and a few of your other favorite garden vegetables.