PLAN YOUR GARDEN WITH PATINA

During the winter months, I imagine myself as a daffodil.

In the days of diminishing light, papery bulbs are tucked deep into the ground to settle in. They spend the coldest weeks rooting themselves into the soil, gathering the nutrients and energy needed to set off their spring show. Once the season of renewal begins, they turn their attention to flourishing, using everything they collected in the dark to burst into bloom.

It can be easy to take these quiet months for granted, to feel as though stagnation has settled upon the world like morning dew. But when I imagine myself as that wild bloom, I see this time as it truly is: a season of resourcing. A time for gathering what we will need to flourish once warmth returns. With my body at rest, conserving energy for the spring sprint the garden will demand, my mind begins to bud with dreams.

With this inward energy, I start to plan, envisioning beds full of foliage, bearing fruit that nourishes both body and spirit. I see flowers breaking into bloom and bees dancing across their petals as I dance down rows, plucking tomatoes and placing them on my tongue. Without planning, this vision will not cross the threshold from imagination into reality.

So we'd better get to it.

STEP ONE: CONSIDER YOUR SPACE

Before seeds ever touch soil, we need to understand the space we’re working with. Our minds can run wild with possibilities, but our beds have boundaries. Take stock of how much room you have to grow, whether that’s in raised beds, pots, or long in-ground rows stretching across the garden.

Orientation matters, too. Beds arranged north–south generally receive more uniform sunlight throughout the day than east–west beds. This isn’t a hard rule; gardens will always find ways to surprise us, but it’s a helpful guideline to set you up for success.

Winter Prep Tip! While planning, consider prepping your soil. Add compost or other organic matter, test your soil if you haven’t done so recently, and apply mulch where needed. Just as bulbs gather nutrients underground, enriching your soil now gives your future plants a head start.

STEP TWO: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO PLANT AND WHEN?

With so many options, it’s easy to end up growing vegetables you never actually eat. Before diving into seed catalogs, look at your shopping list. What vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices are consistently finding their way into your kitchen? You may be surprised by how many of those staples can thrive in your garden.

When I’m brainstorming crops, I write everything down without restraint, and then try to pare it down in something that feels more manageable. Once the list feels complete, I sort my crops into their seasons. 

COLD SEASON

Thrive in winter and late fall; tolerate hard frost.

Examples: spinach, kale, garlic, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and overwintering bulbs.

COOL SEASON

Prefers fall and spring; tolerates light frost but dislikes heat.

Examples: lettuce, peas, radishes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, cilantro, dill.

WARM SEASON

Planted after danger of frost; grow in late spring–early summer.

Examples: summer squash, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, corn, sunflowers.

HOT SEASON

Needs consistently warm soil and nights; sulk at even mild cold.

Examples: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, okra, watermelon, pumpkins.

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Categorizing crops by season brings your planting calendar and available garden space into focus. It also helps with succession planting: replacing a finished crop with a new one to keep beds productive all season.

STEP THREE: WHERE TO PLANT

Now that we’ve considered what and when, I can think about where everything can go. 

1. STARS OF THE SHOW

These are your space-takers, either because they require wider spacing or because you’ll want to grow more of them. I give them center stage.

Spring: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, peas, potatoes, onions

Summer: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, climbing beans, corn, sweet potatoes

2. SUPPORTING ROLES

Medium-sized plants that fill the remaining space and flank the stars. Leafy greens, root vegetables, and your core herbs often fall here.

3. THE EXTRAS

Smaller crops along borders and corners: herbs, edible flowers, and pollinator-friendly flowers. They may be small, but they add beauty, biodiversity, and kitchen garnishes.

Make your own casting choices. If carrots are a star for you, give them the spotlight. If you don’t have room for extras, I encourage keeping a pot of flowers nearby; beneficial insects will thank you.

Companion Planting Tip: Planting flowers, herbs, and vegetables together can help with pollination and pest management. For example, marigolds deter pests from tomatoes, while basil can improve the flavor of neighboring crops.

STEP FOUR: SELECT YOUR SEEDS

Now that you know what and when, you can select which. Every crop has countless varieties, and choosing the right one for your climate can make the difference between struggle and abundance.

Here in the South, I’m always paying attention to: humidity tolerance, disease resistance, pest pressure, and heat tolerance.

Plant genetics is only part of the story; soil health matters just as much, but choosing well-adapted varieties sets you ahead from the start.

When ordering seeds, look at spacing as a guide for quantity. I tend to plant closer than the packet suggests (within reason) and always order extras.

STEP FIVE: GET OUT YOUR CALENDAR

Alright, so now we have a list of plants, the seasons they thrive in, and hopefully, our seeds are beginning to arrive. Now, we are going to get into the nitty-gritty. 

Take a peek at the seed packet, and give it a read. You will be surprised how much information they fit onto those little guys. 

We want to take a few key components into consideration: whether it prefers to be direct seeded or transplanted, spacing, and days to maturity. 

If a plant prefers to be direct-seeded, choose a day on your calendar at the beginning of that crop’s season to get your hands dirty! 

If a plant wants to be transplanted, read a little further and see if they give you how many weeks before transplanting it should get started. Certain crops, like peppers, can take 8-10 weeks to get established, while a squash may only need 4 weeks before it starts to burst out of its pot.

Choose a week in the beginning of the season you want to plant out your transplants, and then count backwards however many weeks that crop needs. 

Lastly, we can look at days to maturity to see when we can expect a harvest. For seeds that can be direct seeded, days to maturity can either be from when the seeds are sown or from when they germinate. For crops that can be transplanted, it is usually from when they are transplanted into the ground. Divide the number of days by seven to see in about how many weeks you can expect your first harvest! 

For me, I like to mark all of these dates on my calendar. First, I use “S” to signify when I want to start my seeds, or “DS” for when I want to direct seed. Then, “T” for transplant, and “H” for harvest. You can research the harvest window for a crop, meaning how many weeks you can expect it to produce. Once that window ends, go ahead and put an “O”, which showcases that that space will be empty and ready to house another plant!

I hope these steps help you plan your best garden yet. The work you put in now, dreaming, planning, prepping, will be the reason you flourish in the seasons to come.

If you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments!

Love,

Leila