Planning a vegetable garden at a summer cottage: ready-made diagrams for practical and effective do-it-yourself planning

Planning

First you need to decide on the simplest thing - how many square meters do you want to allocate for the future vegetable garden?

The standard solution is to allocate about three to four acres, but here different options are possible, which depend on:

• on the number of family members;
• area of ​​the site;
• availability of sufficiently lit space;
• the desire of the owners to arrange other useful and beautiful things on the site such as flower beds, gardens, gazebos, greenhouses, garden decorative sculptures, etc.

So it turns out that the layout of a vegetable garden at a summer cottage depends not only on the number of acres, but also on the desires and capabilities of family members.

How to choose a spruce seedling and not go wrong

We recommend purchasing seedlings only from nurseries in your region. They are sold both with a closed root system (that is, in pots or strong film), and with an open one - when the roots are not protected by anything, they are simply moistened or sprinkled with wet sawdust.

If we are talking about an apple or pear tree, then it is even better if the seedling has an open root system: it will be cheaper, and it is easier to choose a high-quality specimen. But if we are talking about spruce, then you need to choose a seedling exclusively with a closed root system, and nothing else.

Carefully inspect the seedling when purchasing. It should look alive and healthy, with evenly developed above-ground mass, not one-sided. The seedling should not show any signs of damage or fungal infection. All needles should be of a typical color, not gray or yellow. If you notice that some of the shoots are withered, broken, or there are pockets of dried needles, then such a seedling is not worth buying, even at a big discount.

Photo by ru.depositphotos: The seedling must be absolutely healthy in appearance.

Start

Never try to do everything at once. Don’t be afraid to start small - a successful start will give you confidence in your abilities and increase motivation for further work.

In the first year of gardening, we recommend planting radishes, cucumbers, onions, and sowing lettuce seeds. It seems like a simple set, but it’s quite enough for preparing salads, and it won’t take a lot of time and effort to work in the garden.

Advice! Don't try to grow tomatoes and strawberries the first year! These are capricious crops that require careful care and certain skills.

How to properly plant spruce in open ground: expert advice

When everything is ready, you need to carefully remove the seedling from the container. In this case, you need to destroy the container, the main thing is that the lump of earth remains intact. Sometimes it is possible to remove a seedling by placing the container on its side and knocking on the bottom and sides. When you have removed the seedling, without wasting time, install it in the hole.

Once installed, fill the existing voids in the hole with fresh soil or the mixture that was placed at the bottom of the hole. Finally, thoroughly but gently compact the soil to avoid creating voids between the roots and the soil.

Aesthetics

As the great Faina Ravnevskaya said, “Beauty is a terrible power!” It's hard to disagree with this. We must try to “kill two birds with one stone” - get healthy and necessary products, and please the eye with the beautiful design of the site.

The right design style will help you achieve such harmony: minimalist or French.

Let's talk about the features of these stylistic trends in more detail.

Caring for a young spruce after planting in 5 steps

Provide proper care for your spruce:

1. Watering . After planting, water the seedling with a bucket of water at room temperature. Mulch the surface of the soil with compost or humus with a layer of a couple of centimeters. This way you will save moisture, insulate the roots when planting in the fall and protect them from overheating when planting in the spring. Water regularly and abundantly, preventing the soil from drying out. It should always be a little damp. Water in the morning and evening, but not in the heat.
2. Feeding . They're not particularly important. Once a year, preferably in the spring, you need to add a matchbox of nitroammophoska to the tree trunk. At this point, feeding can be completed.
3. Sun protection. When planting in spring, try to shade the tree from bright sunlight for a month.
4. Loosening . Periodically, carefully loosen the soil in the tree trunk area to a depth of no more than five centimeters.
5. Shelter . In the first couple of years, it is advisable to lay spruce branches around the trunk for the winter. It will collect snow and additionally protect the roots from freezing.

Now you know everything about planting spruce and caring for it in the open ground.

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Monastery courtyard

Proponents of minimalism choose simple, clear geometric shapes to decorate their garden. For such people, a rectangular garden layout is perfect.

Straight lines combine beautifully with geometric shapes, and cobblestone paths not only attract the eye with their simple beauty, but also provide convenient access to the beds.

Note!

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Another advantage of the ascetic design is that there is room for a small pond, miniature benches and low-growing bushes.

French charm

Would you like to have something similar to the design of the royal Versailles from the time of the Sun King? Then you’ll have to start arranging your site in the French style!

It should be remembered that you will have to determine the central part of the composition, from which triangular beds will extend, forming a hemisphere or semicircle. Symmetry must be observed when designing each element.

More detailed information on how to plan an exquisite vegetable garden can be easily found on the Internet. We will list those elements that will decorate a suburban area in general, and a vegetable garden in particular:

• decorative borders of paved paths;
• miniature fountain;
• curly (topiary) bush trimming;
• garden sculptures.

Important! Low-growing shrubs are suitable for such a garden. They should not “obstruct” the view, and from time to time they “demand” a fashionable “hairstyle”.

Note!

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How to make the best choice for arranging an orchard

Taking into account various kinds of landscape tricks, you can competently arrange your plot of land, taking into account all the norms and requirements. To organize a site with your own hands, you must first correctly select the location of the future orchard, select the types and varieties of trees, while taking into account the existing natural and climatic conditions at the dacha.

When arranging an orchard and vegetable garden, you need to remember that the depth of groundwater should be no more than 1.5 m. Otherwise, to significantly lower the groundwater level, you will have to make certain channels or lay drainage pipes. Trees located on land with high groundwater levels will:

• grow poorly;
• produce a rather low yield;
• does not tolerate winter frosts well;
• be susceptible to fungal diseases.

Design and layout of a garden on a plot of 10 acres.
Plants located in the country will help determine the acidity of the soil. Those areas where cereals and legumes do well are ideal for gardening. If there is a lot of sorrel on the ground at the dacha, this means that the soil is quite acidic, which can have a bad effect on the normal fruiting of trees. You can reduce the acidity of the soil by adding lime to it. The program for arranging a garden and vegetable garden involves a preliminary study of the topography of the site.

The best option for arranging a garden is the southern side, and the worst is the northern side.

There is no need to locate the garden at the lowest point of the plot of land, since this is where cold air will concentrate, which can cause serious harm to many plants. When deciding on the location of the garden, it is necessary to take into account the orientation of the cardinal points.

Rules for the location of beds

To get the maximum harvest, you need to properly arrange your garden at your dacha, and for this you must adhere to the following rules:

• choose the sunniest place - all vegetable crops love warmth and the rays of daylight;
• Before sowing or planting, the soil should be leveled;
• if the soil has a slope, then plants should be planted across it (slope), thereby increasing the efficiency of irrigation;
• try to keep the beds the same length (three to four meters) and width (up to 45 centimeters).

Important! Symmetry always improves visual perception and allows for free access to the cultivated area. Do not arrange beds between fruit trees under any circumstances - the shade will not allow you to get a good harvest, and besides, the chemicals that are used to treat the fruit trees may get into the vegetables!

Implementation of plans

After the style and landscaping scheme have been chosen, you need to create a sketch and mark the location of the main objects on it. It is important to mark everything on it: a house, a bathhouse, a gazebo, a fence, electric poles, and even those trees that are already growing on the site and that will remain on it after clearing the territory.

On the plan you need to mark the location of the cardinal points and use a stroke to indicate the height of each object. It will help you understand where the shadow will always be. These places are not suitable for a garden; there you can arrange paths, lay out a lawn, or build a pond.

Then you can begin to designate places for planting large fruit trees. No more than seven trees can be planted per hundred square meters. As they grow, they will cast a shadow and interfere with each other. If the tree fights for light, it will not have the strength to set and ripen the fruit. Experienced gardeners pay attention to the fact that with proper and regular pruning, up to 15 trees per acre can be planted. These activities will require some effort and time. If there are none, then it is worth reducing the number of trees planted to a minimum.

Sketch of the future garden Source muzicadl.com

Cherries and apricots are not subject to pruning: their fruits are located along the entire length of individual branches. Apples and pears need pruning. This makes their fruits larger and their number increases noticeably. From such trees you need to form balls, the height of which should not exceed two meters. If such trees are planted close to the fence, then it is necessary to form a flat shape using pruning.

Trees are planted every four meters; the distance between them can be filled with bunches of fruit and berry crops (currants, gooseberries). It is better to form rows from south to north, then the shadows from them will form much less.

Neighbor Compatibility

It is not only individual people who cannot find a common language among themselves and accumulate grievances against each other. It must be taken into account that the same thing happens among vegetables! You should adhere to certain rules in order to correctly plan the planting of vegetable crops in the beds and not cause hostility between garden partners. So, next door you can place:

• beans that will repel beetles from eggplants and fleas from cabbage;
• peas get along well with carrots and turnips;
• onions “make friends” with lettuce, cucumber, carrots and Brussels sprouts;
• cucumbers have nothing against being next to white cabbage, corn, dill and garlic;
• parsley will give a good harvest in the company of basil, onions, cucumbers, beans, asparagus and tomatoes.

This is interesting! Most garden crops experience something like an allergy to one or another neighbor, but peppers, pumpkin, asparagus, lettuce, mustard, zucchini, leeks, squash, horseradish, have a very “flexible” character and do not have incompatible plants.

Crop rotation

An important point in planning your garden and plantings. If you grow the same plants in one place for a long time, the soil is depleted, those substances that are necessary for this type of plant are washed out of it and, due to their lack, it gets sick, becomes smaller, and pests also accumulate in the soil.

To avoid this, they use crop rotation or, as it is also called, crop rotation, as well as planting green manure (such as mustard, lupine), which enrich the soil with nitrogen and act as a green fertilizer. Plants feed on what their predecessors left them, so first strong plants are planted on strong soil, then medium ones, and in the third year weak ones that consume few substances. The soil is then fertilized and the crop rotation cycle begins again.

In order not to suffer, use a planting rotation sign, this will help you have an excellent harvest and a unique look for your garden every year.

Organization of watering

In addition to soil composition and good lighting, vegetable crops need moisture. Depending on the region where the summer cottage is located, care must be taken to properly organize the irrigation of the garden.

There must be a water reserve on the site - a water supply system, a well, barrels of water.

You can choose the watering method according to your taste - using a hose or a drip irrigation system.

Important! The presence of groundwater near the surface (a little more than half a meter) will require the design of a drainage system to remove excess moisture.

Layout of recreation areas with gazebos

It is very important to have a recreation area on the site. It can be quite small and consist of a small bench. But if you approach its design creatively, then any bench can turn into a powerful source for restoring strength after a hard day.

A garden gazebo can become a central place for relaxation in a country house or on a personal plot, if you choose the right place for it and arrange it. Don't design the gazebo as a place to eat. It is more suitable for solitude after lunch or for tea. It is worth considering it as a place to relax.

It is better to place the gazebo on an elevated place. In order for your stay in the gazebo to be relaxing and truly comfortable, you should take care of its correct location and some arrangement. The following 5 items will turn your gazebo into a real paradise.

1. Long shot. It will be great if your gazebo offers a view of some natural space: a lake or pond, a flower meadow, a forest edge.
2. Close-up. Plant your favorite flowers next to the gazebo so you can admire them in close proximity.
3. Aroma. Your vacation will become even more enjoyable if you enhance the feeling of comfort and peace with a pleasant scent. To do this, plant flowers with a light aroma next to the gazebo: sweet peas, lilies or roses.
4. Home comfort. Decorate the gazebo with light curtains and matching sofa cushions. Sitting will be much more comfortable and the overall appearance will be more pleasant.
5. Backlight. As dusk approaches, turn on the lighting. This will give the relaxation corner a special charm. Lamps can be the simplest. You can simply place candles in the gazebo.

There is no doubt that a gazebo or recreation area arranged in this way, consisting of even one bench, will attract all members of your family.

Photo of the layout of a vegetable garden at a summer cottage