The Principles of A Food Garden Design

When creating a food garden in the city, with buildings around and space at a premium, think of your garden through the following lenses:

1. 
   
   Consider Technicalities
   Sunlight
   Water

2. 
   
   Maximize the kitchen-garden relationship
   Near the kitchen is best

3. 
   
   Consider the bird’s eye view
   How will you view the garden - forget curb appeal (unless you're trying to sell!), but how will you see the garden and plant it for your satisfaction - if others want a good garden view, they can go plant their own garden!)
   Divide into units
   Repeat patterns and colors over a theme as much as possible

4. 
   
   Enclose the garden
   Fancifully, or conventionally, but with practical applications
   Creates a special place; a sanctuary
   Use existing walls and complement with fencing and/or planting to separate

5. 
   
   Design the garden like a room, invoking texture, color and mood
   A place to sit and view it
   Use color and texture from adjoining walls
   Keep in synch with the building’s styling

6. 
   
   Create an edge with raised beds
   Raise them with or without wood/bricks etc.

7. 
   
   Design for counterpoint
   Chaos vs. control
   Color opposites 

    8. Go vertical

   Structures add dimension to the garden

   Grow plants that climb extending the harvestable square footage

9. 
   
   Consider year round use
   Schedule plantings to go in and come out as the seasons changed to allow for maximum year round use; design for four seasons in mind.

david