Planting & Spacing
How to Plant Your Edible Garden
Take care to plan out your edible garden before diving in. Consider any theme or general approach to your garden, how your plants will be organized, how to invite pollinators, and whether you'll be planting your crops from seeds or starts. Most importantly, be sure you plant at the correct time. Here's how to manage it all.
APPROACH: Getting started
There are many ways to grow edibles, whether incorporated in the ornamental landscape or in a separate area of the garden.
Edible landscape
Use edibles in place of ornamentals in your landscape or integrate them within existing ornamentals. Blueberries and artichokes are beautiful ornamental shrubs. Blackberries, asparagus and raspberries make a nice hedgerow. Herbs make a lovely border.
Theme gardens
Edible flowers, ratatouille or salad niçoise garden, tea or salsa garden, etc.
Planting space & relative square foot value
• If space is tight: High-yield per square foot plants
Herbs, parsley, carrots, and beets provide the greatest yield per square foot. In other words, you get the most produce from the smallest amount of space. If space is tight, these edibles are good choices.
• If space is not an issue: Low-yield per square foot plants
Winter squash, sweet corn, watermelon. and pumpkin have the least yield per square foot. Grow these if space is not an issue or if you don't mind edible vines creeping through your ornamental beds.
Others crops are somewhere in between.
GROUPING PLANTS: How to organize your edible garden
Use the guidelines below to create a planting plan for your edible garden.
MOST IMPORTANT: Hydrozones and plant spacing
Hydrozones
Place edibles with similar water needs together. Plants with similar root depth have similar water requirements.
• Most edible plants are shallow rooting (approximately 12 inches or less). Examples include lettuce, arugula, basil, chives, garlic, kale, mustard greens, and some carrots.
• Deeply rooting plants include artichokes, asparagus, parsnips, rhubarb and tomatoes.
• Most annuals need one inch of water per week and up to two inches in hot weather. Learn how to calculate an inch of water.
• Tomatoes need less water after fruit has set.
• Perennial herbs need less water after they're established.
Plant spacing
Place crops according to size at maturity or according to spacing suggestions. Vegetables harvested before full maturity, such as beets or greens, may be placed more closely.
Plant placement
Consider:
• Shade: Place taller plants on the north side of your bed/garden so they will not shade shorter plants. Plant crops that enjoy light shade, such as lettuce, in the shadow of taller plants.
• Ease of access: Group shorter plants near the front of beds so they're easy to reach.
Rotation
Group plant families together for easier seasonal crop rotation.
Frost-sensitive plants
Place frost-sensitive plants such as peas and citrus in protected areas near a structure, fence, or in an otherwise protected spot. Use cold frames to get seedlings started outdoors.
Perennials
If space allows, grow perennials such as asparagus, artichokes, berries, herbs, fruit trees, sunchokes, and walking collards in separate beds or containers.
POLLINATORS: how to attract them
If not for pollination, our food gardens would be lovely, under-productive patches of green. In fact, pollination accounts for one out of every three bites of food we eat. That said, the need for pollination varies by crop:
| Require no pollination | Carrots, kale, and other edibles, which we eat before pollination occurs |
| Self-pollinating | Beans, peas and tomatoes |
| Wind-pollinated | Beets, chard, and corn |
| Require pollination | Brassicas, cucumbers, melons, okra, pumpkins, squash and many fruit trees Pollinated by hummingbirds, bees and other insects, and in their absence, humans! |
Use our lists of Plants for Bees, Hummingbirds, and Butterflies. These plants are easy to grow, bloom heavily, and are good company for edible crops. They create spots of color, texture, and scent. The result is so much more than an edible garden. It is a resilient, sustainable, fascinating ecosystem. Learn more about habitat gardening, pollination, and pollinators.
KNOW YOUR SOIL TEMPERATURE: Guidelines for warm & cool season crops
Edible crops are not only sensitive to air temperatures; they are also sensitive to soil temperatures. Whether planting seeds or starts make sure soil temperature is adequate:
Warm season crops need soil temperature at 60 to 65 degrees.
Cool season crops need soil temperature at about 40 degrees.
How to take your soil's temperature
• Use an instant read thermometer, the kind used in the kitchen. Insert it into the soil about 3 inches deep.
• The best time to check soil temperature prior to planting seeds and seedlings is in the morning because this will be the coolest soil temperature of the day. If you want to know the warmest soil temperature, check the soil in late afternoon.
To raise soil temperature
• Cover the bed for a few days with a dark material, such as heavy weed cloth.
PLANTING: SEEDS OR STARTS?
When planting your garden, you have a choice between planting seeds or starts. Most gardens include plants propagated from both seeds and starts.
WHAT ARE STARTS?
Starts are plants you buy at the nursery or grow yourself from seed.
HOW TO PLANT STARTS • Harden off: If you have grown your own starts, be sure to harden them off for about a week before planting in the garden by leaving the plants outside each day for longer and longer periods of time but bringing them in at night. Starts purchased from a nursery are already hardened off. |
SEEDS: Growing your own starts
Follow directions on seed packets and decide if you are going to start the seed indoors in a container or direct sow into the garden.
Benefits of growing edibles from seed:
• Variety: Starting with seed reveals a world of vegetables that you will never find in the market or nursery.
• Cost: Growing from seed is less expensive than buying starts.
• Sharing: You can exchange different varieties with friends.
• Disease resistance: Growing from seed reduces the risk of introducing diseases into your garden.
• More control over timing: This can help when rotating crops or doing succession planting.
| HOW TO SOW SEEDS INDOORS or in a cold frame outdoors • Begin 3-6 weeks before planting into the garden. • Use a fine textured seeding mix • Use any kind of container that is at least 2 inches deep and drains. • Fill the container or flat with seeding mix. • Level out. • Place seeds more densely than recommended on the seed packet, as some will not germinate. • Once the seedlings are about 1-inch high, thin with scissors, giving each seedling 2 inches of space all around. • When the seedling has at least 2-3 true leaves, feed with fish emulsion diluted to half the standard strength. (Seeding mix does not usually contain nutrients since the seed uses nutrients stored in the seed.) • Transplant in the spring after danger of frost or according to the recommended planting time. |
Seed types to sow indoors or in a cold frame:
• Smaller seeds are usually started in a flat in a protected environment (indoors or out) and transplanted after a full-set of leaves has formed and the plants have been hardened off (gradually exposed to outdoor elements). An exception are small seeds that mature quickly, such as lettuce and arugula, which may be directly sown into the garden.
• Large seeds such as beans, peas or squash may be started indoors and transplanted to provide a head start on the growing season.
• Medium size seeds such as those for eggplants, tomatoes and peppers are started indoors and transplanted outdoors.
| HOW TO SOW SEEDS DIRECTLY into the garden • Plant large seeds the depth recommended on the seed packet (usually about the length of the seed). • Scatter small seeds on the surface of the bed, then top lightly with soil. • Thin with scissors to recommended planting spacing when seedlings are 1 to 2 inches tall. • Cover with tulle to protect from birds. |
Edible crops to sow directly by seed into the garden:
• Large seeds: beans, pumpkins, squash, peas
• Root crops: beets, carrots, parsnips, radishes, turnips
• Quickly maturing seeds: braising mix, lettuce, microgreens
TIMING: when should you start growing?
In the edible garden, this is a critical question that could mean the difference between success and failure. Check online for information on specific plants, or use our planting calendar and our grow sheets as a guide.
BACK TO EDIBLES
> What Edible Gardens Need
> Best Choices for Marin
> How to Prepare
> How to Plant
> Edibles in Containers
> Planting Calendar
> Grow & Care Sheets for Vegetables, Herbs & Fruits
> Tips & Techniques
> How to Maintain
> Fruit Trees
> Top 20 Edible Garden Problems
> Cover Crops & Soil Enhancements in the Off-season
> Conserving Water
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News from the Edible Demo Garden
Seasonal Advice and Happenings at our Edible Demonstration Garden
Every month, the team at the Edible Demonstration Garden chronicles what's happening in the garden - planting, harvesting, problems and more. Check out our stories!
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February 2025: Choosing the Right Garden Tools
In January, the 2025 Marin Master Gardener training class was welcomed into the Edible Demonstration Garden for a discussion and demonstration on the use and care of garden tools. The right tools make the difference between gardening that is pleasurable and gardening that is a struggle. Your first experience with a garden tool might have been that pointed stick you used when digging in the dirt as a child. Now as a gardener, you are presented with an array of better tool choices, some essential for basic garden work and some designed for specific tasks. There are tools for pruning, tools for digging, tools for raking, and tools to make gardening easier. Here are some of the more popular tools in those categories.
Pruning Tools
Hand pruners are the favorite tool for most home gardeners. They are the tools used most often for cutting and thinning small branches to maintain plant health and appearance. They are also used for cutting flowers and harvesting vegetables. By-pass pruners, which work like scissors, are best for making clean cuts on living plants. Anvil pruners crush branch tissue and are good for removing and cutting up dead branches.
- Pruning saws are used to remove branches larger than what hand pruners can remove. They can have a fixed or folding blade.
- Loppers are long-handled by-pass pruners that can help access higher and hard to reach branches. The long handles also provide leverage to enable pruning thicker branches.
Digging Tools
Trowels are essential for digging, planting, potting, and weeding. A trowel is a spade-shaped hand tool with a slightly scooped blade.
- Garden knives are a type of trowel with a sharp narrow blade and a pointed end. One blade edge is usually serrated. Hori-Hori garden knives are a Japanese design that has proven to be so useful for digging and weeding that the name is often applied to any type of garden knife.
- Shovels and spades are long-handled digging and soil lifting tools with the shape of blade and the length of the handle determining their particular uses.
Raking Tools
- Rakes are useful for cleaning up leaves, removing debris, and spreading out soil amendments like compost and mulch. Hand rakes are great for getting into small spaces. Rakes with flexible, fan-shaped tines work well for cleaning up lighter debris and are sometimes called leaf rakes. Garden rakes have larger stiff metal tines and are intended for heavier use in soil or larger debris.
- Forks are used for raking out stones and weeds. Like a dinner fork, a garden fork has four strong tines which can push easily into the ground and enable it to double as a digging tool for loosening and turning over the soil.
Gardening Comfort Tools
Gloves provide the hand protection every gardener needs. They are a barrier against pricks, cuts, abrasions, blisters, insect bites, and other skin irritations. While most gardeners don’t mind getting their hands dirty, getting jabbed with a nasty thorn is not only painful, but it can also lead to serious infections. There are many types of gloves to choose from depending on the type of protection required. Most important is that they fit well and are comfortable to wear.
- Kneelers cushions protect the knees when planting, weeding, and performing other low to ground garden tasks. Kneelers made of rectangular shaped heavy foam are the simplest type. However, kneelers with handles that are lightweight and easy to fold up can make the up and down movements around the garden easier. Some even flip over to form a bench.
- Ergonomically modified tools can help gardeners get more done with less effort by enabling good body alignment and reducing joint strain. Grips should be comfortable to hold and keep hands and wrists in natural positions. Handles should be the right length to enable good posture without excessive bending and twisting.
Tool Care
Tools need to be kept clean, sharpened, in good repair, and organized to keep them working well. Surface dirt and dried sap should be brushed or washed off after each use. Periodically applying a light layer of oil will reduce rust. Pruners need regular sharpening and should be sanitized with a 10% bleach solution following contact with diseased plant material. Storing tools in dry place where they can be easily accessed will ensure they are ready for work when you are.
Click here to learn more about choosing and caring for garden tools.
November 2024: Experimenting with Different Tomato Varieties
Tomatoes are among the top summer crops in the Edible Demo Garden and each year there are decisions to be made about which varieties to grow. Since there are reported to be over 10,000 varieties of tomatoes, it’s important to narrow down the selection considerably and plant only those varieties that grow well in Marin and are appealing to consumers. However, even within those broad parameters, many choices can be made. The Marin Master Gardeners typically offer sixteen varieties in their annual tomato plant sales. These are the varieties that have proven over the years to be the most popular with customers. Each year one or two new varieties may be offered to replace some that have not fared so well in terms of sales or customer reviews. Choices about new varieties are usually based on members’ recommendations.
The Tomato Experiment
This spring the Edible Demo Garden and the Edibles Guild launched a collaborative experiment to determine which of seven tomato varieties not previously sold in the tomato market, would be most successful in Marin’s different growing conditions. The experiment involved adopting out 132 plants grown in the Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden greenhouse to 37 Marin Master Gardeners willing to try growing them in their own gardens. The seven varieties were:
- Costoluto Genovese – a classic red Italian heirloom
- Bicolor Marvel Stripe – a marbled red and gold heirloom
- Moonglow – a bright orange heirloom
- Mortgage Lifter – a large meaty red heirloom
- Magic Bullet – an elongated cherry-sized open pollinated variety
- Pink Berkeley Tie Dye – a wine-colored open pollinated variety with green stripes and pink flesh
- Amish paste – a small bright red heirloom best used for sauces
The tomato adopters agreed to submit data describing their experiences growing the trial tomatoes. They recorded the garden type, location, and microclimate, when the tomatoes were planted, how they were cared for, and when the first tomato was harvested. Then they subjectively rated the tomatoes on yield and taste. Finally, and most importantly, they answered the question – “would you grow this variety again?”.
Which varieties had the best results?
What matters most when choosing tomatoes to plant
One of the most important factors to consider when choosing a tomato variety is the microclimate in the growing location. Tomatoes need sunshine and warm soil. All the experimental tomatoes required temperatures above 65 degrees and some preferred 75 degrees. During a typical spring, in most areas of Marin, around May 1st is when the temperatures are best for planting tomatoes. Tomatoes planted before the air and soil are sufficiently warmed, will sit idly by until the conditions are right. Conversely, tomatoes don’t like extreme heat and will stop production during heat waves like those experienced in parts of Marin this summer.
Linked to microclimate are days to maturity. This is the average time it takes for the first ripe fruit to develop in ideal heat conditions. Magic Bullet, Pink Berkely Tie Dye, and Costoluto Genovese are considered mid-range, requiring 70 to 80 days to mature. The others are late maturers, needing more than 80 days to produce ripe fruit. Bicolor Marvel Stripe takes 95 days to mature. In cool areas of Marin, there may not be enough warm days for some late maturing tomato varieties to reach full production.
Click here for more advice on selecting and growing tomatoes.
