This home vegetable garden will prove to be satisfying and pleasurable. Just watching it grow and transform is magical. This garden includes traditional vegetables with many being heirloom varieties like Brandywine tomatoes and purple dragon carrot. Often heirloom seeds are chosen be cause the seed can be saved and will produce true-to-type offspring. These varieties have been around for a long time because they not only offer exceptional pollination but also have survived pests and disease. Plus they taste wonderful!

Because space may be limited in a home garden, a French method of mixing seeds can be used as it has here. Combining spinach and carrot seed and sowing together will use the space better. The spinach will also soften the ground, making it easier for carrots to grow. In about six weeks, the spinach will be finished and the carrots will develop. Combining radishes and lettuce in the same row will also give good succession.

Tomatoes will need to be staked and the peas will need trellises. The beans and cucumbers may benefit from a low support structure, but it isn't necessary. Crop rotation is often recommended but not always easy in a smaller garden. Shift if you can, otherwise add annual applications of compost and soil to replenish nutrients and avoid buildup of pests and disease.

Our free Planting Guide for this garden includes a larger version of the illustration, a detailed layout diagram, a list of plants for the garden as shown, a list of alternatives for each plant, and complete instructions for installing the garden. (Free, one-time registration allows unlimited access to Planting Guides for all garden plans.)

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