Social media does have a positive side—and that is giving one ideas to work with. I saw this one over the winter and liked it. It’s simple and one that most people could follow. Tiny Garden Habit posted it, and if you are looking for articles on small scale growing, this is a great place to waste some time reading.

I would base it in the beds being 8 feet long by 4 feet wide, as the illustration doesn’t precisely tell one that information (the downside of social media is it isn’t always deeply informative). It is the standard for size in raised beds.

5 raised beds would fit easily in most suburban backyards, leaving room for kids and a dog to play.

The key in it is using square foot planting. High density planting.

With proper watering, high density works in using less water, but also in controlling weeds. It takes planning, especially if you pick things to plant that need to be trellised. You will need to watch the sun, and how it moves across your land – so that anything tall is in the back.

But this can inspire one to get growing, even though they might feel that they don’t “have the room” to have a garden. All you need is just enough room to move around the beds to weed, water and harvest. It doesn’t have to sprawl a lot.

Do you need to grow what is shown? Of course not. You should grow what you like to eat. If you hate cilantro, grow parsley or celery instead.I myself prefer to grow my herbs in large pots, by themself. But that is me, and I also like letting my plants grow big, as I cut off them often. Most people only need one parsley plant per family, not a row.

Change the flowers (though they have a beneficial side, to deflect certain insects). Instead of Marigolds, grow Calendula or whatever grabs your fancy.

The top bed would need a cattle panel or a trellis to grow up on, placed in the middle of the bed. Or grow bush varieties to save space – and the need to build a trellis.

The key is to plant seeds (and actual plants) far more densely than you are used to doing. Ignore the recommendations on the seed packages. You can thin out as needed (like beets or carrots). Peas grow well when crowded, I have found – and if you grow bush peas versus climbing types, they grow faster and take less room.

Start with plants (which you can grow in a simple greenhouse or buy) for produce such as tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, and onions. You will be able to space them accurately and time them better to the last frost date in your grow zone.

I would not plant strawberries in a raised bed like this—they should have their own bed or be in containers, sprinkled around the garden – if your yard has a fence you can put plant hangers on the posts, and hang pots up easily. They are space hogs in raised beds and invite slugs and snails in. I would double up a favorite veggie or plant some summer squash there (did you know you can grow it upright on a cattle panel?).

One last tip? Do not plant sunflowers with other items, no matter how tempting it can be to plant a back row (I get it, it is pretty). However, sunflowers can and will leach out and cause any other plant nearby to not grow well, or at all. It wants to reach the sun, and it does it efficiently. Consider planting it along a fence line, far at the back, by itself. Where it can grow happily.

~Sarah