Garden Layout

During my junior year of college, I took a class on edible plants.  We spent most of the semester forging through the woods and identifying plants that we could eat.  Our final project was to create a presentation about nature that was interesting and entertaining... these ranged from someone making persimmon pudding to playing edible flower BINGO.  My project was about butterfly gardens and the benefit of them.  I basically did it because I thought flowers were pretty and I wasn't all that interested in edible plants.

There was a student in the class that was very intrigued by edible plants and the benefit that they could have in feeding communities.  Her project is one that I will never forget.  She drew a huge tree in the center of the poster board and starting with the closest to the tree she drew plants that would do well in all shade and the row after that she drew plants that worked well in shade and were compatible with the plants in the previous row.  The whole poster board was filled with mushrooms, vegetables, fruit and flowers that all were interconnected.  All these plants had these characteristics that made them great planting buddies.  I remember after she was done presenting our professor told her how beautiful and harmonious of a project it was.  I didn't get it at the time how important it was to have a mindset like hers.  I understand it a little better now.

So when I think of garden layout, my mind goes to that poster board in front of the class with plants drawn in pencil.  We are going to be planting our peas on one end of the garden (to give them room for staking), tomatoes will have their own little area with cages around them.  Carrots and lettuce will be planted next to each other in rows.  There are still some that we haven't figured out where we want to put them yet.

How about you, any method to where you plant your vegetables in your garden?