Garden Planning

Plants and flowers

Plants and flowers by area

Location plan

Planning

Underlying tables

Gardening info

Explore

How to use this garden planner

Make a list of all the plants and flowers you have (or are planning to buy) in

Plants and flowers⁠

, and note whether it’s an edible (if you want to keep your veggies separate from the rest of the garden), and whether it’s a plant that grows tall (high), stays relative short (low) or is a groundcover.

Identify each plant’s sunlight and soil requirements; the resources in

Useful guides to different plants⁠

can help. Enter this information in the

Plants and flowers⁠

table. If you have a dog, or your yard is accessible to dogs, use the resources in

Dog-friendly gardening⁠

to note whether plants are toxic.

Make a list of the different areas of your yard, patio or garden in

Yard areas⁠

, along with notes on the amount of sunlight each area receives.

Decide where you want to put each plant, and select its intended location in the

Plants and flowers⁠

table. Note that the location column is a drop-down list that is made up of the locations you listed in the

Yard areas⁠

table; as soon as you start typing a location it will offer you the right option. (You can change locations if you change your mind.)

The pages in the

Planning⁠

section are all there to make it easier for you to make your plan for where each plant should go. Each page is a different view of the

Plants and flowers⁠

page, filtered to just show you a subset of your plants, and you can enter your planned locations on any of these tables ー the locations you’ve chosen will all show up in your master table. Here’s how we’d suggest using the planning pages:

If you need to sequester the toxic-to-dog plants, decide on which area(s) of your yard will be fenced off from the dog. Use the

Toxic to dogs⁠

table to assign each unsafe-for-dogs plant to your fenced-off area(s).

Look at all the

Good for sun⁠

plants and assign them to areas that get a lot of sun, and then look at all the

Good for shade⁠

plants and assign them to areas that have some shade. Both pages will sort your plants based on their soil requirements so you can group plants that have similar moisture requirements.

Look at

Location needed⁠

to see if there are any plants that still need a location.

Now review the

Location plan⁠

to see if you have a nice mix of groundcover, short (low) plants and tall (high) plants in each part of your yard. If there are are areas that have too many or too few plants, or the wrong mix of heights, use the

Plants and flowers by area⁠

table to change locations for your plants until you’re happy with your location plan.

Print out the

Location plan⁠

or carry your computer/tablet out to the garden. Take a few minutes to place all your plants in the various locations you’d mapped out for them.

Put away your plan and start digging!

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