Description
Use a garden map to plan your growing area! We have some quick-start guides to get you going, for yard gardens, balcony gardens, and community gardens.
You can use the grid page for each option to begin visualizing your garden for 2023. Decide what your unit of measurement will be, inches or 10 ft increments, based on your growing area.
You’ll find options here for different available growing spaces, including yard gardens, balcony gardens, and community gardens.
Tip: Using a map to plan your garden doesn’t have to happen in Winter months alone. Revisit your garden map several times throughout the season to get a visual reference for crop performance. Save your maps year after year, and track your growth.
For small space gardening containers are the answer!
The Balcony Gardens Guide is for you! Provided you have enough light you can potentially grow plants such as cherry tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, some carrots (with a foot depth), and small herbs like basil and chives. With some innovation, you may even be able to grow squash.
If you’ve got yard space to garden in, you have got a wonderful opportunity!
The Yard Gardens Guide is for you! Even shady spaces offer opportunities, and hey, there’s always cooperative yard gardening among neighbors.
You can use Google Maps in Satellite Mode to provide an overhead view of your space with an approximate measurement for footage.
If you have a large tree blocking your ground view, try and map the general distance around it, then measure actual distances on the ground using a tape measure.
Track direction, sun exposure, and access to water. Sketch rows, beds, fence use (for peas etc), trellises. Consider daily-consumed foods like greens. Will they be close to your home? Consider foods that will store well in the fall. Cabbages take a long time to grow, but keep well in the fridge for weeks, and make wonderful ferments! Squash is abundant, winter squash keeps for months. Beets and carrots in the ground are as good as dollars in the bank.
Need space to garden and want to hang out with some cool people?
The Community Gardens Guide is for you! Look for a community garden in your neighborhood. If there isn't one, heck, maybe you could start one! Nothing like a map to help you get to the next phase of your master plans.... Put simply, gardens are good, solace and sanctuary providing spaces.
If you are in the Treasure Valley, check out the Treasure Valley Community Gardens Cooperative Facebook Group. Area garden managers are updating the map which shows available garden spaces for the 2024 season, as well as community gardens you can visit!
To learn more about setting up a community garden, and to connect with the City of Boise about available park spaces you can also check out the Boise Urban Garden Schools (BUGs) website. "BUGS teaches youth and adults the fundamentals of gardening through science, nutrition, and environmental-based lesson plans and activities."
This video shows a way to use Google Maps to get a birds-eye view of your growing area if you're working with a yard or community garden.
Video created by Mary K in the Fall of 2022 for the garden she's been working on with One Stone High School, and community members at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Boise, ID.