practical tips on how to plan the start of a homestead garden
Starting a homestead garden can seem overwhelming and stressful. Below is a practical breakdown of some of the initial planning needed to start a homestead garden. Get cozy and grab a notebook to work through these questions and get a plan started for your own garden.
1. Define Your Goals
What is your big picture goal for your homestead? Do you wish to be 100% self sufficient someday? Do you have a goal of producing all of your family’s vegetables? Making both short term and long term goals can help clarify next steps. Consider the things, tangible or not, that you want from your homestead.
2. Identify Your Space
Take some time to survey your total physical space at the present moment. Whether or not you want to be somewhere else in the future, focus on the space you have right now to use.
Drawing maps to visualize the space and placement of your main goal spaces can be helpful to make decisions on where to start. It also allows you to visualize various issues that can come from arranging pieces of a homestead. Although boring, spend time observing the physical environment. Consider sunlight, wind, climate, and the topography of your lot. Do certain parts of your yard flood every spring? Does the back corner of your yard only get partial sun?
You should also look into your USDA Hardiness Zone. Research the conditions common to your hardiness zone and how that interacts with various crops or animals. You can also look up sample planting timelines or use Seedtime to play around with planning your homestead garden.
Similarly, doing a simple soil test can be a great first step into planning your homestead. Many university extension programs or county conservation departments perform soil sample testing via mail. In Wisconsin, I have access to the University of Wisconsin Soil and Forage Lab that tests a soil sample starting at $15. This gave me information on my soil’s pH, organic matter percentage, phosphorus, potassium, and more. These services should also include instructions on how to properly take a soil sample.
3. Select Your Products
Once you have an idea of your space and environment, you can make a better determination of the specific crops or products that you want from your homestead garden. First, make a big list of long and short term goals for products. Then, take your knowledge from your research thus far and consider what is feasible for you. This is a good time to explore specifics on what a particular crop might need to thrive. Do you have time to continuously prune, mulch, water, etc? Some crops are more dependent than others.
It should also be mentioned that it’s okay, and encouraged, to start small. Even growing or making one thing yourself can make an impact. There is value in focusing on a few things at a time and really trying to master those skills before moving on to more. Or, maybe you want to try a variety of things out of the gate and see what works and what doesn’t. Most importantly, hold these expectations loosely. Things are bound to fail, so expect it to take twice as long to get to the end goal.
4. Set a Budget
While most people would put this step first, I would argue that a realistic and attainable budget cannot be set until you know the scope of a project and what you expect to get out of it. After you know what you want, you can start figuring out what you need and how much it’ll cost. Given your goals, environment, and products, you can determine things like whether you need to buy soil, make raised beds, purchase tools, etc. Make a list of all of the things you anticipate needing and begin creating a budget. Make sure to create wiggle room for unexpected things that will inevitably come up. A budget doesn’t have to be big, but it’s good to acknowledge and plan how much money you anticipate contributing to a homestead garden.
5. Consider Future Plans
Before you get too far, think about your future plans for a homestead. It’s usually a good idea to hold off on making something permanent until you’ve used it for a bit or are sure it’s what you want. Maybe you plan on expanding or moving things around in the future. The worst thing is having to do something twice because circumstances changed or an unintended effect came to the surface. Don’t be afraid to take your time and move at your own pace.
6. Sourcing
With a good idea of your goals, you can begin researching the best places to get certain things from. Investing in quality equipment from the beginning is worth it and will save you time and money in the long run. Read reviews, check prices, watch for sales, and ask a neighbor for advice.
When it comes to plants and seeds, make sure to read reviews. You may also want to do a trial run and purchase a few things from different places to compare.
As with other areas, you should be prepared to see things fail and be disappointed. There will always be duds, mishaps, and things that break. Try to view these things as learning opportunities!
7. Getting Your Timeline Straight
Hands down the best tool that I’ve found for planning the timing of a homestead garden is Seedtime. They also just launched a mobile app, which I am very excited about and will make planning even easier. Seedtime is a free program that allows you to input your grow zone and plan the starting of crops. This includes seed starting vs direct sowing, average last frost date, when to transplant, when to expect a harvest, and even plant specific information about how to care for and harvest a particular crop.
After putting in all of your desired crops, you can view a calendar that shows you a day by day list of tasks that need to be done. You can also drag and drop to rearrange things if you realize that too many tasks overlap. I seriously cannot recommend this program enough. They also do sell seeds, but I have not tried ordering them yet. I plant to check those out in the next garden season.
8. Look at Others for Tutorials, not Comparison
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed and less than after looking at other’s gardens. I have learned so far that it’s helpful to look at other setups for ideas and tutorials on specific topics rather than to fall into the trap of comparison. Some of my favorite homesteads to look to are Calico Cow Acres, Hollar Homestead, and The Seasonal Homestead.
9. Stop to Find the Joy
Most important of all, remember to find joy through all of the work! It can be easy to become swept up in the challenge of starting something new without taking the time to appreciate the little wins, like the view out the back door of your unfinished home.
