It’s time to get your space to ready to plant! Planning + prepping is what makes planting week feel easy and fun, plus it’ll save you time and heartache later.

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What you’ll learn

• How to pick a garden spot that makes sense for your light, water access, and body.
• How to choose a setup you can keep up with (containers, raised beds, or in-ground).
• How to prep the surface so plants are not competing with grass and weeds on day one. </aside>

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What we’ll cover

• Why growing food is a political act, and why that matters right now.
• How to figure out your growing zone and sun exposure.
• How to assess your space, budget, and time and how to match crops to your constraints </aside>

Before we begin, some things you should know:

About Me + My Perspective

Hi! I’m Dusti, the founder of Hearth & Hollow, a backyard micro-nursery and plant CSA in Vancouver, WA.

• I’m in Zone 8b, so the examples here skew PNW, but the planning process we’ll discuss here works anywhere.
• Gardening is punk AF + food is political
• Productive > pretty. We’re not here for aesthetics; we’re here for production, baby!
• Want more resources? I got you!

The frameworks we’re pulling from

We are going to borrow from a few schools of thought, and we are going to keep it practical:

• Permaculture for systems thinking, perennials, and working with what you have.
• No-till and regenerative organic for soil-first practices and long-term resilience.
• Square Foot Gardening for a clear structure and intensive planting in small spaces.

This workshop is designed around small space + constraints-first growing, because that’s what most people are working with.

How to choose your growing area

You are looking for the best combination of sun, water, wind protection, access, and the ground.

This is less about finding the perfect spot and more about picking the spot you will keep using.

Considerations

1. Sun exposure
2. Wind and wind protection
3. Water access
4. Walkability + layout (paths, reach, carrying stuff)
5. The ground itself

1) Sun exposure

Most vegetables need 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. If you have less than that, it is still workable, but it changes what you can grow.