7 Themed Planting Plans You’ll Love for Your Small Veggie Garden

A small veggie garden can pack a big punch with a creative theme and carefully planned layout. I’ve come up with 7 themed planting plans that I hope you’ll love and be inspired by.

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes fall into the trap of comparing my garden with those big homestead gardens where they grow pounds and pounds of potatoes and put up countless quarts of tomato sauce.

It can be discouraging to have a smaller garden if you are wishing for something larger, but don’t forget, small gardens are a breeze to plant and maintain. Additionally, small garden harvests are much easier to use up or preserve. Even a tiny side-yard garden has the potential to yield many pounds of produce if you manage it just right!

How to Use These Planting Plans

All 7 of my themed planting plans were designed for a 4-foot by 4-foot garden bed. The design is oriented with the top of the bed facing north and the bottom facing south. The number beside the plant names denote how many you can plant per square foot, so if the grid shows one onion in one square, just know you can grow 4 full-size onions in that square.

And of course, feel free to swap out any of the plants for more of the ones you prefer.

However, if you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, I would encourage you to find the specific varieties listed and give them a try! You may find something new that you love.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you buy through my links, I could earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only discuss products that I love and think you’ll love, too. I’m glad you’re here and thanks for reading!

For Spaces Smaller than 4’x4′ or Containers

I do realize that some of you may be gardening in even smaller spaces than this! If your bed is smaller, cut the design in half or divide the plants to however many you can fit in large containers to make it work for your garden space. Customize the plants to your liking using the theme that most inspires you.

For example, if I had four 12″ diameter pots and looking at the 24/7 Salad Bar Garden Plan, I could plant 4 lettuce plants in one container, one kale in another, 16 radish plants in the third, and a cherry tomato in the fourth container.

In addition to my own raised bed and in-ground garden, I use fabric pots and large composite containers to grow more food and flowers. Take a tour here if you want to know more about my outdoor growing set-up.

If you’re growing in containers, I would encourage you to use the deepest pots that you can. The more soil your pot holds, the more nutrients and moisture it can deliver to your plants. You’ll still need to give the plants regular feedings and water, but with more soil, you’ll be able to do it less often.

Don’t forget about maximizing your space vertically using trellises or vertical pocket planters like these Greenstalks. I just added this vertical planter to my growing space specifically for strawberries, and so far, I love it!

However you decide to use the planting plans, I hope it gets you excited to grow your tiny garden and spend time enjoying your green space.

Growing From Seed

Growing from seed is a cost-effective way to start your garden, succession plant, and grow the widest variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. I recommend growing as much of your garden from seed as you can, particularly root crops and leafy greens.

In addition to checking your local nursery, here are a few online seed companies I can recommend for fresh, reliable seed.

• Botanical Interests
• High Mowing Organic Seeds
• Pinetree Garden Seeds
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
• Hoss Tools
• Park Seed

You can also check my Favorite Supplies Page for more gardening supplies that I recommend.

Tips for Planting in a Small Garden

• Use an organic, balanced, slow-release fertilizer at the time of planting to make sure plants are well-fed.
• Remove plants as soon as they become unproductive. Replace them immediately with a new plant to keep your garden productive.
• Keep a seed packet of bush beans, radishes, mesclun lettuce, dill, or some other fast maturing plant that you love handy to fill in empty spaces in your garden at a moment’s notice.
• Trellis any vining plant you can to maximize space. Panel trellises work great for the back (north) end of the garden. Obelisks or cages are perfect centerpieces.
• If you have raised beds or containers, allow vining plants to trail over the sides to maximize space.
• Grow bush or compact varieties of plants whenever possible.
• Be diligent about harvesting fruiting vegetables and leafy greens. The more you harvest, the more plants will regrow and produce.
• Prioritize growing plants that you enjoy consuming.

More on garden planning: 5 Easy Steps to Plan Your Dream Vegetable Garden

7 Themed Planting Plans You’ll Love for Your Small Veggie Garden

The Heatwave Harvest Patch

These classic heat-loving vegetables are staples in my own summer garden. Perfect for fresh eating and for making a killer ratatouille.

In the center, I placed a large indeterminate tomato as the “thriller” item of the group. This should be in a sturdy cage or staked to a single leader to keep it from sprawling and falling onto the other plants. Sweet alyssum or another low-growing companion flower can be underplanted with the tomato for looks, to attract beneficial insects, and to act as a living mulch to keep soil cool as the temperature rises.

The zucchini and cucumber plants are placed on the corners to allow them to spill over the side if you are growing in a raised bed. Use a bush variety and stakes to keep things tidy if you’re short on walking space.

I would definitely recommend picking up a couple packets of bush beans and replanting them once production slows down to keep this bed going from summer into early fall.

Feel free to swap any of the veggies out for more herbs, flowers, or more of the other kinds of vegetables.

Recommended Varieties

• Tomato (1): Costoluto Genovese, Stupice, Kellogg’s Breakfast, Mortgage Lifter
• Cucumber (1): Bush Champion Cucumber, Silver Slicer Cucumber
• Eggplant (1): Black Beauty, Fairytale
• Zucchini (1): Sure Thing, Greyzini, Black Beauty
• Bell Peppers (1): King of the North, California Wonder, Lunchbox (mini sweet pepper)
• Bush Beans (9): Golden Wax, Blue Lake Bush, Dragon Tongue, Jade
• Basil (2): Lettuce Leaf, Lemon, Everleaf Emerald Towers
• Sweet Alyssum (2): Royal Carpet, Carpet of Snow, Rosie O’Day

The Fresh Fiesta Garden

This garden is themed around salsa and tomato sauces for fresh eating or canning.

One thing to note is that the onions, garlic, and cilantro are cool season growers, so it would be best to plant the alliums as early in the spring as possible for them to size up as much as possible before it gets too hot in your climate. Get a packet of cilantro seeds versus a started plant so that you can replant the cilantro once it starts to bolt.

If you’d rather not grow the onions and garlic, just substitute them with warm-season annual flowers like zinnias or cosmos.

Another thing to remember is that tomatillos need a second plant to get pollinated, so don’t plant just one or you won’t have good fruit set.

Mix and match the hot and sweet peppers according to your heat preferences.

Hot peppers in particular tend to be very productive, so having just one habañero, for example, would be plenty for sauce. I do like having lots of jalapeños to make stuffed jalapeños and cowboy candy relish.

Recommended Varieties

• Tomatoes (1): Amish Paste, Italian Heirloom, Mortgage Lifter, Abraham Lincoln
• Hot Peppers (1): Sugar Rush Peach Habanero, Habanada (heatless), Craig’s Grande Jalapeño, Serrano, Poblano
• Cilantro (9): Slo-Bolt, Confetti
• Onions (4): Walla Walla, Candy
• Bell Peppers (1): King of the North, California Wonder
• Tomatillos (must have at least 2 for pollination): Rio Grande Verde
• Garlic (9) (can be planted early spring and harvested “green”)

The Smoothie Greens Garden

Spring is an ideal time to grow leafy greens and some herbs that work perfectly in green smoothies. Since the weather is still mild and not too hot, many nutrient-packed ingredients thrive during this season. This planting plan will give you great ingredients for green smoothies. I also like to harvest loads of these greens when they are abundant in the spring and freeze them for use the rest of the year.

You’ll also find beets in this plan. Beet greens are mild-tasting and wonderfully nutritious, and the deep burgundy roots will add a beautiful color to smoothies. The gold varieties are supposed to have a less “earthy” taste, so give those a a try if you’re not a fan of the roots.

In the corners, I placed mint, which really thrives in the spring and adds a refreshing flavor to smoothies. However, be careful of planting mint freely in the garden, as it does spread aggressively. I would suggest planting it in a separate container if you can, or placing in a bottomless container and sinking the whole container into your garden bed.

Finally, a border of cheerful pansies in any color complement these spring smoothie greens perfectly. Plant them all the way around the bed, or just in the front as shown here. Pansies are also edible and would be a beautiful garnish to your homegrown smoothies. Just make sure the pansies you have were not sprayed with anything before you eat them.

Recommended Varieties

• Kale (1): Nero di Toscana, Dazzling Blue, Red Russian, White Russian
• Swiss Chard (2): Bright Lights, Perpetual
• Spinach (9): Bloomsdale Long Standing
• Beets (9) (pick greens only or allow to mature and harvest the root): Bull’s Blood, Early Wonder, Touchstone Gold
• Mint (1): Apple Mint, Spearmint, Peppermint, Mojito Mint
• Pansy (4): any

If you’re enjoying this post so far and want me to create a more detailed resource (including seed starting schedule and growing info for each plant) to go along with these plans, would you please vote in this poll or join the waiting list at the end of this post? Getting your feedback would be so helpful!

The 24/7 Salad Bar

Harvest visually-stunning, fresh salads daily from your own backyard by planting these productive salad greens and veggies. There’s a good mix of tender greens, hearty greens, and herbs for different kinds of salads. You’ll also be able to use the colorful nasturtium flowers and leaves as a garnish or to add a peppery bite to your dishes.

Drape insect netting over the back (North) end of this garden to protect the kale and other greens from nibbling pests.

Note that the squares with two varieties are meant to show what you can plant in the cool or warm season. For example, once the radishes are finished in the spring, replace them with a basil variety for the summer.

Lettuce also can struggle in the summer, depending on how hot your summers get and which variety you plant, so once it bolts, you can either leave it and replant once the weather cools again, or replace it with Swiss Chard, flowers, or more herbs. I recommend growing loose-leaf cutting lettuce and harvesting the outer leaves only, leaving the inner leaves to continue growing and producing.

The cherry tomato varieties listed here are smaller plants and perform well in cooler weather (not freezing weather, though!). I would still stake or cage the tomato plant. Allow the cucumber to trail off the sides of your raised bed, or grow a bush variety and keep the cucumber staked.

Recommended Varieties

• Cherry Tomato (1): Cherry Falls Bush, Stupice, Sub-Arctic Plenty
• Cucumber (1): Bush Champion Cucumber, Silver Slicer Cucumber, Parisian Pickling
• Lettuce (4-16) (grow a variety of these!): Oak Leaf, Merlot, Mervaille des Quatres Saisons, Black Seeded Simpson, any mesclun mix
• Kale (1): Nero di Toscana, Dazzling Blue, Red Russian, White Russian
• Spinach (9) (replace with swiss chard in the summer): Bloomsdale Long Standing
• Radishes (16): French Breakfast, Easter Egg, Cherry Belle
• Basil (1): Everleaf Emerald Towers, Lemon, Lime, Lettuce Leaf
• Parsley (1): Giant of Italy
• Swiss Chard (2) (to replace spinach in summer): Rainbow, Perpetual
• Nasturtium (1): Alaska Series

The Seed-to-Wok Garden

This Seed-to-Wok garden theme features a flavor-packed combo of cool season greens and veggies that are great for stir-frying or sauteeing. With this cool-season plan, you’ll be able to whip up fresh, vibrant stir-fries straight from your garden all spring. 

I would highly recommend planting garlic cloves in the fall or early spring (as soon as the soil has thawed enough to plant) and harvesting it as green garlic, or garlic that hasn’t bulbed up yet. It cooks up like a green onion (or spring onion) where you can eat the tops and the immature bulb and is very tender and garlicky.

Snap peas or snow peas are perfect for a stir-fry garden because their pods are edible, and they cook quickly. Place the peas on a tall trellis on the north end of the garden to keep it from shading out the other plants.

If you struggle with cabbage loopers, group the brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, and bok choy) together in the same two rows and cover with insect netting to protect them organically.

Instead of planting in square foot blocks, you can also alternate single rows of the radishes and spring/green onions in between the brassicas or along the border of the garden to help ward off pests and look aesthetically pleasing.

For more variety in your greens, you can also substitute some of the cabbage or choys with mustard, arugula, or spinach.

Recommended Varieties

• Chinese Broccoli/Gai Lan/Kailaan (2-3): Blue Star, Early Jade
• Napa Cabbage (1): One Kilo Slow Bolt, Blues, Red Dragon
• Baby Bok Choy (9): Baby Choi, Toy Choy, Purple Lady
• Peas (4): Super Sugar Snap, Mammoth Melting Snow, Oregon Sugar Pod II
• Spring/Green Onions (9): Parade, Tokyo Long White
• Radishes (16): Daikon, White Icicle
• Garlic (plant late fall and pick green in the spring, before bulbs have formed)

The Happy Hour Garden

The Happy Hour Garden is themed around drink garnishes and flavorings. Grow these carefree aromatic flowers and herbs to add fresh flavor to your favorite cocktails or mocktails. You’ll not only be able to create your own unique and delicious drinks, you’ll also be growing an inviting, scent-filled garden to enjoy your drinks in!

Herbs and flowers in particular are easy to grow in containers, and choosing smaller varieties of cucumber and cherry tomato will also allow them to thrive in pots. Be sure to cage or trellis the cucumber and tomatoes even if they are a bush/container type.

Try brewing the herbs into a tea and adding lemon juice and sweetener to make flavored lemonade teas. You can also create simple syrups using the herbs to add to your iced drinks. Lavender lemonade is a favorite at our house!

One of my favorite herbs to use in cocktails or mocktails is basil because it comes in a number of different flavors, like lemon, lime, and cinnamon. Pinch the growing tips of basil plants and it will reward you by growing bigger and bushier.

The edible flowers can be frozen with water to make floral ice cubes for your drinks as well.

Both mint and lemon balm are aggressive spreaders, so I would probably plant it in a bottomless container and sinking the whole container into your garden bed.

Recommended Varieties

• Tomato (1): Cherry Falls, Orange Hat (micro tomato that needs no staking)
• Cucumber (1): Parisian Pickling, Cucamelon (not a true cucumber)
• Celery (1): Amsterdam (cutting type)
• Hot Peppers (1): Sugar Rush Peach Habañero, Early Jalapeño, Habanada (heatless), Nadapeño (heatless)
• Basil (1): Lemon, Cinnamon, Lime, Everleaf Emerald Towers, Lettuce Leaf
• Rosemary (1)
• Lavender (1): Munstead
• Lemon Balm (1): Common, Mandarina, Lime
• Mint (1): Apple Mint, Peppermint, Spearmint, Mojito Mint, Strawberry Mint
• Pineapple Sage (1)
• Marigold or Calendula (4)

The Pickle Plot

This garden design is for all the pickle aficionados. You’ll be able to grow everything you need to make your own homemade pickles, from classic dill pickles to pickled carrots and sweet peppers.

In addition to cucumbers, I chose a number of different vegetables that can be grown together and pickled and each offers a different flavor and texture to experiment with.

Maximize space by trellising the cucumbers, growing a bush variety, or by allowing vines to trail over the edges of your raised bed, if possible.

Dill is a must-have for any pickle-grower. Both leaves, seeds, and flowers can be used to flavor pickle brine.

This garden will be a pickling powerhouse! You’ll have all the fresh ingredients you need for a variety of pickled treats whether you’re fermenting, canning, or quick pickling. 

If you like to make pickles, I hope you enjoy growing this garden! And even if you don’t, these varieties are great for fresh eating, too.

Recommended Varieties

• Cucumber (1): Bush Pickle, Parisian Pickling, Boston Pickling
• Carrots (16): any Danvers or Nantes types
• Onions (5): Walla Walla, Red Long of Tropea, Candy
• Sweet Peppers (1): Pimento, Banana, Biqinho
• Green Beans (9) (grow a mix of colors): Golden Wax, Blue Lake, Royal Burgundy, Red Swan, Dragon Tongue
• Beets (9): Bull’s Blood, Early Wonder, Touchstone Gold
• Or radishes (9): French Breakfast, White Icicle, Cherry Belle
• Dill (4): Bouquet, Mammoth

Which Garden Theme Are You Going to Try?

I hope these different themed vegetable garden planting plans inspired you to get growing this season. I know I had a lot of fun putting these plans together!

If you’d like to see printable plans like these in more detail (seed starting schedule, growing info, etc.), let me know by joining the waiting list below. I’d love to create more resources that would be useful and encouraging to other gardeners.

Note: this is not a subscription to regular emails, just a waiting list to be notified when these printable plans become available.