Garden Bed Designer

Varieties and adjusted needs

Picking a variety changes that plant's spacing (midpoint of the recorded range) and height (midpoint) everywhere it appears. Adjusted growing needs override the species or variety values for spacing, height, sun, soil depth, and light targets, and are saved with the design. Pet flags and companion data stay at the species level. Variety data are imported and marked for verification in the workbook.

Square beds

Soil = bed sq ft x depth (in) / 12 x (1 + settling). Mulch and gravel = area x depth / 12. 27 cu ft = 1 cu yd. Water = sq ft x inches x 0.623 gal. Weight = cu yd x lb per cu yd. Load = (soil x saturated multiplier + other layers) / bed sq ft. Edging counts bed edges that touch a non-bed square or the grid edge. Spacing dots are placed on a lattice starting at the top-left of each plant's painted area, so irregular shapes work and a plant that doesn't fit shows 0. Each square painted with a small companion gets at least one plant; where its spacing allows more, the count is the solo density per square x the share, placed farthest from the main plants. Companions needing more than 12 in are spaced like main plants.

Round structures

Areas come from the geometry: a ring is pi x (outer radius² - inner radius²), and a wedge is its share of that. Plants in rings and wedges sit in concentric rows one spacing apart, evenly spread around each row. Spirals place plants along the spiral path, with extra rows where the band is wide enough. Edging for round beds is the circumference. A keyhole bed's notch counts as path, and its center is a compost basket. A ring bed's center counts as path.

A herb spiral's planting band follows the spiral between 5 in stone walls, sloping from its center height down to a 6 in base course at the low end. Soil = band area x average height. Stone = wall length x wall width x average height. Grid squares under a round structure are left out of the totals.

Checks

The shade check uses the sun's noon angle at 40.9 N: shadow length = height / tan(angle). Round beds flag outer rings that are taller than inner rings, and herb spirals flag plants that need more sun below plants that need less. Companion relationships and evidence levels come from the pairing data.

Photos

Plant photos load from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons when you're online, with the photographer and license shown under each photo. Photos listed in images.json (your own, for example) take their place.

Sources

Soil mixes from University of Minnesota, Iowa State, and University of Maryland Extension; settling and top-dressing from Illinois Extension; no gravel layer under raised beds from Missouri IPM and Ask Extension; mulch depth from Iowa State and UC Cooperative Extension; gravel path depth and weights from supplier guides; watering from University of Minnesota Extension; spacing from UC Master Gardeners, UGA, Missouri, and square-foot-gardening charts (Phipps Conservatory); soil depth by crop from Walter Reeves plus root-class estimates. Planting windows are NYC and Westchester estimates to confirm with Cornell Cooperative Extension. Confirm soil safety (lead test), local codes, and roof load limits before building.