Interactive Growing Guide
Our guide features a searchable database where you can filter crops by hardiness zone, season, or category. It offers a customizable view—toggling between a visual grid and a sortable table—and provides detailed modals for every plant, including growing tips, companion plants, and an faq.
✦ Your Complete Growing Companion ✦
The Gardenpedia
Vegetables · Herbs · Fruits · Flowers · Companion Planting · Seeds & Soil · FAQ
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Companion Planting Quick Finder
Select any crop to instantly see what grows well with it — and what to keep far away.
Companion planting uses natural plant relationships to boost growth, deter pests, attract beneficial insects, and improve flavour. Select a crop below to see its best friends and worst enemies.
📋 General Companion Planting Rules
✅ Plant Together
The Three Sisters (corn, beans, squash) is the oldest known companion trio. Beans fix nitrogen, squash shades weeds, corn provides a trellis.
🌼 Pest Deterrents
Marigolds, nasturtiums, and borage repel pests throughout the garden. Plant them liberally as borders and interplanting throughout beds.
🚫 Keep Apart
Fennel is allelopathic — it inhibits most vegetables. Keep it isolated. Onions/garlic stunt beans and peas. Brassicas and strawberries compete heavily.
🐝 Attract Beneficials
Dill, fennel, and cilantro attract parasitic wasps that prey on garden pests. Let some go to flower to maximise beneficial insect habitat.
Seeds & Soil Basics
Quick-reference cards for getting the fundamentals right — from seed to harvest.
Starting Seeds Indoors
- Use a seed-starting mix, not garden soil — it's lighter and sterile.
- Sow 2–3 seeds per cell; thin to the strongest seedling once sprouted.
- Keep seeds consistently moist but never waterlogged. Bottom-watering prevents damping off.
- Most seeds germinate best at 65–75°F. A heat mat speeds things up significantly.
- Once sprouted, move to bright light immediately — at least 14–16 hrs under grow lights or a very sunny south window.
- Label everything. Memory is no substitute for a marker and a popsicle stick.
Hardening Off Seedlings
- Never transplant directly from indoors to outdoors — the shock can kill even healthy seedlings.
- Start 7–14 days before transplanting by placing seedlings outside in a sheltered, shaded spot for 1–2 hours.
- Gradually increase time and sun exposure each day.
- Bring plants in if temps drop below 50°F or if hard wind or rain is expected.
- By day 10–14, seedlings can handle full sun and stay out overnight (if frost-free).
Direct Sowing Outdoors
- Check soil temperature, not just air temperature — most seeds need 50°F+ soil to germinate.
- Prep a fine, crumbly seedbed with no large clods. Small seeds can't push through compacted soil.
- Sow at a depth of 2–3× the seed diameter — tiny seeds like carrots need barely a dusting of soil.
- Mark rows clearly before covering. It's easy to forget where you planted.
- Keep the seedbed consistently moist until germination — may need daily light watering in dry weather.
- Thin seedlings to the recommended spacing — crowding is one of the most common beginner mistakes.
Understanding Soil pH
- pH measures soil acidity on a scale of 1–14. 6.0–7.0 suits most vegetables.
- pH affects nutrient availability — even rich soil can starve plants if pH is off.
- Lower pH (acidify) with sulfur, pine needles, or peat moss. Takes weeks to months.
- Raise pH (sweeten) with agricultural lime. Apply in fall for spring planting.
- Test your soil with an inexpensive kit from a garden centre — worth doing every 2–3 years.
- Blueberries love acidic soil (pH 4.5–5.5); brassicas prefer slightly alkaline (6.5–7.5).
Building Soil with Compost
- Compost is the single best thing you can add to any soil type — clay, sand, or anything in between.
- A good compost pile is roughly 3:1 brown to green by volume (carbon-rich to nitrogen-rich).
- Browns: dry leaves, straw, cardboard, paper bags, wood chips.
- Greens: vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, fresh grass clippings, plant trimmings.
- Keep the pile as moist as a wrung-out sponge and turn every 2–4 weeks to speed breakdown.
- Apply 2–4 inches of finished compost to beds each year — you can never add too much.
Watering Best Practices
- Water deeply and infrequently to encourage deep roots. Shallow daily watering creates weak root systems.
- Water at the base of plants, not the leaves — wet foliage encourages fungal disease.
- The best time to water is early morning so leaves can dry before nightfall.
- Stick a finger 2 inches into the soil before watering — if it's moist, wait another day.
- Drip irrigation or soaker hoses are far more efficient than overhead sprinklers.
- Container plants dry out much faster than in-ground plants — check them daily in summer.
Mulching Benefits & How-To
- A 2–4 inch layer of mulch retains moisture, suppresses weeds, and moderates soil temperature.
- Organic mulches (straw, wood chips, leaves) break down over time and improve soil structure.
- Keep mulch 1–2 inches away from plant stems to prevent rot and rodent damage.
- Best options: straw for vegetables, wood chips for pathways and perennials.
- Black plastic mulch warms soil — ideal around heat-lovers like tomatoes, peppers, and melons.
- Refresh mulch each spring as it breaks down, especially after a cold wet winter.
Fertilising Basics
- The three main nutrients: N (nitrogen) for leafy growth, P (phosphorus) for roots and flowers, K (potassium) for overall health.
- Leafy greens and corn are heavy nitrogen feeders. Beans and peas fix their own — don't over-feed them.
- Avoid high-nitrogen fertiliser on fruiting crops like tomatoes — it makes lots of leaves and few fruits.
- Apply a balanced fertiliser (e.g. 10-10-10) at planting, then switch to low-nitrogen once flowering begins.
- Slow-release granular fertilisers are more forgiving than liquid feeds for beginners.
Reading Seed Packets
- Days to maturity counts from transplant for started plants, from germination for direct sown.
- Germination rate (e.g. 85%) means 85 of 100 seeds will sprout under ideal conditions.
- Sow depth is critical — follow it closely, especially for tiny seeds.
- Seed spacing is what you thin to, not necessarily what you sow at.
- Check the packet date — most vegetable seeds are viable for 2–5 years if stored cool and dry.
- F1 hybrids produce vigorous plants but seeds saved from them won't breed true.
Seed Saving 101
- Only save seeds from open-pollinated or heirloom varieties — not F1 hybrids.
- Easiest seeds to save: tomatoes, beans, peas, lettuce, peppers. Hardest: brassicas (cross-pollinate easily).
- Let seed pods/fruits fully mature on the plant before harvesting for seeds.
- Dry seeds thoroughly for 1–2 weeks before storing — moisture is the enemy.
- Store in paper envelopes inside an airtight container in a cool, dark place.
- Label with variety name, date, and any special notes. Unlabelled seeds become a mystery quickly.
Raised Bed Soil Mix
- The classic Mel's Mix: ⅓ vermiculite, ⅓ peat/coir, ⅓ compost (by volume). Excellent drainage and nutrition.
- Minimum depth: 6 inches for most vegetables. 12 inches is better; 18 inches ideal for root crops.
- Avoid using straight garden soil in raised beds — it compacts badly.
- Top up with 1–2 inches of compost each season to replenish nutrients and structure.
- Consider adding biochar (10–20% by volume) to improve water retention long-term.
Crop Rotation Basics
- Rotate crop families around the garden each year to break pest and disease cycles in the soil.
- The basic 4-year rotation: Brassicas → Legumes → Roots → Alliums/Others, then back to Brassicas.
- Never plant tomatoes or peppers where other nightshades grew the previous year.
- Legumes (peas, beans) leave behind nitrogen — follow them with nitrogen-hungry brassicas or corn.
- Keep a simple garden map each year — even a rough sketch — to remember what grew where.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about starting and growing a productive vegetable garden — from your first seed to your first harvest.
📝 Growing Notes
📊 Details
💡 Expert Tip
🌿 Companion Plants
📍 Reminder: local microclimates and frost dates vary — use this as a guide and always adjust based on your specific area and current season conditions.