Our NEW Zone 3 Food & Flower Garden Plans (“Cottage-Core” Vibe)
In the Fall of 2024, we officially decided to start fresh with our Zone 3 food & flower garden. And no, I don’t mean amend the beds with some fresh soil. I mean actually, completely rebuild the garden. From the ground up. And in an entirely new location. So yes, we do have our work cut out for us! But I’m also so excited to see my vision come to life. And so excited to share my vision with you here in this post. So let me share with you our Zone 3 food & flower garden plans…with a cottage-core vibe!
This post covers:
- Why We Decided To Build A New Garden
- Our Zone 3 Garden Mood Board — “Cottage Core” Vibe
- Our New Garden Layout
- Our New Garden Timeline/Plan
- Choosing Sproutbox Garden For Our Raised Beds (plus 10% off promo code for my readers, details below!)
- How I Mapped Out Our Garden
- How I’m Planning To Grow More Food This Year
Why We Decided To Build A New Zone 3 Garden
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
When we first built our garden and greenhouse, we thought it would make sense to position both close to our home.
For context, we have 4 acres of land. Undeveloped land.
And we initially really liked the idea of having our greenhouse and garden easily accessible. Rather than having to walk all the way to the back of the yard.
So we put our gardens at the end of our driveway.
And while it has definitely been practical to have everything in close proximity….
It has also started to feel somewhat out of place in relation to the rest of our backyard.
We have so much land to utilize and develop.
And as time has gone on and we’ve started to dream up just how we want to landscape the rest of our property.
It has became very apparent that we wanted our greenhouse and garden to be a focal point.
So the process of moving both the garden and greenhouse began!
I have an entire blog post covering Why, Where & How We Moved Our 2,000lbs Greenhouse linked here!
Now this decision was a little heartbreaking for me, I will admit.
Though I was 100% on board with moving the greenhouse as it meant it would sit on top of a new, heated concrete base (an amazing improvement for insulation and Winter growing!).
I was somewhat heartbroken about the idea of saying goodbye to the last 10 years I had put into our existing garden.
As a gardener, I imagine you can relate.
Our gardens are a reflection of our personalities.
They grow and evolve with us each season.
Some years they are strong reflections of our plans, aligning with our gardening goals.
Whereas other years they teach us lessons, challenging our beliefs and requiring us to learn new things.
And my Zone 3 garden was all those things.
It told a story.
To me, my garden told my story. The story of how I’ve evolved, learned and grown as a gardener over the last 10 years.
And it was really hard for me to come to terms with the idea of saying goodbye.
But as I started to really sit down, put pen to paper and map out our new garden.
I shifted my thinking.
Rather than saying goodbye to my existing garden. I started thinking of the new space as a continuation. The next step in my gardening evolution, if you will.
Plus, knowing I would be able to transplant my beloved perennial herbs to this new garden provided a sense of relief too!
It wasn’t actually a full “goodbye.” More of a “see you later!”
All in all, when the plan started to come together I couldn’t contain my excitment.
And I’m so excited to share that beauty with you now!
Our Zone 3 Garden Mood Board — “Cottage Core” Vibe
Highlights of our Zone 3 garden mood board:
- Prioritizing perennial food crops throughout. This is a must as growing more of our own food continues to be a priority. And surprisingly there’s so many amazing perennials that are hardy to Zone 3. You can find 20+ here in this download!
- Mixing material textures with our raised beds. We’re doing a mix of wood and galvanized steel beds courtesy of Sproutbox Garden (Canadian brand!). More details on our partnership further down in this post. But they’ve also given my audience a special discount code — SOILTOSOUL10 for 10% off!
- Having archways throughout. I love this look and find it really whimsical to have plants flowing over archways. We plan to incorporate archways from one bed to the next with the hopes of making this big garden space feel more cozy and intimate.
- Creating gravel pathways between beds. My plan is to make weeding as low maintenance as possible. Gravel should help this! Plus adding a few large stepping stones on top will add to the “cottage-core” vibe.
Our New Zone 3 Garden Layout
What do you think?
As you can see this is a huge expansion from our existing garden.
We’ll have about 14 raised beds in total! And I love the different sizes and shapes of them.
Exact raised bed sizes are still to be determined. That’s the next step.
We plan to spray paint the bed sizes on the grass first to have a better sense for the exact size we want. I’m a big believer that there’s not one size fits all when it comes to raised beds. And so a little strategizing will be required here!
I’ll be sharing more on the sizes of beds and design over on my Instagram & Tik Tok throughout the Summer, so do come join me over there!
I have to say, one of my favourite features of the new garden is the chicken coop.
Our chicken coop has been sitting empty for over 2 years now after we tragically lost our flock to a fox.
But we have always planned to get chickens again one day. And I think this is the year!
The new garden will have the chicken coop incorporated into its design. The chicken coop will be beside the greenhouse with a 25ft run between them.
This means when I’m in the garden I’ll be able to see the hens free ranging! How cute is that?
Again, very “cottage-core.” Are you starting to see my vision?
Oh and I can’t not mention the outdoor dining area.
We are still finalizing the details of how this space will look exactly. We’ve gone back and forth with the idea of putting a pergola here or going more simple with a picnic table and chairs…TBD!
But what I do know is that this will be a space where our family spends a lot of time.
I see our kids shelling peas here. I see many family dinners here. I see cocktail hour here. And early morning tea here too!
It’s all really beautiful to think about!
Our NEW Zone 3 Garden Project Timeline
…a two year plan!
Truthfully, I see this spanning over more like 3 years. But having a timeline like this makes me feel like it’s all do-able.
I need to highlight the plans for 2026, which include landscaping with fruit trees!
I can hardly wait.
If you’re already in this phase of your garden planning, definitely check out Sage Garden Greenhouses (if you’re local to MB) or Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery (ships across Canada).
Why We Chose Sproutbox Garden For Our Raised Beds
When I started dreaming up our new Zone 3 garden, I knew I wanted to grow in raised beds.
But I also wanted raised beds that would last a long, long time.
And the wooden ones in my existing garden we made were very “low budget.”
So while we will install some cedar raised beds (treated with a food safe protective coating to prevent rotting), I’m so excited to collaborate with Sproutbox Garden too!
Sproutbox is a Canadian based company setting a new standard for raised bed gardening.
Their galvanized steel raised beds are built to last, safe for growing and is so easy to assemble. Seriously, it took us less than 20 minutes to assemble the one in our greenhouse!
In our new Zone 3 garden, we’ll be adding two new Sproutbox Raised Beds.
We went with the 17″ tall crescent (pictured).
They will go on either side of our outdoor dining area. And I’ll plant our perennial tea gardens in them.
I’m beyond excited!
Plus, From Soil to Soul readers can get 10% off your Sproutbox Garden orders by using the code SOILTOSOUL10 at checkout!
This can be combined with any other offer or deals they have on too!
And trust me, they almost always have a deal running. So double the savings!
How I Mapped Out Our Zone 3 Garden
One the greatest things that has come from all this is that we have a plan. A really solid garden plan.
Which may seem like an obvious place to start.
But this is really the first year in 10+ years of gardening that I’ve sat down and spent dedicated time planning everything we will grow.
I know now that had I done it from the start, it would have absolutely resulted in having more success.
All this to say…
Do learn from my mistakes. And try out my Free Garden Map Template!
Take some time to mindfully plan out your gardens this season! Put pen to paper and create a garden map to act as your guide.
My free Garden Map Template can get you started! Printable at home & completely free to download here.
It includes prompts for 9 of my growing strategies that will help you grow more food. I’m confident of it!
How I’m Growing More Food In Our Zone 3 Garden
There’s two strategies I’m using to grow more food in my garden this year and every year to follow.
First, I’m incorporating as many perennial food crops as I can.
Planting once and then enjoying for years to come is a strategy I can get behind.
From herbs to veggies, fruits and…nuts! There’s actually tons of perennial foods you can grow in Zone 3.
20+ of which you can find here in my printable guide.
My other strategy for growing more food in our Zone 3 garden is to prioritize annual crops that have a good ROI (return on investment).
This means choosing things that fall into one of these categories:
- Long shelf life for Winter storage (onions, potatoes)
- Easy to preserve (tomatoes)
- Cut and come again crop (spinach, chard)
Over the last 2-3 gardening seasons I’ve started tracking just how much food I’m growing.
And put that data into my ROI Veggie Crop Calculator download.
In this download, you’ll find 40 different veggies that grow great in a Zone 3 garden and average yields for each one.
I have found so much value in this spreadsheet, and I hope you do too!
It provides numbers for how much you can expect to harvest from each crop.
Give it a download, and let me know what you think!
And there you have it, those are our new Zone 3 food and flower garden plans!
So what do you think?
I LOVE hearing from you and answer all comments. So feel free to drop your thoughts below!
For more of our 2025 Zone 3 garden build, join me over on Instagram, Tik Tok & Pinterest.
Happy gardening!
Hi Maggie,
How did you create the insulated slab for your greenhouse? I would love to do that for my unheated Calgary zone 4 greenhouse.
Thanks.
Annette