Excellent Garden Design Ideas Come in Threes

My mom, an interior designer, always says to put things in groups of three, and if you start paying attention, you'll notice "the rule of three" at work everywhere you look.

There's the rule of thirds for composing images in photography. There's the three little pigs, the three blind mice, the three billy goats gruff, the three bears, the three musketeers, the three fates. There's the ghosts of Christmases past, present, and yet to come.

There's "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"; "stop, drop, and roll"; "veni, vidi, vici"; and snap, crackle, and pop.

Stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Essays have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 

There's three branches of our government. 

Triads, trinities, and trilogies contribute to every aspect of our lives.

And when I get to line up three gardens in a row, I can see why three seems to be a magical number.

The Garden Trio Is One of My Favorite Garden Design Layouts

When I first set out designing kitchen garden spaces for my Houston-based company, Rooted Garden, I thought my job was simply to place a wooden box in the middle of someone's yard (unless they had a lot of room, in which case I'd do two boxes) and fill it with the best soil and the right type of plants for our climate.

Fortunately for my clients, I figured out pretty quickly that there are just about as many different styles, sizes, and layouts for the garden space as there are for homes.

After designing hundreds of raised-bed gardens, I've narrowed my favorite designs down to the top six that I've found work well in spaces both functionally and aesthetically. These six garden design layouts include: border gardens, twin gardens, garden trios, keyhole gardens, four-garden classics, and formal potagers.

The size and shape of the yard space that you have available will play a big factor in helping to determine which is the best raised bed garden layout for you. 

Today we're gonna focus on the garden trio layout.

This Garden Bed Layout Works Well in Long or Circular Spaces

This garden layout is ideal for two completely different types of spaces. If you have either of these types of space, creating a garden in a group of three is a great way to maximize the available area.

The first is a space that's extra long, such as this space along the fence pictured below.

The second type of space is roughly circular in shape. The garden pictured below mirrors the almost-circular space it sits inside. With this layout, you can also add a focal point in the center by adding a fruit tree, a large potted plant, a fountain, or an urn.

I’ve actually created a garden trio twice for myself, first in our driveway garden in Houston and then along the side of our home in the Chicago area. That second garden was actually a set of six raised garden beds—essentially two garden trios (pictured below).

Mom, can you believe I finally listened to you? Twice! 

If your garden space is longer than it is wide or if it’s more circular and curved, a garden trio may just be a perfect match.  

This Raised Garden Bed Layout Is Visually Interesting

Our brains love symmetry, which is why the other garden layout types work so well (twin gardens, four-garden classics, etc.). The garden trio layout doesn't hold appeal because of symmetry. It works because our brains are interested in odd-numbered groupings.

Odd numbers strike our brains as looking overall more natural, less forced, than even numbers. Too much symmetry—such as having four beds spread out on a grid—can feel contrived. Essentially, designing three raised beds in a space is a way to achieve a cohesive grouping without coming off as too cookie-cutter perfect.

Keep these tips in mind when you're designing your own kitchen garden space.

Remember Accessibility in Your Garden Design Layout

Raised beds in this raised-bed garden layout are typically accessible from multiple sides. If you can tend each bed from all sides, you could go as wide as four to five feet with each raised bed. Anything beyond five feet, however, would make it difficult to tend and harvest from plants in the middle of the bed.

If you're designing a trio of raised beds in a circle, make sure to leave at least two feet of space between each bed so that you can access the beds from the center as well.

If you can only tend from one side (say, for example, your three beds back up against a fence or wall), I’d recommend staying under two and a half feet for your bed width, which is probably about as far as your arm can reach. 

Pair These Three Raised Beds with Garden Trellises

Garden design means using more than just the horizontal space available in your yard. Height is incredibly important too, not just for adding vertical interest but also for maximizing your growing space. With that in mind, you have many different options for trellises in a garden trio.

If your three beds line up in a row, you could join them with two arch trellises (the middle bed would have one side of an arch trellis at each end).

If your three beds are in a circle, you could connect each bed with an arch trellis. This essentially creates three inviting entranceways into the heart of your garden space. Few things are more beautiful or grand than an arch trellis covered in tomato vines or another climbing plant. (Explore our complete list of what to grow up garden trellises.)

You could also place obelisk trellises along the center of each raised bed. How many obelisk trellises should you use? Three in each bed, of course!

The garden below features obelisk and panel trellises in the center of each raised bed. This gives the gardener greater flexibility when it comes to vining plants.

Do You Have Room for This Garden Design?

Think of all the good stuff you could harvest from three raised beds in your own backyard!

We've got lots of resources here at Gardenary to help you create a space where you can grow and flourish. Thanks for helping us bring back the kitchen garden, whether you're gardening from three small pots or three large raised beds!