To start a garden you should have a plan. We do! We want a Florida friendly butterfly garden. In order to get started we need to know the size of the yard. What, math? Yep. We need to know the square foot area of the garden. A rectangle shaped garden area would be the shorter side multiplied by the longer side. So if your garden is twenty feet by thirty feet then the area is 600 square feet (20 ft.X 30 ft. = 600 sq. ft.). Since my garden is a rectangle that is the formula I will be using but if your garden is a different shape http://pnwmg.org/pdf/basicgardenmath.pdf is very helpful.
Now, why would a gardener need to know the square foot area of their garden? Well, I need to know how much room I am working with, for one. How many plants can I place? Also, I need the square footage to determine how much mulch and compost to place. Yep, there is a formula for this also, but why not use http://www.gardenplace.com/content/calculator/mulch_calc.html. It is quick, and will even figure how many bags, yards, or truck loads you need. So, my garden will need 75 three-cubic-foot bags to create a three inch layer of mulch. Wow, that is a lot!
One more set of numbers I think will be helpful are http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/# (USDA plant hardiness zone map) and http://www.gardeningplaces.com/heatzonemap/ (the American horticultural society plant heat zone map). My little piece of gardening heaven is a hardiness zone 9 and heat zone 11.
I also just found Sunset climate zones; http://www.sunset.com/garden/climate-zones/sunset-climate-zones-southeast-00400000036361/. This area is zone 26. I haven't looked through this one yet, but here it is.
Hopefully, this information can help you. All this math can be a little overwhelming. These websites will help keep everything easy and if all else GOOGLE is your friend!
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