As a fairly newbie gardener, my goal is to grow vegetables and herbs to support the plant-based meals that I regularly make in the kitchen.
The thing about gardening though, is there’s a lot of hidden complexity that isn’t obvious when you first get started. Very quickly the decision fatigue kicks in when you realize that you need to be aware of the sun and shadows, soil quality, soil depth, interrelations between different types of plants and their root systems, etc.
While I’ve studied permaculture and have my Permaculture Design Certificate, I’m still relatively new to gardening and growing my own food, so every year is a new learning adventure. I do my best to take notes and observe changes over time, but it’s a lot to know, a lot to remember, and a lot of decisions to make!
Enter ChatGPT for Gardening
Here’s how I am using ChatGPT to help me reduce the design fatigue involved in planning and designing a kitchen garden.
I’m including both screenshots and text transcripts below:
I started with this prompt:
I have 4 raised garden beds, 3.5ft wide by 6.5ft long. Using the square foot garden method, can you create a list of items that work well together in each bed, factoring in companion plants? Please include: basil, fennel, tomatoes (large and small, 2 varieties of each), cucamelons, brussel sprouts, sweet peppers, poblanos, strawberries, cucumbers, broccoli, broccolini, parsley, cilantro, dill, nasturtium, strawberry, onions, scallions, cabbage, and any others that may work. Please include one climbing plant in each bed, and indicate which items should go in which rows in each bed, perhaps in a table.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT:
Using the square foot gardening method for your 3.5ft by 6.5ft raised garden beds, I’ll organize your requested plants and additional compatible companions into a layout that encourages healthy growth and maximizes space. Given the dimensions, each bed can be divided into 22.75 square feet (rounding down to 22 for simplicity), allowing us to plan each square foot with specific plants. I’ll include climbing plants as requested and organize them for optimal companion benefits.
Bed 1: Tomato & Herb Garden with Climbing Cucumbers
- Climbing Plant: Cucumbers (1 square) – North end for climbing support.
- Tomatoes: Large Variety (4 squares), Small Variety (2 squares) – Provide support structures.
- Basil: Enhances tomato flavor (2 squares) – Plant near tomatoes.
- Parsley & Cilantro: Good companions for tomatoes (1 square each).
- Onions & Scallions: Repel pests (2 squares) – Edge planting.
- Nasturtium: Pest deterrent (1 square) – Corner or edge.
- Dill: (1 square) – Plant away from tomatoes, good for cucumbers.
Bed 2: Brassica Bed with Climbing Peas
- Climbing Plant: Peas (1 square) – North end for support.
- Broccoli & Broccolini: (4 squares) – Needs space, center placement.
- Brussels Sprouts & Cabbage: (4 squares) – Similar requirements.
- Strawberries: (2 squares) – Good companion for brassicas.
- Onions: To deter pests (2 squares) – Perimeter planting.
- Nasturtium & Marigolds: Pest control (2 squares) – Edge placement.
Bed 3: Mixed Bed with Climbing Beans
- Climbing Plant: Pole Beans (1 square) – North end for support.
- Sweet Peppers: (4 squares) – Central placement for easy access.
- Poblanos: (2 squares) – Near sweet peppers.
- Basil & Cilantro: Enhance pepper flavor (1 square each).
- Onions & Garlic: Pest control (2 squares) – Edge placement.
- Strawberries: (2 squares) – Perimeter for easy picking.
- Marigolds: To deter pests (1 square) – Near peppers.
Bed 4: Cucamelon & Fennel Garden with Climbing Squash
- Climbing Plant: Squash (1 square) – North for climbing support.
- Cucamelons: (3 squares) – Unique, viney plant, needs support.
- Fennel: (2 squares) – Plant in isolation, can inhibit growth in some plants.
- Strawberries: (2 squares) – Along edges for companion benefits.
- Parsley & Dill: (2 squares) – Good companions for cucamelons and squash.
- Lettuce & Spinach: (2 squares) – Fillers, good with fennel.
- Marigolds & Nasturtium: Pest control (2 squares) – Edge or corner.
Notes:
- Support Structures: Provide trellises or stakes for climbing and tall plants.
- Spacing: Follow specific spacing recommendations for each plant within its square foot to avoid overcrowding.
- Rotation: Consider rotating crops in subsequent years to prevent soil depletion and reduce disease risk.
This layout is a starting point. You might need to adjust based on specific varieties’ growth habits or your climate conditions. Feel free to ask for more details or adjustments!
Wow, this is pretty great starting point.
Then I remember that I want to use an arched trellis between the beds to assist with support. I decide to ask ChatGPT how it would handle any adjustments based on the placement of the trellises:
Okay, let’s assume i have a tall arched trellis that goes from the side of bed 1 to the side of bed 2, and another trellis from the side of bed 3 to the side of bed 4. Does that alter how i might need to organize the beds? Additional supports can be added as needed
ChatGPT:
Given the presence of tall arched trellises between beds 1 and 2, and between beds 3 and 4, we can optimize the layout by placing the climbers and taller plants near these trellises to take full advantage of the vertical space. This setup can influence the organization to ensure climbers get adequate support and don’t shade out other plants. Let’s adjust the layout accordingly:
Adjusted Layouts with Arched Trellises
Bed 1 & 2 (Connected by an Arched Trellis)
Bed 1: Focus on tomatoes and compatible herbs, utilizing the trellis for cucumbers.
- Cucumbers: Plant near the trellis to climb over to Bed 2.
- Tomatoes (Large and Small Varieties): Keep these central but away from the shadow of the trellis.
- Basil, Parsley, Cilantro: Around tomatoes for companion benefits.
- Onions, Scallions: Edge planting to deter pests.
- Dill: Near the cucumbers but ensure it doesn’t overshadow smaller plants.
- Nasturtium: Corner or edge to deter pests.
Bed 2: Tailored for brassicas, with peas utilizing the trellis.
- Peas: Plant near the trellis to climb over to Bed 1.
- Brassicas (Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Broccolini): Central to avoid shading.
- Strawberries: Along edges for easy access and companion planting.
- Onions: Edge planting for pest control.
- Nasturtium, Marigolds: For pest control, plant on the perimeter.
Bed 3 & 4 (Connected by an Arched Trellis)
Bed 3: Focus on peppers and herbs, with beans on the trellis.
- Pole Beans: Plant near the trellis to climb over to Bed 4.
- Sweet Peppers, Poblanos: Central to avoid shading by the trellis.
- Basil, Cilantro: Near peppers for flavor enhancement.
- Onions, Garlic: For pest control, placed on the perimeter.
- Strawberries: Along edges.
- Marigolds: Near peppers for pest deterrence.
Bed 4: Cucamelons and fennel, with squash on the trellis.
- Squash: Plant near the trellis to climb over to Bed 3.
- Cucamelons: Near the trellis as they are also climbers.
- Fennel: Keep isolated from other plants; it can be finicky.
- Strawberries, Parsley, Dill: Around the edges for companion benefits.
- Lettuce, Spinach: Good fillers, can be planted in the shadow of taller plants.
- Marigolds, Nasturtium: For pest control, edge placement.
Additional Tips:
- Shading Consideration: Position plants so taller ones are northward or on the side less likely to cast shadows on shorter plants.
- Support for Climbers: Ensure climbers have easy access to trellises without overcrowding or overshadowing their neighbors.
- Accessibility: Keep heavily harvested or frequently checked plants (like herbs and strawberries) on edges for easier access.
This arrangement takes advantage of vertical space for climbers and organizes the beds to minimize shading and maximize companion planting benefits. Feel free to adjust based on your observations and specific plant needs!
Ok wow. This is getting exciting.
Now I figure it would probably help if ChatGPT had insight into the sun pattern and orientation of the beds so that it had more context for how the various plants might be affected by the shadows of the trellis and nearby plants.
So I decide to upload a rough garden layout (created using the Garden Planner app) and simply asked,
Do you foresee any issues with this garden bed layout?
ChatGPT:
Examining the layout, here are some considerations:
- Tomatoes & Cucumbers: Tomatoes can become quite bushy and might overshadow cucumbers if not managed well. Ensure both have adequate space and support.
- Fennel: It’s placed quite close to other plants. Fennel can be allelopathic, meaning it can inhibit the growth of other plants around it. It’s usually best kept separate.
- Brassicas & Strawberries: While strawberries can be good companions for brassicas, they may compete for space. Ensure strawberries have room to spread without being crowded by the larger brassica leaves.
- Climbing Plants & Trellis Use: With cucumbers, peas, beans, and squash as climbers, ensure the trellis is sturdy enough to support the weight as these plants mature.
- Bean Placement: Beans are nitrogen-fixers and can benefit surrounding plants; however, they shouldn’t be planted too close to the onions as onions can inhibit the growth of beans.
Consider rotating some of the plants that might overshadow or inhibit the growth of others. Overall, the layout seems well-organized with good companion planting principles in mind, but keep an eye on the growth patterns and be ready to prune or provide additional support as needed.
I was pretty impressed that ChatGPT was able to recognize the vegetables from their tiny icons!
I then take it a step further and upload a base map of my yard that I completed during my permaculture studies, to see if that might impact it’s recommendations. I was also curious just how much it could interpret from the map image.
Ok, here is a layout of my backyard. The 4 beds will be installed at the Full Sun area of the yard, near the walkway closest to the house. How might this impact the shadows and shading that might happen with the different beds. Let’s assume bed 1 and 2 are the furthest from the house, running east to west.
ChatGPT:
The layout of your backyard and the position of the garden beds in the full sun area near the walkway closest to the house will indeed affect how shadows and shading occur throughout the day. Here’s how the positioning might impact your garden:
- Morning Light: The beds will receive morning sunlight, which is generally cooler and less intense than afternoon sunlight. This is particularly good for the plants that prefer a bit of respite from the strong afternoon sun.
- Afternoon Light: Considering the summer sun direction in the afternoon, bed 1 and 2, which are furthest from the house and running east to west, will likely cast shadows onto each other. The bed closest to the north (assuming north is upwards in your layout) will cast a shadow on the one to its south in the afternoon.
- Seasonal Changes: The angle of the sun changes with the seasons, so the winter sun, being lower in the sky, will cast longer shadows compared to the higher summer sun.
- Bed 1 and 2 Positioning: Since these beds are further out and run east to west, the plants at the northern edge of each bed will cast shadows southward. Therefore, it’s essential to place taller plants on the north side and shorter plants on the south side of each bed.
- Proximity to House: The proximity of the beds to the house could also cast shadows, especially during the morning and late afternoon if the sun is lower in the sky and the house is to the east or west of the beds.
- Sunlight throughout the Day: As the sun moves, the shadows will rotate somewhat around the beds. The easternmost edge of bed 1 will get the first morning light, while the westernmost edge of bed 2 will retain evening light the longest.
To minimize shading issues, consider the mature height of the plants and place the tallest ones such as tomatoes with stakes, trellised cucumbers, and pole beans on the north side of the beds. Shorter plants like strawberries, herbs, and lettuces should be on the southern edges. It’s important to observe the light patterns over a day to fine-tune the placement of your plants.
I was pretty blown away by these results. There’s a lot of decision making and overwhelm that ChatGPT was able to help me reduce.
I was then able to go back to my Garden Planner and make adjustments accordingly.
Now of course, with any ChatGPT results you don’t want to take all answers at face value. You still want to cross check answers to make sure they are accurate, but the answers above seem to be pretty well sourced.
Ethics of Open AI, Sources, Copyright
When I initially shared the results of this exchange on social media, I quickly received some responses that ChatGPT was sourcing answers from content creators for which the creators of ChatGPT did not compensate. One gardener claimed that their content has also been stolen from ChatGPT.
Of course, information ownership becomes increasingly difficult to prove.
I was curious what ChatGPT would say about its sources and how it found the information it provided.
The insights provided are based on general principles of garden planning and horticulture, especially pertaining to sun patterns and companion planting. These principles are commonly known among gardeners and permaculture designers:
- Sun Patterns: The movement of the sun across the sky, which affects where and how shadows are cast during different times of the day and year, is a fundamental aspect of garden planning. This knowledge is part of basic garden design practices.
- Companion Planting: The information on which plants work well together is based on companion planting principles. These are widely shared among gardening communities and are supported by a combination of traditional knowledge and horticultural science.
- Plant Growth Habits: Understanding that taller plants can shade out shorter plants is a basic tenet of planting strategy, and recommendations around this idea are common in gardening literature and resources.
No specific external sources were used to provide this information. The information provided in this conversation is not derived from copyrighted material but is based on widely known gardening principles and practices. These concepts, such as the path of the sun, companion planting, and garden bed planning, are part of the public domain and are standard knowledge among gardeners and permaculture practitioners. They are taught in countless gardening courses, books, and articles, and no single source has a claim to this general knowledge.
When developing AI models like ChatGPT, OpenAI uses a diverse range of data sources to train the AI on language patterns and factual information. The training process involves exposing the AI to large amounts of text data, which helps it learn language structures, word relationships, and general world knowledge. However, the AI doesn’t “store” or “recall” copyrighted texts or directly access or reproduce any specific copyrighted documents when generating responses.
The concern about AI and copyright often arises around the creation of content that is too similar to or directly copied from protected works. In the case of providing well-known information, such as gardening advice, the AI is generating responses based on common knowledge and not infringing on any specific copyrighted material.
However, it’s always good practice to attribute specific information to its source when it’s clear where that information originated, and to ensure that content created by AI does not inadvertently infringe upon copyrighted works. In this exchange, the information provided is generic and not attributable to any single source.
While I do believe that ChatGPT operates in a grey area with regards to copyright and compensation, I don’t believe that the recommendations within this exchange are using proprietary information that can be attributed to a single person.
One of the replies I received asked:
“Why is it a good thing to use AI to do things that we could easily do ourselves, without stealing content from people who worked hard to produce and gather that information?”
To which I replied:
“Easily do ourselves” is incredible presumptive. As a person with ADHD who has a thousand books on gardening and has taken in person courses and permaculture trainings, this is NOT easy. All of this gardening information is in the public domain and the idea of crediting gardening wisdom is wild, like it hasn’t been passed down for thousands of generations. I support my local gardeners AND utilize tools to help me be a more effective gardener.
I own a ton of gardening books, have paid several garden and landscaping consultants, have taken online courses about gardening and permaculture, and purchase software (like Garden Planner and Seedtime) from gardener-creators. I still purchase a local CSA to support my local growers, and give money to food security organizations. It’s important to me to be supporting gardeners and people working in this space. Paying for content is not the only way to compensate gardeners.
I think it’s important to consider that we can compensate experts and content creators in many different ways, but we are operating within a rapidly changing content model. Resisting this change feels akin to the music industry fighting against digital distribution of music. You can’t really put the toothpaste back in the tube. (But you can create better legislation!)
My use of ChatGPT is as a supportive thought-partner. Insights I’m able to get through this kind of exchange are not something you can get through information alone.
Being able to give specific content and get tailored considerations unique to my situation is something that no gardening book can do.
Early in my career I was working with Director, Flash, Dreamweaver, and other digital tools that in some cases disappeared almost overnight, often making previous expertise obsolete. I got used to the idea that careers and technology are fragile, and change is both constant and inevitable.
I also think it’s important to consider a bigger picture. While individual expertise and innovation should be respected—and compensated when appropriate—the balance between personal gain or ownership and collective benefit is crucial. The sharing of knowledge, particularly in areas of human well-being and survival, has the potential to create a more informed, empowered, and sustainable world.
I believe AI will change the nature of copyright and ownership, and I’m proceeding with caution.
We’re only at the beginning of understanding what the implications will be.
“AI content that is itself based on copyrighted materials remains problematic. An inability to rely on copyrighted materials could undermine the ability of the AI system to answer prompts from end users. But if the content is to be based on protected works, we would need to accept a new era of open innovation where the intellectual property rights do not matter.“
Article: ChatGPT: what the law says about who owns the copyright of AI-generated content
Hi Marie,
Do you have software you like to use to create the base map? Thank you for sharing this, amazing!