Downloads
Planning My Garden WorksheetDownload the worksheet for this session. Space has been provided for those who would like to take notes. 🙂
Extra Resources
GrowVeg is a powerful online garden planner that gives you amazing flexibility in laying out your garden visually. From the garden planners I have looked at it seems to have the most versatility combined with the most useful features. Some of these features include:
- Automatically calculates for your specific area
- Planting and harvesting schedules laid out visually
- Large database of vegetables
- Easy crop rotation suggestions
- Personal customization
- Email reminders
And the list could go on... If you are serious about planning, this software is definitely worth checking out. It starts off with a free trial and then goes into a very reasonable yearly subscription.
If you are looking for something free, Zukeeni.com just might be your best resource. It is a free online program for planning your garden. Even though it doesn't have quite the visual versatility of GrowVeg, it does come with some nice features of its own including weekly tasks and a very large database of specific vegetable types. It also plans out your season based on your location.
Garden Plan Pro is the iPad version of GrowVeg and works seamlessly with the online software. It is a beautifully created app with wonderful graphics and an excellent interface.
NOTICE: The current version is buggy and seems to crash often. Download at your own risk. My guess is that they will pump out a new version that is more stable and when that happens it will definitely be worth the investment. 🙂 Also Mother Earth News has repackaged the same app under the name Grow Planner. Just wanting to save you from spending money on the same thing twice...
When to Plant is an excellent app put out by Mother Earth News that will show you what vegetables to plant each month of the year for your specific location. It also gives you a visual of the vegetable's growing season and growing information for each crop.
Suggested Reading
For a deeper look into this module read the following:
Four Season Harvest: p. 31-40; 46-54
The New Organic Grower: p. 33-49
13 Comments
Dana Roodman
March 28, 2014The video for “Planning My Garden” keeps freezing. I haven’t had any of the other videos so far do this, that’s why I’m thinking the problem is not my computer. I’ll keep trying to watch it, but it is very frustrating.
Paul
March 30, 2014Hi Dana – sorry about that! I’ve re-uploaded the video and it should play smoothly now. Let me know if you have any more problems!
Clara Mae Watrous
May 1, 2014I’ve learned a lot. For sure I’m going to tell others about this program. Its thoroughness is impressive.
We have to plant in 4 x 4 apple boxes because first ,our land is rocky and second, we have to deal with gophers, ground squirrels, moles and voles.
Last year we planted one box with beets, another with carrots and another with potatoes. None of them did that well, but then we don’t have much of a storage place for them either. They were small in size, but tasty.
We plant tomatoes in plastic earth boxes that have a false bottom and a drainage hole that spits out excess water. There is a tube that goes clear to the bottom bottom in which to pour water. We have a large rack and tie up the tomato plants with soft cotton string.
Better get to planning; hot weather just started!
Paul
May 2, 2014Thanks for spreading the word Clara! And I’m so glad to hear about your garden. Keep up the good work and let me know how it goes this year!
Jan Johnson
November 18, 2015I am using your simple garden plan that was my gift for watching your initial video. This is my first garden and, thanks to you, I already know the size and what I am going to plant.
Paul
November 19, 2015Perfect Jan! Keep me posted on how it comes. I’m really excited about the simple garden plan and can’t wait to see it put into use by our members. I’d love to see pictures too!
Melissa
January 31, 2017Smart Gardener is now zukeeni.com just in case you want to change your link.
Paul
February 2, 2017Thanks Melissa! Just updated it in the resource list. 🙂
Frances
March 2, 2018Unfortunately, High Mowing and Southern Exposure are no longer included AOSCA Organic Seed Finder.
Paul
March 16, 2018Thanks for the update Frances. It’s unfortunate but we don’t have any control over who stays connected with the organic seed finder or not. But thankfully you can still go directly to their websites and look for seeds there. High Mowing is 100% organic so all their seeds are great!
Janet
May 18, 2018I love the plug and play garden plan. Also love the google calendar integration! Now I can see when to plant what!
Paul
May 31, 2018Awesome Janet! So glad the plug and play garden can be helpful! Enjoy it!
Nita
October 3, 2018Really enjoying all the helpful info about planning and finding good seeds!