Planning…to some this is the best word in the dictionary, to others it’s just down right evil. But for the garden, planning is a necessity for a successful garden harvest.

At this point, most gardeners already have their garden season planned out from the first crop to the last. If you don’t that’s okay! We’re about to go over the ins and outs of planning…the why, the when, and the how!

Planning for a garden can be overwhelming. There is so much information out there!! Which site do I trust to tell me what’s best? Do I go by when the box stores set out their plants (PLEASE SAY NO!)? Do I go by what my best friend’s dead great grandmother said? Do I just plant the seeds and hope for the best?

SEE?! So much information from so many sources, BUT you know what’s beautiful about planning a garden? Once you have your dates in order and plan for your area, you can just follow that plan every year and make tiny adjustments if needed!

Let’s start with WHY plan…

Succesful harvest.

By planning your garden, you increase your chances of a successful garden. For example, if you plant a tomato before the last frost, your tomato is a goner. If you plant a broccoli in the middle of summer, it will just wither and die. If you plant corn in late summer, you can expect not to have a harvest because of its long growing period.

In order to achieve success in the garden, it is important to learn your first and last frost dates. It’s important to learn which plants can handle cool, warm, and hot weather. It’s important to learn how long each plant takes to reach maturity in order to start seeds for maximum growth. By learning these few things, you can increase your harvest. Of course, there is more to learn about planning, but baby steps first. 😉

Next we’ll discuss WHEN to plan…

For most gardeners, planning starts in the dead of winter. We receive these beautiful catalogs full of greens, oranges, reds, and purples. We sit by fireside and dream of our future harvest. If you have been gardening for awhile, you have your staples down, what you plant every year. Usually a seasoned gardener will start one or two new crops or variety each year to experiment (because that truly is what gardening is about). If you are new to gardening and haven’t started planning yet, no fear! Start today. Even if you’re reading this in the middle of summer, a fall harvest can be planned for now! WHEN you plant is still more important than WHEN you plan. Sure, you might miss out on a few crops this year, but you still have an opportunity to grow something now and next year, you’ll know to start earlier. 😊

Lastly we have the big one HOW to plan…

I think this is the question that throws every new gardener for a loop. I recommend starting with what you want to eat. What will you and your family enjoy the most? These will become your staple garden plants. For example, my staples are cucumber, tomatoes, okra, peppers, jalapeños, and beans to name a few. Decide how much room you have to plant. This will help in deciding what plants and how many to plant. Learn your first and last frost dates, starting too early or too late will effect your plants. After that look at the seed package and its recommendations. Oftentimes the seed packet will tell you whether it is a cool weather or warm weather crop. Days to maturity plays an important role, so pay attention to that as well. I can start a watermelon vine in the dead of summer but most likely it will die before I am able to harvest it. Next take a moment to search for when to start seeds indoors or direct sow seeds outdoors. After gathering all this information, grab a calendar and write down approximate dates to start your seeds!

*If you are absolutely new to gardening, start with only a few crops. Cucumbers and tomatoes are the most forgiving. Herbs are even more forgiving!

Hopefully you can see now why planning is necessary for gardening. If this is still overwhelming and you would rather have a plan done for you, head over to my store and order a planting plan HERE. My plans are individualized to you and your garden. I take into account what you want to harvest, size of garden, companion planting, and give you a plan that includes cool, warm, and hot weather crops, as well as when to start these crops. You can use this plan year after year after year!