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One feature that I added to my own monthly checklists is a ‘Notes’ section. Every single day, your garden has something new and wonderful to show you.” ~ Author Unknown

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The Monthly Checklists are another one of the bonus garden planning tools that you’ll be able to download with your purchase of The Suburban Micro-Farm. You’ll get my sample checklists to give you an idea of how I do it.

Even if you don’t get the chance to plant anything else, at least you can reap what you’ve already taken the time to sow. Harvesting should be the number one priority. I treat the checklist like a to-do list that orders tasks by priority. The first column of the spreadsheet lists the tasks and in the second column I add the date completed. I’ll add things like, ‘Set up indoor seed starting system’ on my January checklist, or ‘Sow peas’ to my March checklist.Ĭhecklists are a great way to help you use your time efficiently.Īfter I’ve decided what to plant and have completed my Seed Starting & Planting spreadsheet, then I fill in my monthly checklists with harvesting, planting, and sowing information. The checklists help me visualize what’s in store for any given month, and help me remember once-a-year tasks that are easily forgotten, such as pruning the fruit trees or berry bushes.

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I like to set these up before the garden season is in full swing. I use them to keep track of garden tasks and when to do them throughout the year. Amazing!Īnother one of my garden planning tools that is a lifesaver is the monthly checklists. When you purchase my award-winning book, The Suburban Micro-Farm, you get four bonus garden planning tools, including my Seedstarting & Planting Worksheet, that will AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE all of your planting dates for you based on your frost date. If you’d rather let the hard work be done for you, I’ve got you covered! But it’s the perfect activity to work on while you wait on the arrival of your seeds and gardening supplies! I even calculated when to sow seeds in succession if I wanted a fall crop.ĭoes this sound like a lot of work? I’m not gonna lie, it certainly is. Then, based on my spring frost date, I calculated the date for each crop of when to start seeds indoors, when to transplant outdoors, and when to direct-sow the seeds outside. I wrote all of this information on the spreadsheet. On the spreadsheet I wrote the name of each crop I wanted to grow. The first garden planning tool I created was a spreadsheet to help me organize my seed-starting and planting schedules. Counting backward from my frost date of April 13th, I can determine that I should start tomato seeds indoors around March 2nd. Tomatoes are started about six weeks before the spring frost date.

This website is helpful to find the spring frost date for your local area. The next thing to do is figure out what to plant when, especially when it comes to starting seeds indoors (See my step-by-step seedstarting guide).įor example, to determine the date to start tomato seeds, first identify your spring frost date and count backward on the calendar. #2: Plan Your Seed-Starting and Planting Schedule Checklists remove the mental energy of decision-making. These tools will help define your priorities so you can enjoy your time in the garden. In this article, I share this process with you, including how I use monthly checklists, calendars, and spreadsheets. It has worked wonders to keep me organized and help me grow my best garden. Wouldn’t it be great if I could eliminate all of the random scraps of notes and the slew of web pages bookmarked on my computer?Īfter a few years of experimenting, I created my own Micro-Farm Organization Process. I longed for a garden planning process that would keep all of my gardening resources and tasks in one place. This is what entrepreneur Tim Ferriss calls “decision fatigue”. I didn’t feel connected to my garden because I was caught up in the pressure of deciding what to work on.

I was the poster child of an ADD gardener: “Oh, look at this!” And, ohhh, I want to work on this!” I was dizzy from turning in circles!

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When I got outside, I had no idea how to prioritize my time. I lacked a plan other than “I want a garden.” Without records, I didn’t know when things should be, or had been, planted. I was sorely lacking in a streamlined approach my first few gardening seasons. My Journey to Creating the Garden Planning Tools Are visions of bountiful gardens dancing in your head? Here are four essential garden planning tools to help you kick off your best garden season yet.