Your growing areas

Many start motivated – and then lose track: What was planned when? Where was which crop? What needs to be done this week? In this chapter, you bring order to your growing plan: you structure growing areas and sub-areas, draw a sketch, and build a calendar plus to-do list from it. This turns many individual ideas into a clear flow that carries you through the garden year.

Here is a mini check to quickly assess growing area and needs.

~ 0 KG vegetables/year | ~ 0 People supplied

~ 0 KG vegetables/year | 0 m² growing area

1. Plan growing areas and sub-areas to be relatively the same size.

Relatively similarly sized growing areas and sub-areas are very practical because they later allow evenly high yields when the growing plan rotates annually and the plants have to change location.

2. Draw a sketch of your growing areas.

The existing growing areas, as well as the ones you still want to create, need a name or at least a clear identifier such as a numbering.

Maybe your growing areas are very large - so large that the expected harvest is simply too abundant. Or maybe you only have these 3 growing areas available. Either way, the goal is to create plannable growing areas or groups. You achieve this by having a growing area consist of 3 to 6 sub-areas or your group contain 3 to 6 growing areas and/or sub-areas. You’ll learn why in the next chapter - 5. Crop rotations and planting breaks.

Raised beds by the hedge

If your needs are not yet met and there is still space available - just keep planning in the same way. One growing area consists of 3 to 6 sub-areas, or a group of growing areas consists of 3 to 6 growing areas and/or sub-areas.

Beds by the garden shed

3. Don’t forget.

Create your sketches carefully and keep them in a safe place. The sketches are also part of the basis for your growing plan.

Your calendar

A well-structured calendar is essential to keep an overview. You’ll later use it to plan pre-growing and sowing clearly and avoid missing important dates. Tip: color coding (e.g. green for pre-growing, blue for sowing) helps you quickly spot the most important tasks.

To create the clearest possible calendar, it’s best to use the sketch of the growing areas as a copy and add the month. Print it out for each month and set it aside for now; we’ll need it in the next chapters.

In addition, we also need a nice list. A to-do list.

Beds by the hedge - May -

TO-DO list