How do you all keep track of what vegies you’ve planted and when you want to plant? Do you just go on experience; do you keep a diary; do you plan your plantings or do you just think “I’ll plant some carrots today”?

I only have a very small space and I’m aware that in the past we’ve tended to plant a lot of one thing at one time, which of course leads to glut and then a famine. I’m trying to space things out so I have a continuous harvest. I read somewhere you should plant at least one thing everything week in your garden. Not quite sure, but I am aiming for at least one planting every month (at least to start).

I do write everything in a diary, but I’m already finding that hard to backtrack through. “When did I plant beans last?” “How many do I want to plant this time?” I considered separate sheets for each veg showing when I planted, cropped etc, but I don’t want to flick through a folder of paper just to find out if I need more beans. At the same time, I want something I keep in my gardening folder and write on while I’m in the garden actually doing the work.

I spent most of tonight drawing up a tracking spreadsheet; even forgot to have dinner (not good). The basics (if you’re at all interested; and I am very interested in what you all do):

Left hand side – list of all the veggies I would like to eventually plant. Under each veg I’ve got the recommended planting season and how many I think I’ll need each month/week/year etc. I’ve got these bits of information various and often conflicting sources; so I’ll adjust as I learn.

Then for each month I’ve used 6 columns. First off, am I going to plant this veg this month? This is either “Y” yes I am, or a note of which month I’ll next be planting. I’m hoping that this column would be filled in the month beforehand (ie I’ve already filled in August).

2nd column: $$ – do I need more seeds. I don’t know how many times tonight I’ve trawled through my seed box to check if I have particular seeds. If I remember to fill this in (a simple Y/N) when I plant I’ll always know if I’ve got seeds and I won’t end up with four packets of Fordhook Giant silverbeet (not that I would ever do that ;)

3rd column: date I planted seeds this month; 4th column: how many seeds I planted

5th column: dates from start to finish of crop; 6th column: how much I cropped (a count or approximate weight or even number of meals – whatever I think is useful to me).

Column 3 to 6 will eventually help me determine how many plants I need to plant each month.

Each veg gets 2 lines. In the 2nd line in column one is the info about planting season and amounts; under the other columns is space to note what variety of the veg I planted. I don’t want 20 pages because I’ve listed a dozen varieties of each veg as separate entries. I’m guessing I’ll probably only plant one variety of each veg each month, but I want to track which ones.

I know its a little OCD; but I’m determined to get the most of out my small area. And planning is actually what I’m best at LOL. Maybe if I get to plan each month in advance I’ll stay enthused ;)

I have been going by the weather…well you don’t plant sweetpeas in august here…maybe down south in the colder climes (i’m talking 20C is a hot summer day climes here) you’d prolly get away with it but not here.

My plot is small – a 2.5m diameter round bed…last year I tried planting a 3 sisters garden by the moon…if one lot of seeds did not come up, then I planted again during the commencement of the next waxing of the moon…it gives a rythym and definition of time to do it this way, I find…similarly, when looking for seedlings to transplant, I usually go shopping for those which look like they were planted about this time…

I did planning for a start but now i use a four bed rotation and can remember it – toms, onions, corn and ‘what the cook wants’. and because i leave a cornstalk in i can tell where the following years crop goes.
the trellis crops (cueys, beans, sweet potato, climbing peas) grow on the trellisses in rotation.
there’s plenty of random planting as well.

Four beds <sigh>. Don’t I just wish! If I could hover over my bed and not need to waste space with access paths, I would have a bit less than 3m by 3m. Even the new bed is only 1.5m x 2m.

I love my yard. We bought because I fell in love with the rainforest feel of the backyard. But the slope and the trees really limit how much vegie patch I can have.

Our council mows the verge with a tractor, and doesn’t take kindly to anything being built or planted on them; otherwise I’d be tempted to grow my herbs along my fence line – just to get me a bit more room.

SueBk said:

Four beds <sigh>. Don’t I just wish! If I could hover over my bed and not need to waste space with access paths, I would have a bit less than 3m by 3m. Even the new bed is only 1.5m x 2m.

I love my yard. We bought because I fell in love with the rainforest feel of the backyard. But the slope and the trees really limit how much vegie patch I can have.

Our council mows the verge with a tractor, and doesn’t take kindly to anything being built or planted on them; otherwise I’d be tempted to grow my herbs along my fence line – just to get me a bit more room.

sue my beds are 10×1M, and 3×1.5 i have 5 of these beds. they are like Uncle Pete’s.

my four beds are in a single 7.5×3.5m central raised section to save paths – a piccy

Sue, I keep track of what I’ve sown/planted and where by means of my blog. I don’t go into lots of detail, but it does help me keep track. I make notes in my diary on a daily basis, and transfer them with photos to my blog whenever i have the time.
What you’re doing is very organised and I think it will work well for you.

http://orchid40-valsobsession.blogspot.com/

I am the same, I log all info on my blog as well….. also they are addictive;P

http://luckysduckfarm.blogspot.com/

I have 3 blogs:) The links are all on my main blog..

I thought about blogging; but I have problems keeping my current two up to date. One of them has had nothing added since before exams and they were AGES ago. My book review gets updated when we’re heading out the door for the library and I realise that I won’t remember the books after they’re returned.

This is the first page of my planner showing June & July. Although its neatly typed up, I’ve tried to design it so I can update it by hand in the garden. For cucumbers where it says “Dec” that means I don’t plant again until Dec; and the line runs up to just before the December boxes. Easier than writing “Dec” in every month.

This is Aug/Sept. Exactly the same as the first page; except it shows how the forward planning might help LOL. “Might” relying on my diligence in updating it and getting my act together to organise having seeds etc on hand when I need them LOL. The red “Y” under $$ mean I have to buy seeds before I can plant.

I guess it looks maybe a little complicated; but a lot of it is automatic formatting in Excel. The ‘to plant or not to plant’ box turns yellow as soon as I type a “Y” in it; any “Y” under the $$ column automatically turn bold red.

That is some serious record keeping there Sue:)

Looks impressive.

Lucky1 said:

That is some serious record keeping there Sue:)

Looks impressive.

i got a bit confused in the reading can you explain it to me bit more?

As you look at the ‘photo’

On the left is the name of the veg and under is the recommended planting season and how many I have to plant (2 every month; 3 every year etc). I got the planting requirements from a GA book by … a local Brisbane lady (name escapes me).

Then under June there’s 6 columns. First column is headed “Y/N” – am I going to plant this veg this month. Mostly I might follow the recommended planting season, but for example, I have a packet of “All Year Round” cauli; so for the moment at least, I’m ignoring the recommended season. If I’m not planting a veg this season in this box I put the next month that I will plant it. So, for autumn/winter plants that’s about April. Because this is done in an Excel spreadsheet, I then run a line across to the April page so I don’t have keep backtracking to see what I was thinking. Sometimes, the gap is because I just don’t need to plant the veg every month (like cucumbers for example).

Then the column with the $$ is a “buy seeds” reminder. When I’m planting things if I use the last of the seeds then I put a “Y” in this box to remind me I can’t plant them again until I buy seeds. At the moment I have four packets of silverbeet seeds – all the same variety. Seeing as I don’t particularly like silverbeet I obviously need a tracking system LOL.

Then the next four columns are the ones that will help me with my planning. First is the date I planted them, and how many I planted. In my forward planning (eg August) under the “#” column I put how many I need/want to plant. The second lot is my crop information. Firstly the dates of the crop – when it starts and finishes. This gives some idea of succession planning. If a plant crops for 2 months, I don’t really need to plant every month; but if it only crops for 2 weeks then I need to plant every fortnight. And the last column is how much I crop. If two plants provide enough to drown in, then next season I know to only plant one.

The line underneath is the type/variety that I’ve planted. For example, I’ve currently got three different types of tomato seeds. I think I only want one plant a month, but I want a variety so I want to plant a different one each month.

Like I said, I know it looks complicated, but this is actually an area of life that I thrive in. I love developing system; I’m just not so crash hot on the follow through. That’s why I’ve made this to be printed out and written on in the garden. Originally it had germination dates and plant out dates but really that information isn’t actually going to assist my forward planning all that much. I do capture those details in my diary; but this is designed more to help me work out how many plants I need and how often I need to plant them. When I have that information planning rotations and deciding how much of the front garden to turn into veg patch and so forth will be a lot easier.

I would love to be one of those people who just go “oh, I’ll put some plants in and see what happens”, but that’s just not me. And I think we have work with our strengths.

Wow that’s an excellent spreadsheet Sue. it should work well for you.

This is the first page of my planner showing June & July.
——
having fun?
it certainly helps to be well organised and you’re sooo well organised you could run a botanic gardens with that schedule. LOL

i get it now.

pepe said:

This is the first page of my planner showing June & July.
——
having fun?
it certainly helps to be well organised and you’re sooo well organised you could run a botanic gardens with that schedule. LOL

That sounds a bit critical – but its not meant to be,
I had fifty sheets of planning when i started to set up my vege patch here four years ago but
after one growing season i found that -
- eggplant and capsicum grew really well
- there was actually two summer growing seasons here not one as i was used to
- carrots were very hard to grow
generally speaking its probably best to just plan one season ahead in a new place – because you will learn so much in your first season of growing.

pepe said:

I had fifty sheets of planning when i started to set up my vege patch here four years ago but
after one growing season i found that -
- eggplant and capsicum grew really well
- there was actually two summer growing seasons here not one as i was used to
- carrots were very hard to grow
generally speaking its probably best to just plan one season ahead in a new place – because you will learn so much in your first season of growing.

One season ahead? Gee, that’s ambitious LOL. I’m planning just one month ahead LOL. Gardening was never something did anything for me. I love plants, I love beautiful gardens, but get my hands dirty? No thank you! My veggie patch is propelled by the deplorable state of the world. I tell the Girl that I’m giving myself time to learn how to do before I HAVE to do it. But I’m being realistic about my perserverence levels.

In fact, one of the main reasons I joined GA forums again (and found this one) is because I have found that ‘reporting’ in on projects keeps up my energy levels. Worked for my quilting; and hopefully will work for my veggies too.

Because I don’t work full time I find my weeks blend into one another really easy. I’ll think its been weeks since something happened and it was just last week; conversely I’ll think something happened last week and it actually happened over a month ago. If I don’t keep records I’m going to get very frustrated.

I am hoping that my records will give me the info that you’ve found – what grows well here, what doesn’t, what I can grow ‘out of season’ (according to the packets and experts) and so forth.

SueBk said:

pepe said:

I had fifty sheets of planning when i started to set up my vege patch here four years ago but
after one growing season i found that -
- eggplant and capsicum grew really well
- there was actually two summer growing seasons here not one as i was used to
- carrots were very hard to grow
generally speaking its probably best to just plan one season ahead in a new place – because you will learn so much in your first season of growing.

One season ahead? Gee, that’s ambitious LOL. I’m planning just one month ahead LOL. Gardening was never something did anything for me. I love plants, I love beautiful gardens, ……………………………………………………………..but get my hands dirty? ……………………………………..No thank you! My veggie patch is propelled by the deplorable state of the world. I tell the Girl that I’m giving myself time to learn how to do before I HAVE to do it. But I’m being realistic about my perserverence levels.

In fact, one of the main reasons I joined GA forums again (and found this one) is because I have found that ‘reporting’ in on projects keeps up my energy levels. Worked for my quilting; and hopefully will work for my veggies too.

Because I don’t work full time I find my weeks blend into one another really easy. I’ll think its been weeks since something happened and it was just last week; conversely I’ll think something happened last week and it actually happened over a month ago. If I don’t keep records I’m going to get very frustrated.

I am hoping that my records will give me the info that you’ve found – what grows well here, what doesn’t, what I can grow ‘out of season’ (according to the packets and experts) and so forth.

I love getting my hands into the dirty but …… the other week I was walking through the shopping centre and there was one of those counters they set up in the middle of the walkway where they shanghai people to look at their nails and sell you products your life/nails could not live without.
Anyway I was approached by a young woman who wanted to check out my nails!
Horror! No! Not this gardener’s nails. My hands stayed very firmly by my sides.

Moral of this tale … gardening is great but not so good for the nails/hands.

Moral of this tale… gardening is great but not so good for the nails/hands.

—————————————-
For hands that look like you havent worked a day in your life.
…..put dessertspoon of sugar in your palm, squeeze a lemon into it and rub in well to clean hands.. after.. rinse off and dry and put on Ego QV heel balm.

Happy Potter said:

Moral of this tale… gardening is great but not so good for the nails/hands.

—————————————-
For hands that look like you havent worked a day in your life.
…..put dessertspoon of sugar in your palm, squeeze a lemon into it and rub in well to clean hands.. after.. rinse off and dry and put on Ego QV heel balm.

Thanks HP. What is Ego QV heel balm? Is that something from the chemist or supermarket?

i found that sweet potato grow well here – they might be an easy crop – plant and forget – take about 6 months but are high yielding.
all that recording seems too much like work to me. you’re right about the world food shortage being a big incentive.

Crinkle said:

Happy Potter said:

Moral of this tale… gardening is great but not so good for the nails/hands.

—————————————-
For hands that look like you havent worked a day in your life.
…..put dessertspoon of sugar in your palm, squeeze a lemon into it and rub in well to clean hands.. after.. rinse off and dry and put on Ego QV heel balm.

Thanks HP. What is Ego QV heel balm? Is that something from the chemist or supermarket?

At the chemist :) There’s a huge range of Ego QV skin products, I probably have the lot. Fab stuff :D

Nails are a different story..

some crops naturally take up more space, and are harvested in one or two takes. you won’t get much out of silverbeet, peas, or potatoes, unless you plant enough. only some vegies lend themselves to continual planting and harvesting. in any case, you should probably just stay away from planting crops that take a long time to maturity or take up a lot of room e.g. onions, most cabbages, pumpkins.
for starting out in vegie gardening, it’s good to talk to local fellow gardeners, if you happen to spot any on walks etc.

Happy Potter said:

Crinkle said:

Happy Potter said:

Moral of this tale… gardening is great but not so good for the nails/hands.

—————————————-
For hands that look like you havent worked a day in your life.
…..put dessertspoon of sugar in your palm, squeeze a lemon into it and rub in well to clean hands.. after.. rinse off and dry and put on Ego QV heel balm.

Thanks HP. What is Ego QV heel balm? Is that something from the chemist or supermarket?

At the chemist :) There’s a huge range of Ego QV skin products, I probably have the lot. Fab stuff :D

Nails are a different story..

Thanks HP. Actually my nails are very strong I just need to look after them a bit more.

aquarium said:

some crops naturally take up more space, and are harvested in one or two takes. you won’t get much out of silverbeet, peas, or potatoes, unless you plant enough. only some vegies lend themselves to continual planting and harvesting. in any case, you should probably just stay away from planting crops that take a long time to maturity or take up a lot of room e.g. onions, most cabbages, pumpkins.
for starting out in vegie gardening, it’s good to talk to local fellow gardeners, if you happen to spot any on walks etc.

Most of the locals here think that McDonalds is a vegetable :-(

I am not kidding, the other day we counted up 18 take away joints in our local shopping area. I haven’t counted, but I’d say there probably wouldn’t be 18 other shops in the area. The only major junk food not present is KFC. Now, that’s 2km down the hill. If you go up the hill another 2km – there’s a whole ‘nother selection.

And yet, in that trek there are only 2 fruit and veg shops; both owned by the same people. The one up the hill only gets 2nd grade produce to start with, and when that doesn’t sell, they send it down the hill and drop the price :-(

Needless to say, we travel to buy F&V, which is another reason to grow my own.

I do have cabbages in – minis from Diggers. Wherever there’s a choice I’m buying the small version of everything LOL. I don’t mind planting things every month or even more often, ‘cause there’s a lot of stuff I buy every week – toms, cucumbers, zucs, spring onion, sweet potatoes, broccoli, caulis, baby spinach. Can’t stand the full grown stuff, but I serve the baby leaves with just about everything. In fact the joke, among our regular dinner guests, is that you’re far more likely to get spinach than potatoes in my house.

I probably can’t grow ALL of my weekly list, but if I can even skip the markets every other week I’d be happy. Get back my Saturday mornings if nothing else.

right on SueBk. Just plant the veg that don’t take up too much room or take too long to grow. and continual harvest plants are also good, e.g. spinach & silverbeet. tomatoes..hmm…last summer & autumn didn’t buy any from shops. in my opinion, the “mortgage lifter” tomato is the best all rounder and excellent taste.
some of the savoy lettuces can also be continually cut, up to a certain point in their maturity, when they’ll start to bolt to flower/seed.
other “good value” plants for small spaces include strawberries, and quick croppers such as carrots and beetroot. even some of the “mini” variety cabbages and cauliflowers can be ready in 3 months. the asian bok choy and relatives are related to cabbage, but are usually cut ready for the wok in early development, and hence take up space for a short time only.
love to get dirt under my nails…..and when i have the time i even look forward to collecting all the goodies my ducks and chickens leave behind, to fertilize the soil.

My vegie patch is very small 2.5m x 1m but I can fit quite a bit into it by growing as much as possible vertically or in hanging pots. The reason it’s so small is that it’s one of the few places in the garden that gets sun for most of the day. Any plants that take a while to grow or are perenial I grow in large pots in sunny spots. The vegie garden is no-dig and is raised to the height of 3 besser blocks . I grow herbs in the hollow blocks around the edge.

Crinkle said:

My vegie patch is very small 2.5m x 1m but I can fit quite a bit into it by growing as much as possible vertically or in hanging pots. The reason it’s so small is that it’s one of the few places in the garden that gets sun for most of the day. Any plants that take a while to grow or are perenial I grow in large pots in sunny spots. The vegie garden is no-dig and is raised to the height of 3 besser blocks . I grow herbs in the hollow blocks around the edge.

Do your herbs do well in the blocks? My garden is also edged with blocks and I considered growing herbs or strawberries or flowers in them, but I’m thinking maybe it might be too limey for some plants.

SueBk said:

Crinkle said:

My vegie patch is very small 2.5m x 1m but I can fit quite a bit into it by growing as much as possible vertically or in hanging pots. The reason it’s so small is that it’s one of the few places in the garden that gets sun for most of the day. Any plants that take a while to grow or are perenial I grow in large pots in sunny spots. The vegie garden is no-dig and is raised to the height of 3 besser blocks . I grow herbs in the hollow blocks around the edge.

Do your herbs do well in the blocks? My garden is also edged with blocks and I considered growing herbs or strawberries or flowers in them, but I’m thinking maybe it might be too limey for some plants.

Well I’ve grown basil, chives, oregano, and gotu cola (sp?) for years in the blocks and they do well. I also have parsley in there as well as some in pots. The parsley in the pots is doing better and I put it down to fresher potting mix but maybe its the lime. I hadn’t thought about that before.

I might plant out some basil then. Someone gave me a styrofoam box of basil. I think she just tipped a whole packet of seeds into it – all up one end in an area about 6 inches x 6 inches! I’ve transplanted a couple into my herb garden. The rest are starting to look a little unhealthy; I assume because a) I haven’t watered them and b) they’re quite crowded. I wasn’t really sure how to dig them out without damage until that recent episode on GA by Jane about transplanting seedlings.