Creating a Veggie Garden Plan

One of the great philosophical questions of our time, “Why have half a Monty, when you can have the full one?” This is the Full Monty.

I promised a while back that I would get back to you with veggie spreadsheets and here it is. Quite the beast. Working out how to get it out there was enough of a challenge.

I will give you a taste with some of the introduction. Please follow the link and read the full .pdf if you are interested in distilling veggie growing into a list of fortnightly or monthly sowing, transplanting and harvesting tasks and would like to keep track of everything. I’ve tested it out this last three weeks or so and it seems to work OK.

Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Introduction

Before I start, this method was inspired by numerous sources, mainly online, and I can’t honestly remember where I got which bit from. What I can say is that putting it all together into something I can understand is all my own work. No single resource I checked out ticked anywhere near all the boxes I was looking to fill. Whilst this process may seem very full on, I’m aiming to leave no stone unturned in creating something I can use and refer to. That said, I’m sure there will be some holes in it somewhere… Until I’ve been through the motions for a year I won’t know for sure.

My garden has been an almost full-time passion now for five years. Fruit trees and herbs I’m borderline competent with. Week in, week out veggies have always been my Achilles heel. This guide was born out of frustration that people around me are growing veggies that just won’t sprout in my garden. I have never grown a broccoli head despite hundreds of seedlings planted. They all bolt to seed. By keeping a detailed record of sowing, transplanting and harvesting I am hoping to access that nuanced, place-based knowledge that every great grower has.

A lot of work goes into making this plan if you choose to test it out for yourself. I started out gingerly with only half a clue how to do it, but once I got stuck in and saw how it would pan out, I couldn’t let it go. I am really excited for the year ahead to see what happens and happy I have a place to start. Which is the key point to remember. This plan is just the start. Your own garden is a unique place with microclimates different to even your next-door neighbour. Those detailed records I keep will help refine my plan year on year into a masterclass for my garden.

It spurred me to thinking, if every house with a garden had a plan like this for growing a decent amount of food, it could be as important a document as the title deed. You would be able to move house and immediately carry on where the previous owner left off, growing organic nutrient dense food for the housewarming party.