Garden Bed Planner

[Buffalo]

Like many of you, I'm working on planning out my 2023 garden. I decided that I was tired of drawing out crude sketches in a notebook and then trying to decipher them when planting time actually comes around, so I made a guide for our beds. We use 4x8 beds and I divide the beds into 1 square foot planting spots (if a plant requires more than 1 square foot, I will just highlight the area that it needs.

I wanted to share this with all of you, in case you need an easier way to plan out your beds! There is a pdf of the file attached to this message if you'd like to download it!

 

[Pearl]

Great idea! My hubby actually asked one year WHERE my sketches were a picture of, he just had a face when I said, " well, here of course"!!

 

[Weedygarden]

@Buffalo, this is exactly what I want to do in one of my beds. It is large and I have thought it would be better to divide it into squares, instead of rows.

 

[Buffalo]

@Buffalo, this is exactly what I want to do in one of my beds. It is large and I have thought it would be better to divide it into squares, instead of rows.

We started doing divided beds last year and it worked out really well. My wife did a ton of reading on companion planting and we were able to work that into our layout. Things were going along just fine until we were hit with not one, not two, but three massive hailstorms in the space of about 6 days. Needless to say, our garden was pretty torn up after that. Luckily we had already started a second round of plants for succession planting and were able to transplant those in so we had somewhat of a harvest, although our corn and melons never fully recovered.

 

[Weedygarden]

We started doing divided beds last year and it worked out really well. My wife did a ton of reading on companion planting and we were able to work that into our layout. Things were going along just fine until we were hit with not one, not two, but three massive hailstorms in the space of about 6 days. Needless to say, our garden was pretty torn up after that. Luckily we had already started a second round of plants for succession planting and were able to transplant those in so we had somewhat of a harvest, although our corn and melons never fully recovered.

I have had my garden decimated by hail. It is defeating.

 

[Buffalo]

Great idea! My hubby actually asked one year WHERE my sketches were a picture of, he just had a face when I said, " well, here of course"!!

My main problem with my hand drawn plans is that by the time I get around to actually planting the garden, I spend so much time trying to figure out what the heck I wanted to plant where. Hoping that this will make it a little easier this year!

 

[Ozarks hillbilly]

Thank you for this. I sketched mine out, but this should help when I'm gone next year.

 

[backlash]

There are apps for that.
I used one from Farmers Almanac but I had to pay after the 7 day trial.
No idea if any of these are free.
The 7 Best Virtual Garden Planners to Cultivate Your Green Thumb

 

[Buffalo]

There are apps for that.
I used one from Farmers Almanac but I had to pay after the 7 day trial.
No idea if any of these are free.
The 7 Best Virtual Garden Planners to Cultivate Your Green Thumb

Well, my pdf up there is free. I like to have paper copies of things, including my notes on what worked that year and what didn't, then I can go back and reference it for future success.

 

[backlash]

The Farmers Almanac has so many feature it is worth the price. It's not just a garden plan it's a complete gardening system.
You can plan your beds, design the irrigation system and it will create a shopping list.
Companion planting information and much more.
When I was planting a big garden it was a wealth of good information.
You can easily print out the entire plan.
I tried the Farmers Almanac free 7 day trial, planed and printed my garden plan and then decided it was worth the cost.

 

[joel]

I have a garden journal, to record bad weather & what works or not.
What plants II have tried as seeds & transplants.
I like using different plants, old hybrids & new hybrids, to see what works best.
Many of the old hybrids are from the late 1800's & are still good crops.
So I record every new thing in my garden.

 

[Pearl]

I have a garden journal, to record bad weather & what works or not.
What plants II have tried as seeds & transplants.
I like using different plants, old hybrids & new hybrids, to see what works best.
Many of the old hybrids are from the late 1800's & are still good crops.
So I record every new thing in my garden.

When my mom was alive we kept a garden journal. We really watched weather patterns to optimize prime seed planting times. Also kept track of things like which type of tomato seedlings took cooler weather. Gardening was so much fun with mom! Now I just keep a weather journal.

 

[Bacpacker]

I've kept a garden journal for years.

 

[Patchouli]

@backlash I'm glad you mentioned the Farmer's Almanac garden planner and you feel that it is worth the cost. What else can you tell us about the planner? Can you input a specific type of vegetable you plan to plant and it tells you information on it? Or is it more basic? And a 7 day free trial sounds good.
I was just looking at free digital garden planners; was getting ready to post a thread to see if others here have used any of the online garden planners. I want to see what I can design for real life, but I also want to play around with it to create that dream garden.
Good thread, @Buffalo
The small plants we can find to purchase in person are okay, but I can rarely find what I want to try...weird things like the Siberian tomatoes, little cucumbers, etc. and that's why I end up buying seeds.

 

[Buffalo]

I've kept a garden journal for years.

So do I, last years is just twenty sheets with curse words written all over them though! LOL

 

[backlash]

@backlash I'm glad you mentioned the Farmer's Almanac garden planner and you feel that it is worth the cost. What else can you tell us about the planner? Can you input a specific type of vegetable you plan to plant and it tells you information on it? Or is it more basic? And a 7 day free trial sounds good.
I was just looking at free digital garden planners; was getting ready to post a thread to see if others here have used any of the online garden planners. I want to see what I can design for real life, but I also want to play around with it to create that dream garden.
Good thread, @Buffalo
The small plants we can find to purchase in person are okay, but I can rarely find what I want to try...weird things like the Siberian tomatoes, little cucumbers, etc. and that's why I end up buying seeds.

You can plan everything about a garden. You design the layout, chose your plants, layout any irrigation and a lot more.
It even tells you about companion plants, what to not plant close to other plants and gives you crop rotation suggestions from year to year.
Get the trial version and see how you like it. I used the trial version the first time to do all my plans then printed it out.
I decided it was worth the money and bought the program.

 

[UrbanHunter]

In research Data is king, when doing a garden having records from year to year is equally as valuable. The thing most people don't record is mistakes or failures. But knowing which crops grow well here or there and which crops don't grow well here or there is very important. I have noticed that tracking watering schedules can be very important too. I like the Journal approach that @Bacpacker called out. Planning is important, but only execution produces a crop...

I use a spreadsheet, I made a model of the garden space by adjusting the squares to create a grid and then make notes in each square foot. Each year at the start of the year I copy last year's sheet and start a new sheet using the year as the label on the tab. This allows me to look back to see what I planted in that space from year. What I have not been good about is recording they watering and yield. In a perfect world I would be making entries each month, I would actually be better off having a spring, summer, and fall sheet, but I just never seem to have the time to do everything...