Planning for the Spring- How to make a Planting Plan for 2011
After your first or second year playing around in your garden/balcony, window planters, etc. it's easy to get an itchy green thumb! Once you've gardening for several seasons, you're more able to notice what grows well where in your area, better understand the micro-climate you provide your plants, your sun/shade setting, etc.
If you're at that point, it might be time to truly dive in to this homestead adventure that many of us are on. I've found that it is not only satisfying to sum up some of my thoughts, and lessons learned from this year, but that documenting what was a success and what was not would really allow my to look at my garden with a "critical" eye. Winter is a good time to reflect on the past year, be thankful for all you grew, put up, or donated, and to plan for the upcoming spring season. So let's do that- here's the template I used:
Reflection for 2010-2011
Planting & Food Production-
Worked well:
ex. Potatoes did really well- 20 lbs!
ex. Onions were awesome, easy to care for. More, I say!
ex. Tomatoes... mmm! Canned over 18 quarts of tomato sauce. More next year!
Not so well:
ex. Strawberries did not produce like I wanted, didn't have enough. No strawberries next year
ex. Celery was kind of a cool novelty, but took up vital space for other stuff
ex. Glacier tomatoes kind of unsatisfying. I'll just wait for the real thing!
Seed starting-
Worked well:
Not so well:
Preserving-
Worked well:
Not so well:
Storing/Root Cellar-
Worked well:
Not so well:
Purchasing-
Worked well:
Not so well:
Living-
Worked well:
Not so well:
My Planting Plan for 2011-2012
Plant/Food Production-
Seed Starting-
Preserving-
Storing/Root Cellar-
Purchasing-
Living-
Remember, when setting goals for your garden, just like most anything else, making measurable, track-able goals makes actual achievement of those goals SO much easier! Thanks for reading!
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I would only add that one should not give up on something that did not do well. Youn may try a different variety of Strawberries, or possibly try growing them in some type of tower, or try adding chicken manure, I go by the addage if at first you don't succede try try again>nice artical.
And about the celery being a "nice novelty, but..."
I now leave a spot in my garden every year for such "novelties", it is a "loss" of space potentially, but usually produces something fun and unusual! I say make a space for experiments!!
This year my experiment may be quinoa...
val
I started some quinoa this year as well. I like to try new things too.
thanks for sharing this. its good to have an idea in mind and know where to go with it. gives an idea when next year, im trying to remember ever plant and seed. this would make that so much easier! and thank you for the examples. having just started planting/gardening myself, it was nice seeing an example of how i could fill it out. again, thank you!