How we plan our garden for year-round vegetables
After a chilly winter, spring had finally sprung, and the last frost date had just passed.
It was that time of the year again.
Time to plant our garden.
Charlene and I visited a local organic farmer to pick up our order: tomato seedlings, cucumber plants, herbs…
As we were loading up the trunk of our car, we decided to squeeze in another 10 zucchini plants.
I mean, why not?
As we were driving back, we asked ourselves: did we take too much?
Should we have taken a bit more?
We weren’t really sure.
Fast forward a couple of months and the growing season was in full swing.
So were the zucchinis.
Just a few months before, we thought planting 10 zucchini plants for just the two of us was a great idea.
Turns out, it wasn’t.
We ended up with so many zucchinis that even our neighbors started hiding when they saw us coming with another basket of them.
Meanwhile, we barely had any carrots, lettuce, or other veggies we actually wanted to eat.
We planted all sorts of plants, but as the season progressed, the beds became empty.
And we weren't prepared with new transplants to keep things growing and increase our food abundance.
In fact, we had no idea what to plant, when or where to plant it, or how much we needed to grow to have consistent amounts of vegetables throughout the season.
We were just winging it.
Sure, we had lots of fun and learned a lot, but in reality, we wasted a lot of time second-guessing while the growing season was in full swing.
Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that garden mistakes can really set you back.
Sometimes you’re lucky, and it’s just a few weeks.
Often, you’ll have to wait a whole year to try again.
If you’ve ever grown your own food, you’ve probably been there.
Empty beds, missed planting times, and not nearly as much produce as you’d hoped for.
Too many zucchinis and not enough carrots.
That’s a big difference from what happened when we started using a planting plan.
We went from empty garden beds and no idea what to plant, to having full clarity and growing most of our own diverse, nutrient-dense food with year-round yields.
The funny thing is, we didn’t even have to become better gardeners.
We didn’t need any special tricks or magic fertilizers.
All we needed was a plan based on our specific climate and what we wanted to eat and preserve.
A plan that told us exactly what to do, when to do it, and where to do it.
If you’re starting your first garden or aiming for self-sufficiency, creating a garden plan is the single most impactful thing you can do to enjoy more consistent harvests.
It takes the guesswork out of gardening and helps you achieve productive growing seasons, year after year.
But what exactly is a planting plan?
A planting plan shows you exactly what to do in your garden.
It tells you what to grow, how much to grow, where to plant everything, and even when to harvest.
Combined with a planting calendar, it gives you a complete overview of your growing season, all on a single piece of paper.
With a planting plan, you'll never have to guess what to do next.
Just look at your plan, and you'll know exactly what needs to be done and when to do it throughout the entire growing season.
Let’s face it, we all have busy lives.
Having this clear guide right in front of you makes gardening so much easier.
It’s one of the most important tools for growing your own food.
For us, it turned our chaotic organization and inconsistent harvests into a steady supply that allowed us to grow our own food, and later on, even make a living from our garden.
The process and principles I’m sharing with you are the same ones we used in our commercial market garden and now apply in our family-sized garden.
The steps are the same.
It’s just the scale that changes.
So, how to create a garden planting plan?
It comes down to the following steps:
Step 1: Identify your growing season
Before you can start planning your garden, you first need to figure out the plant hardiness zone you’re in.
This will tell you roughly how many growing weeks you have in a season, helping you understand when you can have vegetables available in your garden.
For example, someone living in Alaska (or Scandinavia) will have a much shorter growing season compared to someone living in Florida (or Italy).
When you're planning your crops, knowing your plant hardiness zone makes a big difference.
A plant hardiness zone map is divided into 13 zones based on average minimum temperatures.
Using this map, you can plan your planting and harvesting times better and create a plan that is specific to your local conditions.
This is going to help you get the most out of your garden.
If you’re in the US, you can figure out your plant hardiness zone here: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/
If you live elsewhere, you can find your zone here: https://www.plantmaps.com/
In some parts of the world, particularly in tropical regions where temperatures are consistently warm year-round, hardiness zones are less relevant.
Once you’ve figured out your plant hardiness zone, you need to find out the planting schedule for that specific zone.
To do this, head over to Google and type in: “Planting schedule zone (insert your zone number/letter).”
For example, if I type this into Google: “Planting schedule zone 10B”, this is the result I get:
At this point, I’ll look at several of these articles to get a better understanding of the planting zone.
This will give you a good idea of when you can grow food outdoors and when to start your seeds.
The goal with this first step is to figure out your first and last frost dates.
These dates will form the foundation of your planting plan.
Another option you have is to look for specific planting schedules in your location.
In Google, type in: “Planting schedule + (Location)”.
So, for example, if I look for my region, it would be like this: “Planting Schedule Castelo Branco.”
This can provide a goldmine of information to help you with your garden planning.
However, this option won’t work for all regions.
If that’s the case, you’d be better off looking for the specific hardiness zone.
Step 2: Asses your growing space
Once you’ve figured out your plant hardiness zone, the next step is to assess your growing space.
Knowing how much space you have is key to making sure you can grow the food you love in the quantities you want.
To do this, we start by creating a base map of your garden.
This map should include all your garden beds and their dimensions.
If you haven’t started your garden yet, you’ll first need to design it, which also requires a base map.
This helps you visualize where everything will go and allows you to make the most of your garden.
Write down the number of growing beds you have and assign a number (or letter) to each one.
This information will be vital when creating a detailed planting plan later on as it will allow you to maximize your production for each garden bed.
Step 3: Make a list of vegetables you love to eat
Now that you have a better understanding of your plant hardiness zone and you've created a simple base map of your garden, it's time to make a list of the vegetables you love to eat and how much you consume each week.
Start by thinking about what you and your family enjoy eating regularly.
Do you love fresh salads?
Maybe you use tomatoes in almost every meal?
Write it all down.
Next, consider how much of each vegetable you typically eat in a week.
This includes everything from your daily salads to the veggies you use in cooking.
This will help you figure out how much you need to grow to meet your weekly needs.
For example, in our household, we love tomatoes and eat roughly 2 kilos of them per week.
We also enjoy lettuce and go through about a head every other day, which adds up to around 4 heads of lettuce per week.
Making this list is a crucial step because it helps you see the bigger picture.
You’ll know exactly how much to plant so you can have a steady supply of your favorite vegetables throughout the growing season.
It can also help prevent overplanting (like our zucchini fiasco) and underplanting, so you won’t run out of those essential veggies halfway through the season.
Once you develop a detailed list, you’ll have a clear idea of how much you need to grow per week to reach your desired total.
This will make your crop planning more precise and tailored to your eating habits.
This way, you can ensure that you can enjoy a variety of homegrown vegetables without any guesswork.
Step 4: Write down when you can have each crop available in your planting zone
Not all vegetables can be grown year-round, and many can only be grown for a few months each year.
This means you need to figure out roughly when you can have certain vegetables available in your garden.
To do this, you’ll create what I call a Plant Availability List.
This list will help you understand the planting and harvesting windows for each crop in your specific zone.
Here’s an example of what it might look like:
These are the dates when we were able to have vegetables in the garden in eastern France.
To create this for yourself, you'll need to make an educated guess based on your planting zone.
Since you're not sure when you can have certain plants available, you’ll have to find people (farmers/market gardeners) in your area who know this and model your garden after their planting schedules for the first years.
You can either (A) talk to them in person, or (B) try to find a website where they share their planting and harvesting schedules (refer back to Step 1).
Finding a website from someone in your area isn’t always easy, and it's generally best to speak to gardeners in your community.
Another great tip is to find a local seed supplier (or one in a similar climate) and use the planting dates they recommend on their seed packages.
This will give you a good indication of when to start growing your plants.
Keep in mind, your availability list will constantly be updated as you gain more experience and knowledge.
Not every year is the same, and this will reflect in your availability list.
You might be a couple of weeks off in your first few seasons, but that’s fine.
Adjust it as you learn what works best for your specific conditions and climate.
Step 5: Write down the sowing dates for each planting
Once you have a good idea of the duration of your growing season and when you can have certain vegetables in the garden, it’s time to start writing down the dates for starting your seedlings and direct seeding your beds.
Let's break it down.
We first need to start by listing the vegetables you want to grow and their availability periods.
For example, let’s take a head of lettuce.
On my crop availability chart, I can see that I can have lettuce heads from May 1st to October 31st, which is about 26 weeks.
My family and I eat up to 4 lettuces per week.
But since not all plants will make it due to pests, disease, or other factors beyond our control, we plant a little extra.
In our garden, we aim to plant 30% more than needed to ensure we reach our food requirements.
Any surplus is a bonus and ends up in our pantry.
So, if we take the 4 lettuces and add 30%, we need to grow 5.2 lettuces, which we round up to 6 per week.
Now we know how many lettuces we need to grow each week.
The next step is figuring out when to start seedlings and when to transplant those seedlings into the garden to have them ready at the right time.
To do this, we work backward from the date you want them available.
In this case, May 1st.
Subtract the days to maturity (DTM) from the desired harvest date.
For lettuce, the DTM is about 60 days.
Subtracting 60 days from May 1st gives us March 2nd.
This is the date to start your lettuce seedlings.
Tip: In Google, type "60 days before May 1" and it will give you the date, or use this website to calculate the dates: https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html
Write down the sowing date (March 2) and the number of plants to start (6 lettuce plants).
Next, consider when to transplant the seedlings into the garden beds.
Lettuce typically stays in seedling trays for about 30 days.
Adding 30 days to March 2 gives us April 1 for transplanting the lettuce into the garden.
Now we have two important dates:
Sowing date nursery: March 2
Transplant date: April 1
We also need to determine the harvest date, which tells us when the bed will be empty again and ready for the next succession of vegetables.
Take the sowing date (March 2) and add the DTM (60 days), which gives us May 1.
However, early and late in the season, the DTM can be longer due to colder weather or other factors.
To account for this, we create a buffer zone of several weeks.
Since we can use season extension fleeces, we estimate an additional two weeks for the lettuces to mature.
So, we add 14 days to the expected harvest date (May 1), giving us May 15 as the date when we can be sure to harvest the lettuces and have the beds ready for the next succession.
Now we have the four important dates we need:
Sowing date: March 2
Transplant date: April 1
Harvest period: May 1 - May 15
Beds ready for next succession: May 15
Repeat this process for every vegetable on your list, working your way down until you’re done.
That’s how we systematically determine all the dates needed for our planting plan, which is going to allow us to maximize the amount of vegetables we can grow within our available space.
Important tip: You won’t be able to grow every vegetable year-round in the garden, but you can still consume some during the winter months by planting enough to process and preserve for the off-season.
Take this into account when writing down the dates for each planting.
This exercise can, quite literally, help you plan to become self-sufficient in every vegetable you like to consume, as long as you have enough garden space.
Step 6: Create your planting plan
With all the information we’ve gathered, we can now create a detailed planting plan.
This plan will guide us on where to plant vegetables throughout the entire growing season and what crops will follow each other in succession.
When doing this, we always take basic crop rotation and plant requirement principles into consideration.
Using the dates from the previous step, start filling out your planting plan.
I personally like to use an Excel file because it allows for easy adjustments and provides a clear overview of the entire plan.
In this file, I create three to five ‘blocks,’ each representing a planting cycle or succession.
The number of blocks will depend on your growing season.
Shorter seasons will have fewer blocks, while longer seasons will have more.
Here’s an example:
Each block contains seven columns:
Garden Bed
Crop
Direct Seeded (DS) / Transplanted (T)
Variety (optional)
DS/T Date
Seeding Date (for nursery transplants)
End Date (estimated harvest date with buffer)
Let’s use the lettuce from the previous step as an example:
In the first column, we have the bed number.
In the second column, we add the type of vegetable: lettuce.
In the third column, we write either a DS (Direct Seeded) or T (Transplanted), which in this case is ‘T’.
In the fourth column, we can write down the variety name, but this is optional.
Just keep in mind that even within varieties, DTM's change.
In the fifth column, we write down the date on which a plant is either direct seeded or transplanted into a bed.
In this case, we expect to transplant the lettuce on April 1.
In the sixth column, we insert the date of when we need to sow seeds in the nursery, which in this case is March 2.
In the seventh and final column, we insert the date on which we expect the plant to be ready including a buffer zone of a couple of weeks to ensure the plants have enough time to mature.
In this case, this will be May 15.
Following these steps, you’ve completed the first rotation and planting of lettuce in your garden.
After that, simply go through your list from the previous step, adding each vegetable one by one while keeping crop rotation and plant requirements in mind.
This step will also help you see if you have enough space to grow everything you’d like to eat.
If you’ve overestimated what you can grow compared to your available space, you’ll need to adjust the amounts or diversity of plants accordingly.
Once you complete this step, you'll have a planting plan that looks something like this:
Step 7: Calculate how many seeds/plants you’ll need for the season
After finalizing your planting plan and ensuring there’s enough space for all the vegetables you’ve decided to grow, the next step is to calculate exactly how many seeds or plants you’ll need for the entire growing season.
This way, you can place your orders with your local seed company well in advance.
I’ve learned this lesson the hard way.
During some seasons, while growing vegetables for market, we ran out of seeds for specific varieties.
By the time we tried to order more, the season was already well underway, and the seeds were out of stock, and backlogged for several months.
It was a real headache that could have been easily avoided.
To prevent this from happening to you, it’s best to buy all the seeds you’ll need for the entire season in winter when seed companies are still fully stocked.
You don’t want to be scrambling for seeds mid-season only to find they’re sold out.
Start by going through your planting plan and listing the total number of plants you’ll need for each vegetable.
For example, if your plan calls for 50 tomato plants over the season, make sure you have enough seeds to cover that.
Don’t forget to account for a few extra seeds to cover any that don’t germinate or plants that don’t survive.
8. Create a crop calendar
As last, with all the information in hand, it's time to create a crop calendar.
This is the final important step that’s fundamental for a smooth and enjoyable gardening season.
A crop calendar allows you to quickly glance and see what needs to be done each day of the growing season.
You can also batch similar tasks, like planting, sowing, and weeding, and schedule them for one specific day each week.
While the planting plan is essential for ensuring continuous yields, a crop calendar keeps you on track, making your garden more productive and efficient (and keeping your sanity intact).
Here’s how we do it.
Open your planting plan and transfer all the key dates (seeding, transplanting, and expected harvest dates) onto your calendar.
I prefer to use an Excel file for this, which I can print out and hang in a convenient spot where I can always see it.
You can also use a physical calendar and write down the tasks directly in it.
There’s no right or wrong way.
Choose what works best for you.
And that’s it!
These eight steps will help you create a highly efficient planting plan and calendar that is going to significantly increase the amount of food you can produce in your garden.
Plus, it will help you stay super organized and save you lots of time and headaches during the growing season.
No more second-guessing anything.
Just follow the plan, grow your food in the most efficient way, and enjoy year-round vegetables at home.
This simple yet powerful planning framework can take you from 'doing alright' in the garden to confidently knowing how to become self-sufficient in vegetables.
Not too bad, right?
Next steps
Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared with you:
The pros and cons of raised garden beds vs. in-ground beds
The no-dig gardening method
How you can enjoy year-round healthy homegrown vegetables
And how to create a crop plan
I hope these articles have been helpful and given you valuable insights to how you can become more self-sufficient in vegetables.
But of course, there’s still so much more to learn.
Gardening is a continuous process, and having a bit of extra guidance can make a huge difference.
That’s why I’m excited to announce the launch of our online course, “Year-Round Vegetables,” happening on Friday, July 19!
This comprehensive program will teach you exactly how to plan, design, and start a low-maintenance, highly efficient, and productive garden that provides you with vegetables all year round.
From setting up your garden and irrigation to detailed crop planning and growing your vegetables, you’ll get all the tools and knowledge you need to grow a steady supply of nutrient-dense veggies and become more self-sufficient.
If this sounds like something you’re interested in, keep an eye on your inbox for the early-bird invitation on Friday.
If you’re not interested, that’s perfectly fine too.
In that case, I’ll see you in next week’s article.
Thank you for reading.
I hope it was helpful.
Happy gardening & till next time,
Moreno
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