I use this map as a loose guide when we’re planting things out in the garden because things get tweaked quite regularly. We try to rotate where we plant things from year to year to discourage pests and disease, so this map also comes in handy for that. I always round up for this because I’d rather have too many seedlings than not enough to fill the space. After I sketch all the beds in the garden, I mark where I plan to plant each flower and make a note of how many seedlings I’ll need for each one. I use an Excel spreadsheet for this, but graph paper, a pencil, and a ruler work just as well. Sketching out a scale drawing of our gardens has helped so much in knowing how many seeds or plants I should plan for. That’s what I’d like to talk about today, how I make a planting schedule by working backwards. We’re firm believers in reverse engineering things, and it’s a method that works great for gardens. I start a lot of our first crops inside under lights and then some of the second rounds of seed go directly into the garden. I eventually figured out a bit of a system that works for us. There was a lot of trial and error and a lot of late night Google searches. In one of my first gardens, a late frost came through and froze out half of my plants and all of the basil. Or I put the wrong kind of seeds on a heating mat to germinate and fried them all. Then I planted things too late and they took forever to take off in the garden. I planted things too early and they died a pale and leggy death.
If you follow the link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Note: A few of the links on this post are affiliate links. Everything felt like a jumble of last frost dates, random seed packet information, and gardening forums filled with conflicting wisdom. I wanted non-stop blooms all summer long and, while it’s not rocket science, it can be confusing to know just when to plant each flower.
Excel garden planner how to#
One of the topics I searched for the most when we were started growing flowers, was how to plan a cut flower garden.