PART 2: How to Make a Planting Plan

Part 2 of my *Guide to Start a Garden*

Welcome to Part 2 of my Guide to Start a Garden!

This part, How to Make a Planting Plan, is super important. This is where most people get stuck, wondering what to plant? when to plant it? where to plant it? and how much to plant? It can be exhausting, confusing, and make you want to give up having a garden all together. But stick with me!

First things first, what is a planting plan?

A planting plan is a visual map of your garden, to help plan out what to plant and where to plant it over the course of an entire growing season.

In this guide, we will cover LOTS of helpful information:

• How to make a detailed planting plan by understanding the following:

  • How to determine frost dates based on your zip code

  • When to plant different crops based on your frost dates

  • How far apart to space different crops

  • How long each crop will be in your garden

• Links to my very own planting plan templates, which you can use as a template for your own garden planting plan

• Access to my Spring Vegetable Guide, which is a TROVE of very detailed information about timing, spacing, harvesting, etc for specific spring veggies and herbs

The information inside this guide comes from over 15 years of personal experience in gardening and farming, and I believe this knowledge has value. For that reason, this guide is available to paid subscribers. My hope is that if you find this information useful, that you will invest in your gardening endeavors and consider supporting my work as a paid subscriber. Either way, thank you for being here!

Okay, let’s get started.

First ask yourself this question: What are the vegetables, herbs, flowers, etc that I want to grow this season? I encourage you to take the time to write down your top list of plants you want to grow (and eat) this year!

Once you have your list ready, go down that list *one plant at a time* and answer the following 3 questions for each plant (make sure write down all the information you find):

1. Based on the frost dates in your climate, when should this plant be planted outside? *NOTE: there’s a great resource HERE to know when to plant things based on average frost dates in your area.

   1. For example – tomatoes are frost sensitive and need to be planted after the threat of frost in the spring has passed. So if the average last frost in your area is May 1st, wait until May 1st to plant your tomatoes outside.