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Planting Ahead Rewards

by | Oct 12, 2013

293334_305540742795221_821270799_nWe are reaping the rewards of planting ahead here on the farm. We have beautiful flowers blooming and delicious vegetables to eat. There are 6 more weeks of sunflowers to harvest, we have a fresh crop of ornamental peppers coming on, cut-flower kale is just getting warmed up, and mums about to burst with blooms and the dahlias are having a party after all the rain this week! Our vegetable garden is full of food– lettuce, beets, turnips, kale, radishes, collards and other goodies!

How can you do this? Follow the same rule that we do: we plant a season ahead.

How it works:

  • Plant in fall for spring bounty— we are planting over 25,000 seedlings now for spring flowers!
  • Plant in spring for summer bounty
  • Plant in summer for fall bounty
  • Plant in fall for winter bounty

The Plan:

By thinking a season ahead you will have a plenty for you and for sharing. I plan the entire garden year in a couple of days in January.

I have in recent years streamlined this process by using one very large wall calendar (each day block is 2” x 5”, link below) to write everything from when to start seeds to notes on what not to grow next year. It hangs in a central location that I pass by constantly so making notes on it is easy.

Your plan can be as simple as a reminder when to start seeds for the following season or as complex as mine with the lists of what seeds and how many to actually start. The key is the reminder to get busy doing something for the next season.

Another great use of this calendar is to make notes when a certain flower started blooming or when your first tomato was ready—all these notes are so useful when you are planning in the dead of winter when it has all left your mind.

So get yourself a calendar for next year that can include all your life stuff, plus your garden plans! Nothing could be easier.

Checkout what flowers to plant now for spring.

View the Jumbo Wall Calendar.

Lisa Mason Ziegler is a commercial cut-flower farmer in Newport News, Virginia; she lectures and writes about organic and sustainable gardening. You can email Lisa at [email protected], call her at 757-877-7159 or visit her website www.shoptgw.com.

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Fall is full!!