[simonwatson]

My aim for the last couple of years has been to grow enough of the right things that I could effectively produce a veg box for the family during the summer and autumn harvest periods. I've had good individual success with a variety of crops, but getting the succession sowing and quantities right has so far eluded me. Last 'summer' didn't help.

Can anyone recommend a tool or article that has plans of what to plant when in order to be able to achieve this? So many rows of spuds, onions, carrots etc and when to plant so that groups of things will be ready about the same time?

[Aunt Sally]

I'm afraid gardening is not like that

The best tools are fork, spade and hoe and of course experience.

The first three by can buy but you have to "grow" experience rather than download it

[Annen]

Someone else posted that Quickgrow.co.uk has a planting thingy called growmatic (left side halfway down the home page) which has a planting/harvesting chart which might help.  Also if you want things for a certain time you can exclude dates ie term holidays etc.  Its got a free subscription for a year.  I've joined and it looks as if it might be useful.

[LilacSandy]

I use a speadsheet where I have a sheet for each month with what to plant when, but as you point out, we cannot account for the weather.  As Aunty says it is mostly down to experience, knowing what grows in your soil and how much you need to feed the family.

Just jotting down on a piece of paper may help, do you really need 50 cabbage plants?  Do you want to grow plum tomatoes to keep you in pasta sauce for the year? and so on.

[Aunt Sally]

Someone else posted that Quickgrow.co.uk has a planting thingy called growmatic (left side halfway down the home page) which has a planting/harvesting chart which might help.  Also if you want things for a certain time you can exclude dates ie term holidays etc.  Its got a free subscription for a year.  I've joined and it looks as if it might be useful.

And next year ?

Don't waist your money.

Common sense is all you need !

[gavinjconway]

I cant get Quickgrow.co.uk  site to open at all.. ? Just interested to see what it has..

[Aunt Sally]

Just expensive geejaws - nothing a real gardener would need.

[gavinjconway]

Ok - no probe to look at it then.. I'll just read my own notes I make and adjust accordingly..

[shoozie]

Along with John's sowing chart and your seed packet info, have you had a look at the daily harvest thread to see what others report throughout the year?  I've found that useful to wonder how folks got what they got and then try something new.   And what folks might grow then store?  

I agree with what has been said earlier - it's learning and, every year, getting a little more experience  ... and accepting what the weather brings  .  This weeks 'veg box' was a solitary ruby cabbage freshly picked, but with stored tatties and onions.  I spent a while this year thinking of winter crops and am quite pleased with what we have in the ground for picking til late January-ish - others will have done much better than me.

I'm always learning  

[Madame Cholet]

grow your own veg by Joy Larkolm has a harvesting chart as do other good growing books and websites. Don't waste your money on gimmicks

[Annen]

I'm not wasting any money, I'm just trying it out and probably wont pay for the next year.

I don't mind using info from all sources if it helps.

Plus I like fiddling about on the laptop

[cadalot]

As a newbie, I've been drawing up the beds and working out roughly how many of anything I can get in a row, what time of year I can plant in inside then outside or directly outside. and putting it all in a table in word with anticipated harvest dates using the iniformation on the back of the seed I have and working out what other seeds I need - so that hopefully Mother nature willing I don't get lots of everything at once, but have a supply of produce over time.

Having only just got the plot and still in clearing mode (only dug and weeded under and around the new shed at the moment) My biggest fear is that I will not be able to get the beds dug, weed free-ish and covered in manure before I need to be getting things in the ground!

[Yana]

I started by using the growveg.com planner, but tbh now that I think I've got the basics sorted I won't be renewing it. It was good to get the lottie planned and some idea of what could go where and when and it helped with crop rotation(as a newbie I needed all the help I could get). The overlay is useful except when you plan for things to go in and then harvest at set times and they don't (which happens more often than not) the it gets messy.
I'm going to use Excel for planning now on as I have already set up a workbook with details of seed variety, planting and cropping times and will link them all together (fingers crossed).
  :blink:

[SG6]

I would go about it by when crops are harvested.
Create a table in Word or whatever you use, say 15 columns and 20 rows.
In the first column list all the veg you want to grow.
In the top row put the month.
Then for each crop put a "H" in the appropriate month(s) cell for when it is harvested.
Then it is quite simple to mark when to sow the crop.

One page at A4 Landscape should do it.

Make sure you grow what is required and not too much of something, another is how difficult and worth while it turns out for some crops.

Best to keep whatever you do simple, and whatever you plan you will change a bit.

[Madame Cholet]

I'm not wasting any money, I'm just trying it out and probably wont pay for the next year.

I don't mind using info from all sources if it helps.

Plus I like fiddling about on the laptop

I'm all for using free stuff can't beet it