[drmoonshine]

well its 2011 now been waiting a long time for this year  ive got my own allotment to myself so i can please myself what i do with it. things that must be done very soon are turn ground over, sort greenhouse out. buy small pollytunnle of good quality rather then large one of poor quality. after all i do also have the greenhouse. the greenhouse should have been done leading up to winter but been having probs at work with redundancies so been getting my head down and not really thinking of much else... o well thats over now its time to do what i want.

need to buy all my seeds... starting fresh so i have 0 seeds apart from my chillis that ive always grown.

i did a really good excell sheet with my wife last year i got really annoyed with things and thought i would never have time to do gardening and through it away so that also needs doing again... it had everything from when to sow,plant,harvest,spaceing ect now my work is ruined

well i guess this post was more for me lol writing things down helps me get my mind set on the tasks ahead

i hope you all have a good year in your garden

[arugula]

i hope you all have a good year in your garden

And you too drmoonshine!

[Jono]

Happy growing!

[Trillium]

This should give you a reasonable start, drmoonshine:

http://www.allotment-garden.org/garden_month.php

And don't worry about exactness; half the fun of gardening is the process in getting there, not arriving at a precise time.

[WeedfreeWill]

Suttons do a garden planner, its free for the first 30 days. You can draw your plot, to scale, then add what you want to grow. It will then give you a plan of spacings and when to plant. It's great. Go to www.suttons.co.uk and click on the garden planner

[DD.]

I refuse to pay £15 a year for what I can note down on the back of an envelope.

[AndyRVTR]

I refuse to pay £15 a year for what I can note down on the back of an envelope.

A BIG envelope 

[WeedfreeWill]

I do agree there is no way I'm willing to pay for it after the free trial is up

[drmoonshine]

thank you to all who have replyed 

kind and helpfull words from all

[Kristen]

Suttons do a garden planner, its free for the first 30 days. You can draw your plot, to scale, then add what you want to grow. It will then give you a plan of spacings and when to plant. It's great. Go to www.suttons.co.uk and click on the garden planner

Looks like Suttons are using the GrowVeg software:

http://www.growveg.com/Default.aspx

[WeedfreeWill]

haha, so it is

[DD.]

It's a wonder my grandfather managed all those years without a computer. Just think how much better his vegetables would have been if he'd had access to one.

[Kristen]

I expect we've had this conversation before?!

I think its helpful for newbies (well, it would be if it did a whole lot more for them ...)

A ToDo list based on what they have planned  indicating when to sow (and a reminder to buy Seed Potatoes at the optimum time), but also when each crop is likely to flower, and to be ready for picking (and when the ground will be free for follow-on-planting) - all things that an Old Hand will know about of course.

I think Newbies getting an email like  "Courgettes should be flowering soon, don't worry if you only have male flowers as they tend to come first and the female ones a bit later" would be quite cool

Its a very different picture once you have "The Knowledge" of course

[WeedfreeWill]

As a newbe myself, I agree with Kristen. It is a good place to start. Hopefully I will learn each year (not making the same mistakes twice) thus the need for planners like suttons' will become a thing of the past, for me anyhow

[drmoonshine]

i dont bother with some one elses plan i do my research over god knows how many days weeks months sit down for a good few hours with all research in hand and take it from there it gives you a sense of well doing when doing it this way