Garden Planner 3.7.8 Key.(2018) Crack
Sharif Garmon
During my final years at college, I created a crude version of a bullet journal to keep track of all the various classes and activities. That planner was a life saver. Post college I stopped using the planner as the activity level dropped; but in the past few years, I found myself needing to record events and thoughts again, and came across bullet journaling. It has really helped keep life organized, so in the spirit of staying organized, I decided to create a garden journal using the same techniques.
If you have any questions or comments, please reach out! I love connecting with other gardeners and like-minded people around the globe! You can find me on Twitter or Instagram, or email me directly at hereis...@gmail.com.
The first step is to add all of the key items that you have or plan to include in your garden. The Garden Planner has lots of ready-designed garden objects such as ponds, paths, fences and compost bins, which can be dropped straight into your plan.
Planning your garden will ensure you've got all the information you need to start your plants at the best time and give them the best chance of survival through the growing season. With good planning, some hard work, and a little help from Mother Nature, you can look forward to harvesting a bumper crop.
Arizona gardening calls for a permaculture garden design--even in small backyards. Learn how to grow with great water saving methods to help you get though our Phoenix summer. Vegetable gardening can be hard in our harsh desert climate, but with the right methods, we live in one of the best states!
There are lots of tips and tricks out there for growing an amazing garden in Arizona. A correct watering method is probably the most important part of Arizona gardening. I wrote about garden watering systems a while back if you want to look at some of the more conventional options.
Most gardeners have heard of raised beds, they are quite popular for many great reasons. You just throw them up and you're ready to garden--no soil prep. When we moved here we set up lots of raised beds.
We made them out of cinder blocks, and then filled them with 100% compost. That fall/winter (the best growing season in AZ) we planted our seeds, and then we watered with a garden spray nozzle on a standard hose. We had a good garden that season. The plants loved the rich, dark compost and as long as we watered enough (If I remember correctly it was one a day once the plants were bigger and two to three times a day when starting seeds.) things grew and everyone was happy.
It was too hot and dry. The beds were in full sun and watering three times a day we could not get seeds to germinate. Even the few plants that made it, barely made it. They were more dry and not so happy looking. I realized, gardening in our Arizona summer wasn't working in our raised beds.
After doing more research and coming across different things online about gardening and rainwater harvesting, I heard of "sunken beds". Sunken beds are the opposite of raised beds, you dig them out of the ground instead of piling on extra soil. :-)
There are some great zoning aspects you can learn about from permaculture experts. This will help you place your garden in the perfect spot on your homestead. I highly recommend you look into it before for you choose where you are going to place your garden plot. (Learn more here. FYI I don't agree with everything in the article.)
For our garden we dug out seven beds and none of them are the same size. They didn't need to be perfect. You don't even have to do them in rectangles, try whatever shapes or designs you like or fit in best with your location.
Mulch is something your garden needs even if you can't give it anything else. After spreading the compost, add a nice layer of mulch. (Wood chips not recommended in the annual garden. Read Teaming with Microbes to learn more.) A few great options are straw and/or alfalfa. Try to keep the mulch 3-5 inches thick through out the growing season, and that thick or thicker when you let it lye dormant.
I always like to water the location I'm about to plant the night (or a few hours) before planting. My transplants or seeds really like this, and I highly recommend it for dry Arizona gardening. It primes the soil, filling it up and giving an extra store of water. You'll plant in the moist soil, and water again after you plant.
Arizona gardening really isn't that hard when you know how to do it right. The number one step is to stop thinking you can garden like the rest of the country! You'll be fighting an uphill battle the whole way. Here are some of my favorite books to help you get the right info specifically for Arizona gardening so you don't have to learn everything the hard way. I'm not kidding when I say that all of these are very valuable and have helped me a lot.
(For Arizona gardening, if you could just get one, Extreme Gardening: How to Grow Organic in the Hostile Deserts, by David Ownes is my first choice and Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond is about equal to it. The first one is basic stuff you need for vegetable gardening, and the second is my favorite for watering the entire homestead. If you want to dig even deeper, Teaming with Microbes is one of my favorites that helped me understand so much more about soil life.)
Raised beds provide you control over the health of the soil in which you are growing your plants. A raised garden bed is simply mounded soil or a contained bed of soil above the surrounding grade. The goal is to create a deep, wide growing area that encourages plant roots to grow down and outward.
I also prefer not having to bend over to maintain the beds. Just that little bit of added convenience makes it easier to work in the garden, even on those days where I might be tempted to just kick back with a cold beverage. Believe me; I have those days too.
If your property is shaded by lots of trees, you may want to consider some selective pruning to allow the sun to reach your garden spot. Be sure to check out the Growing a Greener World blog on that topic and the considerations on this.
What are your environmental conditions? Is there anything else which might impact your finished beds? For example, is the selected spot in an area that receives some runoff in heavy rain? Take into consideration how the runoff will impact your bed structure, or incorporate a way (like a French drain) for that runoff to go around the garden area.
Will you be battling predators? If you are in a rural area and subject to visitation by frequent furry nibblers, like deer or raccoons; incorporate fence planning into your overall design. Keeping the garden nearer to your home may also help to discourage predators from visiting your garden in the first place. No sense taking the trouble to grow all that produce, only to lose it to your wildlife neighbors.
Maybe you are truly blessed and have bare, level, beautiful earth just waiting for you to come along and plunk some beds down. No? Then, you are like the rest of us who have (or had) to put a little blood, sweat, and tears into claiming our garden spot from turf or shrub or weeds.
You may also opt to till the garden area to tear up existing roots, weeds, etc. and as a means to level the spot. There is some drawback to tilling your soil that I discuss at length in the video blog mentioned earlier.
Use this garden harvest tracker to keep up with how much food your plants and trees are producing. This information can be used to determine which varieties are most productive, how much you should plant next year and even the cost per pound for the foods you grow.
The first page of my planner is a copy of my garden design. Since I sometimes take my planner out to the garden with me, I decided to put all my planner pages inside page protectors. This keeps my records from getting dirty or wet.
I would love to print your garden planner, but when I follow the link, it redirects me to thebalance dot com, and there is no place to download the printable. There are lots of ads with downloadable programs, but no planner. Your pages are so inpiring, I would really love to be able to download them. Can you please send me a workable link?
I found your site while looking for a way to organize a garden and track plants/pests/soil ammendment etc. I. AM. IN. LOVE! I have printed the garden printables and am excited to start using them. I teach Horticulture to 4-H kids, so I will be forwarding your site to them. I will try your method for keeping critters out of my grapes this year! Maybe next year, a square foot garden! I also see you have many ways of organizing many things. I will definitely be back to check it all out!
I just printed off all your garden journal pages and am looking forward to keeping my garden journal at my new home. I journaled in regular hardbound journals in the past, but this will probably be more flexible and easier to keep track of from year to year. Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this journal with the free templates! I have printed them out and will be putting together my own. Thank you for all the work you put into it so that fellow gardeners can be more organized. Happy Gardening! ???
I am getting ready to have 2 vegetable gardens in the spring. I am not much for keeping track of things by paper, but thought I better do this so as not to waste my seeds and plants. I am also trying to keep my gardening at minimal spending. Thank you so much for this planner.
A well-planned vegetable garden will sustain your family with a variety of fresh produce from spring to late fall. Serious gardeners will even cold-frame garden into the winter months for a steady stream of fresh greens and root vegetables. Sustenance vegetable gardens save money and ensure produce is organically grown. Careful planning and timing are essential for season-long garden-fresh produce for eating, canning, freezing, and drying.
Vegetables are divided by their best season of culture. Cool season crops are ideal for the spring and fall months, while warm-season crops are suited for summer growing. Some vegetables can be grown at almost in the growing season. Fruits are almost purely seasonal.
Planning the garden with a well-rounded collection of vegetables is essential. Consider your proteins (legumes and brassicas), carbohydrates/starches (root vegetables, corn, and squash), greens, fruits, and flavorful herbs when planning for each season. The broader array of healthful edibles you grow, the better.