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Learning through experience or the experience of others is the best way to educate yourself as a gardener. And one great way to keep track of your successes and failures when growing a food garden is to use a garden planner You and others would enjoy it. So what’s a garden planner? A garden planner keeps records, plans, observations and other information that relates to your garden. A Garden planner, but, is also referred to as a garden journal. It could be an electronic or a physical planner. It’s as simple as keeping records in a notebook or using note cards. A well-planned garden is a productive garden. In planning and keeping records of your garden, you avoid repeating mistakes and frustration over wasted time and space. There are no rules on how to keep a garden planner, and if you keep it simple, you’re more likely to stick with it through the year. Take a few minutes to write down what’s ongoing with the plants, soil, weather, harvest etc. This will allow you to compare growing seasons, and predict when things are likely to happen next year. Record the important things as soon as possible so you don’t forget. Here are some of the things you’ll want to record in your planner: A sketch of your garden layout from season to season, expenses, daily, weekly or monthly observations, A list of successful plants, pest and problems, to-do list, plants along with their growing requirements, manure recipes, etc. Keeping a garden planner is an important part of the gardening process. It’s amazing how much you forget about the details at the beginning of the season. Getting A Garden Planner A garden planner is not difficult to get depending on the approach you decide to take, If you are a tech-savvy electronic planner, this is a way to go. There are lots of garden planner or journal apps you can select from. Yet, you can use Microsoft word, excel, calendar schedule software to create a digital planner for yourself. If you want to use a hardcopy planner, you can buy one that suits you. There are several printable garden planners templates online designed to have the notes about your garden endeavors organized. Download your free printable garden planner. You can as well create your own if you prefer to. A notebook or note card using a ring binder works best. It allows you to insert sheets of graph paper, calendar pages, pockets for your seed packets and plant tags, and pages for your photographs. Why You Need to use a Garden Planner A Garden planner can become a unique history of what grows where and when. Although It won’t answer all your questions, you’ll at least know what you put in certain plants. Keeping a garden planner gives you a written record of your garden layouts, plans, successes, and failures. And you’ll learn about your plants and soil as you go. Having a garden planner encourages you to document successes, challenges, and mistakes and is the most valuable reference guide you can own. It helps you learn from your success and mistakes, and improve your gardening skills. For vegetable gardeners, an important function of the planner is tracking crop rotation. Planting the same crop in the same location each time depletes the soil and encourages pests and diseases. Plant many vegetables on a three- to five-year rotation schedule. Your garden layout sketches serve as a valuable planning aid from year to year. The Garden planner is the perfect way to create plans for your growing area and organize your garden. Make the best use of the space you have, avoid wasting time or resources allowing for bumper harvests! Keep track of your expenses with a garden planner. See how much you spent on seeds, plants, mulch, etc. at the end of the planting season. Keeps you on top of what jobs to do. Keep records of pest diseases encountered through a planting season and the method, recipe used to eradicate it. Worksheets in a Garden Planner Garden plan worksheet This worksheet helps you create your garden design, the worksheet, printed with lines made up of a regular grid which serve as a guide, this allows for ease in creating a design and makes it more accurate and realistic when translating your design on the ground in your garden. Square foot garden plan worksheet This worksheet helps you to plan a square foot or square meter garden, it contains several square foot boxes allowing you to plan what crops you want to grow, You can also use this to plan for a raised bed. It answers the question of what you are growing in each box, It gives you a general overview plan, plant compatibility, before actually growing them. Garden to do list Like we have a to-do list for our everyday life and activities, This sheet is well designed to help you create a to do list for your garden, be it a long term or short term goal. Planting garden planner This helps you take note of what you planted or when you intend to plant a crop. When to harvest, If you intend planting in batches this is a good worksheet to have to keep track of your dates. Garden journal It’s a well lined paper for taking your personal notes about your views, observation, lessons, plans etc. in your garden. Garden expenses worksheet This helps you to be accountable to money spent when it comes to your garden, it’s used to track your expenses, for seeds or seedlings, tools, manure etc. you bought. Seed starting tracker This helps you to keep track of when you should plant seeds or transplant seedlings in your garden, This gives you an edge and helps you plan the correct harvest date. Fertilizer or soil amendment record Different plants need different times to apply manure, This helps you plan, take note of when to or when you applied fertilizer or manure to the soil. And any other form of soil improvement recipe, you can track your progress using this sheet With this you can be on point applying manure at the right time. Pest and problems sheet With this you take note of any pest or problem you experience in your garden and how you resolved it, This helps you remember challenges experienced in previous planting years and how to avoid or improve on them. Plant tracker This sheet helps you track each of your plant from when planted till harvest time and the care in-between. Click the download button to get a free printable garden planner Download How do you keep track of your garden activities?