5 Resources to Help You Plan Your Garden that Aren’t the Internet
There’s tons of information online about the best ways to plan your garden and make planting plans, but often it can feel overwhelming to pour through pages of information and advice. Some of it might not even be applicable to your area or climate, some of it is contracting.
Making a planting plan in your garden can be key to your success: it can help you avoid mistakes like planting too early or too late, give you some structure to your season, and give you clarity around varieties, what to expect, and more.
This week, we wanted to share some of our favorite resources that can help you plan your garden that AREN’T the internet.
1. Our $9 Planting Calendar
Our planting calendar breaks down what to plant, month-by-month, and it’s specifically designed for Columbus and the greater Central Ohio area. It also features essential information for beginner gardeners like an overview of the seasons we have in Ohio and key information about 50 of the most popular fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. The calendar also uses a key to help guide you through some of the most important planting nuances, like what plants are frost-hardy, what plants need trellises, what we recommend direct seeding, and much more. You can get our planting calendar here.
2. Rodale’s All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
If we could have only one gardening book on our shelf, this would be it! There’s tons of information about how to prepare new raised beds, how to make compost, and different vegetable crops you can plant in your garden. It’s thorough and also includes great information about non-edible crops, too.
3. The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food
We LOVE this book for vegetable gardeners, and frequently bring it along to Garden Coaching sessions to show off just how awesome we think it is. This book features important information about any vegetable and fruit you could possibly want to plant, separated by crop.
4. Seed Catalogues
Seed catalogues are a gardener’s best friend! They include tons of information about special traits of varieities- for example, something can be slow-bolting, pest resistant, long-blooming! The information in seed catalogues can help you plan a terrific year in your garden (also- check out our post about how to organize your seed ordering list!).
5. Farmer’s Markets
These are SO overlooked. Farmers are literally experts at growing fruits and vegetables in your area, and, speaking from experience here, most of them LOVE to talk about gardening and growing food.
Grab your cutest wicker basket, head to the farmer’s market, and ask local farmers about their favorite varieties, crops to grow, and general recommendations. Here in central Ohio, we have the Worthington Farmer’s Market that’s open year-round, and features some amazing local farmers.