Putting your planner together
- Leave all five pages on for a full set, or tap the ones you don't need.
- Type a garden name and a year if you want them in the title of every page.
- For the bed layout, choose what one square stands for, how many squares run across the page and the orientation.
- Pick the paper and a color, download the PDF and print at 100 % or actual size. A shrink-to-fit setting changes the size of the squares, and with it the scale of your sketch.
Sketching beds to scale
Measure the plot first: the outer edges, then every bed, path, shed, tree and water tap you want on the plan. Choose a grid with enough squares for the longest side. With 1 ft per square, a bed 4 ft wide and 8 ft long covers 4 by 8 squares, and a path 2 ft wide takes two squares. The numbers along the top and left edge let you count without a ruler, and every fifth line is darker (every fourth on the 16-square grid) so longer runs are quicker to read off.
Draw in pencil first. Once the outline is right, fill each bed with a color or a symbol and explain it in the Key box, for example "B1 raised bed" or a hatched square for gravel. Mark north on the compass rose to match your garden: if the plot sits at an angle to the page, turn the plan rather than redrawing it, and write a note next to the rose. These are the grid sizes for each paper and orientation, in squares across by squares down:
| Paper | 10 across | 16 across | 20 across |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Letter, portrait | 10 × 9 | 16 × 15 | 20 × 19 |
| US Letter, landscape | 10 × 8 | 16 × 13 | 20 × 17 |
| A4, portrait | 10 × 11 | 16 × 17 | 20 × 22 |
| A4, landscape | 10 × 7 | 16 × 12 | 20 × 15 |
For a garden bigger than the grid, choose Write in and give each square a larger size, such as 2 ft, or draw each part of the garden on its own sheet.
The planting and harvest logs
Give every sowing or planting its own row in the planting log. Bed takes the name or number you used in the key, so a row always points back to a spot on the plan. Fill in Germinated when the first seedlings show and First harvest when you pick for the first time. Notes is for the things you will want to know next spring: a cold snap, a pest, a variety that bolted or one you would grow again. For sowing times, spacing and days to harvest, check your local extension service or the seed packet.
The harvest log takes one line per picking. Write the amount in the unit that suits the crop, such as a weight, a count or a number of bunches, and keep to the same unit for one plant all season so the lines can be added up.
The yearly task calendar
Each month has a box with ruled lines and a tick box in front of each one. The boxes are left empty on purpose: when to sow, plant out, prune or mulch depends on your climate, so dates printed here would not fit most gardens. Fill them from your local extension service, the seed packets and your own records, and tick a task off once it is done.
The seed inventory
Go through your seed box before you order. List each packet with its variety, and if the packet shows a year, such as a packed-for date, copy it into Packed for year. Quantity can be a number of packets, a weight or a rough count. Source is where it came from: a shop, a seed swap or plants you saved seed from yourself.
Keeping records from year to year
Print a fresh set each season and keep the finished sheets together in a binder or folder, newest at the front. The old bed layouts show what grew where, which helps if you move crops around from one year to the next. The planting log shows when things actually came up in your garden, and the harvest log shows which plants were worth the space. After a few seasons, the task calendar you write for yourself becomes the most useful page in the set, because it fits your own plot.
Tools for building and filling beds
Once a bed is on paper, the square footage calculator works out its area, including odd shapes. The mulch and soil calculator turns that area and a depth into cubic yards and bags of mulch, topsoil or compost. For gravel paths between the beds, the gravel calculator gives cubic yards and tons, and the fence calculator counts posts, rails, pickets or panels if the garden needs a fence around it.
Frequently asked questions
Is the garden planner free?
Yes. Print it as often as you like, for your own garden, an allotment group or a school garden. There is no signup, and the only branding is a small line with our web address at the bottom of each page.
Can I print only some of the pages?
Yes. Every page is switched on when you open the planner; tap a page under Pages to leave it out. At least one page always stays in. To get several copies of one page, such as a bed layout for the front and one for the back garden, print that page more than once in your print dialog.
Why does the task calendar have no sowing or planting dates?
The right time to sow, plant or prune depends on where you live, so dates printed for one region would be wrong for many others. The month boxes stay empty for your own tasks. For timing, check your local extension service or the seed packet, and add what you learn from your own garden.
Should I pick 1 ft or 30 cm per square?
Use the unit your tape measure and seed packets use. The two are close but not equal: a foot is 30.48 cm, so 20 squares of 30 cm come to about 10 cm less than 20 feet. If you want a different scale, such as one square for half a meter, choose Write in and fill in the scale by hand.
How many squares does the bed layout grid have?
You choose 10, 16 or 20 squares across, and the page fills with as many full rows as fit. On US Letter in portrait that is 20 × 19 squares at the finest setting; the guide below lists every paper and orientation.
Why are some characters missing from the garden name or year?
The PDF uses a plain font that covers English and most Western European letters, but no emoji and no other scripts such as Greek, Cyrillic or Chinese. Those characters are left out, a few rare accented letters print without the accent, and a note under the fields tells you when that happens. The preview shows the text as it will print.