Create Your Own Planting Calendar Using This Site
Planning a complete garden doesn’t happen overnight. Everything from the best ways to prepare the soil to what to plant requires careful consideration – and perhaps nothing more important than timing. Whether you are a horticulturist or an intermediate horticulturist looking to level up, there are ways to schedule planting for optimal growth. You can do a lot of research, do soil tests, and stay up to date on weather forecasts, but if you’re looking for a less intense approach, Gilmour’s gardening site has created an online tool that will take most of the effort out of it. and helps you plan for a successful growing season before you buy your first seeds.
Why gardening calendars are important
Plants can only truly thrive under the right conditions, and the plants that work best for your garden will vary depending on your soil type, your climate, and the weather during the favorable growing season. The USDA has taken all of these factors into account and incorporated them into this interactive map to help you define your “ planting area ”. The different zones are based on the average temperatures at a given location and on the days between the first and last frost. Determining the conditions in the planting area will help you determine which plants will naturally thrive in your area and which may need additional assistance in the form of special soil preparation, additional fertilization, or other special care. Once you’ve decided on your zone, it’s time to figure out when to plant. This is where a tool from Gilmour comes to the rescue: they have compiled a database of information on various plants to help you create a personalized growing calendar – without getting lost in the weeds while researching whatever you want to grow in your garden.
How the seeding calendar works
Gilmore’s site first prompts you to enter a zip code; I entered a random zip code in Indiana and found out that it is located in zone six, where on average the last frost occurs on April 15 and the first frost on October 15, leaving you with about 183 days of growth. You will then be asked to select the type of plant you want to grow. The categories are broken down into flowers, fruits, herbs, and vegetables. You can choose as many as you want and you must select at least one to create a calendar.
What a sowing calendar can tell you
When you select your plants, the site will start creating a planting calendar. Next to each plant, you will see dates indicating when to sow (in this case, “sow” means to start the growing process inside), plant (or transplant), and harvest during that season. For example, in this particular region of Indiana, growers can start planting blueberries from mid-March to mid-June. Depending on when they are planted, they can be harvested from mid-June to mid-September. Herbs such as rosemary should ideally start growing indoors in January and should be ready to harvest by March. By planning what you are going to plant and when, you can ensure a rewarding gardening experience.