I just finished part of my garden plan for 2010.

Yes it is nearly December with leaves still trying to fall from the trees.

But I need my kitchen chair back.

This past summer I made a personal goal to unpack, sort, pitch and organize  all the unpacked boxes left from our move in November 2008. Some of those boxes were still packed from our move in 2002 and a few were packed for an earlier move. About 90% of the boxes have been sorted so I am pleased with the progress.

During the sorting I found my seed stash. The seed stash story is familiar to anyone who has ever moved: put the important item (seeds) in a well marked box, carefully move the well marked box, at the new home carefully place the well marked box in a location that is very obvious and cannot possibly be be forgotten.  Important item in well marked box in obvious location promptly disappears.

Once the seeds were found I placed the entire stash on a kitchen chair. There, off to the side, the stash has remained these past few months. A time out for bad behaviour if you please.

Now holiday time has arrived and we really need our chair.

New problem: how many of these seeds are still worth keeping? Mostly I have no idea. Tomatoes are good for at least five years while onions are barely good for one. Lettuce? Beans? Corn? No idea. 

Never fear, all is not lost – behold the power of the internet.  A quick search led to this handy chart from Iowa State University. 

Now the seeds can be sorted, pitched and otherwise organized.

New problem: how soon will I need these seeds again? It has become painfully obvious to me that all my garden know-how and skill learned at my Daddy’s knee in Illinois isn’t easily transferable to my southern homestead. The garden is forever too early or too late, rarely just right and always frustrating. What good is knowing how to do something well if it never turns out right? Sometimes timing is everything.

Again the power of the internet to the rescue. Months ago I posted a link to an on-line gardening planner.  Use the drop down menu to choose spring or fall garden, a planing week,last spring frost, first fall frost, click the big button and get your growing guide. How much easier can garden planning be?  Easy…unless life keeps you busy, the weather is terrible and checking the computer for this weeks garden plan gets forgotten in the rush and delay.

There must be an answer. Myon-line friend Anna provided the answer though I did not realize it at the time. Anna is super organized and gets more done in one day than most people get done in a week. She posted a link to a calendar site that prints 12 weeks at a time on one page.  A season at a glance if you will.

So now  there are seeds that need to be sorted & put away, a garden planning site, a calendar and a plan. I printed off a 2010 calendar with each page showing a season, pulled up the garden planning site, grabbed a pencil and began. Each week on the calendar got plugged into the planning site. The squares are tiny and remember the planning is for a week at a time – using their info I ended up with these areas: Indoor (starting), ongoing, last chance, harden off, Sow outdoors, on going, last chance, transplant, last chance.

Sound confusing? I need to color code so sowing indoors (sow, on-going, last chance) is one color, sow outdoors (sow, on-going, last chance), harden and transplant (on-going, last chance) are all different colors. If the scanner were working I’d post a picture.

What I discovered is that in this garden zone (6B/7) indoor sowing begins the week of January 18th- much, much earlier than I had realized.  Most of the rush of planting outdoors occurs at least a month earlier too. By mid May the summer garden is basically in except for those items that can be staggard for continuous harvests: green beans and corn for example.  Fall indoor planting begins in June -again much, much earlier.

I’m pleased with this evenings work. Now those seeds can be sorted, pitched and organized. The small green house Dad passed on will stay inside to be used soon after Christmas. There are a few garden items not on the garden planner schedule that need to be looked up – sweet potatoes, peanuts, herbs and flowers come to mind. Doesn’t everything need to be tweaked to fit properly?

One step closer to growing more of our own….we’ll get there sooner or later.