Friday, March 9, 2012

Kitchen Garden Planner

I just started playing around with Kitchen Gardeners International veggie planner. It's an online tool that is free to try out for 30 days and is $25 after that for a year subscription.

It will save your plans from year to year, and remember what perennial crops will be retained for next year's plans.

At first glance, I like it. I've never done a plan like this before other than on scratch paper or in my head. This way I won't lose or forget what I've planned. Also, there is a lot of impromptu planting that doesn't match what I originally intended--especially when I have too many starts to plant out! I can then go back and change the plan to match what is actually in the ground.

Here's a look of what I have so far. Sorry...I know it's small.



It's fun dragging around the crops and virtually planting them out on the screen. I wish there was a space for noting varieties and a few more crops like cardoon and hardy kiwi which I had to draw myself.

I'd also like a feature where I can add my shrubs and perennials since I don't have a designated raised bed for my veggies. I think there should be a big push for this since I'm sure I'm not the only one who plants their crops along with the more or less permanent focal points in the garden.

Or, better yet, a way to scan an aerial shot of the bed (easy to do from a 6' ladder or your porch) and overlay the crops. I'm going to explore the features a little more and see what I come up with. Definitely going to make a go at this and try to plan out both my front and back gardens.

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