UPDATE: You need to edit the following templates to correspond with your own frost dates & growing zones OR you can get my awesome Seed Sowing Calculator where all the leg works is done for you. Punch in your frost dates and let the calculator do all the work for you!
So now that we’ve got our seeds all organized,
Wait. You did organize your seeds, right?
Of course you did.
So now that the seeds are organized, and I can see just how very many I have to sow this year, I sure had better be organized with my planting efforts as well!
Otherwise, I know me and I am bound to make mistakes, plant at the wrong time, miss seeds I should have planted sooner not leaving enough time for them to mature, or plant them too early and weaken the seed as well as the future plant which will lead to a whole host of problems in the months to come.
In an effort to be proactive, I’ve made a schedule that I’ll be using for the next 4 months.
And since I know I won’t want to go through the hassle of calculating all those planting dates again next year I further streamlined the whole process and made the preparations for sowing next year go more smoothly by making a seed sowing schedule.
I always choose to do my seed sowing on Saturdays and through the use of a template I made this year, will only need to match up dates next year to make this work. (And remove types I choose not to use again or add in new ones.) Piece of cake!
My last frost date is around the last Saturday in March and I stick to that religiously no matter how nice a spring we’re having. In fact, this year, I’m bumping several things like cucumbers and corn back a week or two in the hopes that it will make for a hardier plant (i.e. less susceptible to pest damage).
And as I did with my other homemaking & homesteading binder templates, I’m sharing the free template with you!
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- Soil Block Maker Kit
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- 4 Tier Mini Greenhouse
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- Seed Dispenser
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- Grow Light System
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- Cow Pots
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- Paper Pot Maker
Seed Sowing Schedule {and a Template}
Now I don’t know what is going on with Google Drive and the new Pages (the word processor I use), but they aren’t playing well together and the file isn’t showing a preview. But you can still download and edit it for your own use, adjusting the seed types and sowing dates to better fit your area and needs.
It looks just like the previews of March, April, and June above.
I tried searching for other ways to share, but Google Docs are the only way I know of where you can download and make your own changes so I’m sticking with it.
To download it to your computer, visit this LINK and either click on the black downward pointing arrow in the upper right corner or click File, Download. Either should work. And then you can have a basic template all ready to go (regardless of what word processor you use).
UPDATE: I’ve added the document to Dropbox- you don’t need an account to download the file.
.pages file is HERE
.docx file is HERE
.pdf file is HERE
You should be able to edit both once you download them. Please let me know if you run into any troubles and I’d be glad to try and help out!
Happy Sowing!
You're the best.
I am always jealous of long garden periods. Would you believe many people refuse to put tomatoes in the ground until June 1st around here? Late May is our last frost date- making a much shorter growing season. It is SO frustrating. Enjoy those many extra months of growing things!
I wonder if you’re reading it wrong… I start the seeds early, but they don’t get transplanted in the soil until last week of May. We don’t get tomatoes until nearly Sept. I try to be glad we even get that much because I’ve seen folks in the NW who can’t grow them at all without a greenhouse.
I heart Brandywines! 🙂
Oh I did! I missed the INDOOR column! Well in THAT case, you and I are similarly lined and will likely be harvesting the same things at the same time! Brandywine lovers unite!
This looks like a great tool, but can’t get it to download as a file that I can change. Just downloads as pictures of what you have. Guess I’ll have to make it from scratch. Thanks for the idea.
I had a comment on FB where they were having trouble with the download too. I wondered if something like this would work since it is a .pages document. http://www.zamzar.com
I have other templates loaded to Google Docs and they were editable. I don’t know what the difference is here :/ I’m going to keep trying to figure out a change besides iCloud. Everyone who has an iTunes/Apple ID account can use that, but I don’t like the thought of putting a document out there than just anyone can edit from the internet. It would take just one wrong person to put something questionable in there and I don’t have time to babysit a document 🙂
I’ll keep looking. Sorry for the trouble!
THANKS! I have it now.
You have your last frost date as March. Don’t you mean May? Mine is May 15. Just curious…
Oops. Thanks Ginny! 🙂
Success with the .docx file! Thanks!
How was the formatting? Everything lined up ok?
Just fine,Thanks again!
I had no success opening with either…
What is your word processor? Do you think the .docx might work if I emailed to you? If so just let me know- (no need to make your email address public either. I can see it here.)
I would prefer a pdf file. Anything other than that I have difficulty with . I don’t like Office — too complicated for me so I didn’t bother upgrading it. Anything else I just generally copy/ paste to word pad and print.
oopsie.. I forgot to thank you so much for your kind gesture 🙂
PDF is uploaded 🙂 Link is here: http://www.dropbox.com/s/2i6yrk1ykjroymc/Seed%20Sowing%20Template%20%28SHARE%29.pdf
And you’re welcome! Take Care AnnMarie!
I got it! Thanks again ever so much. 🙂
docx file worked for me, pages file did not. Thanks
Wheres May?
Do you not plant anything in May?
What zone is this for and how can I adjust it for mine?
Yes, I got my seeds organized last year but it never occurred to me to chart them for seed sowing. Brilliant! I will attempt to revise yours for Florida temps and if doesn’t work, I’ll make my own. What I needed was the IDEA. Many thanks.
P.S. Your chart is making the rounds on Facebook.
awesome – thanks!
She says the last frost is at the end of May so I'm guessing she is slightly north of Illinois somewhere?
i'm in southeast wisconsin and i would use this for me…we never plant before june 1st for most things
Thank you thank you thank you!
It's in the file, I just didn't take a screenshot of all the months.
I do and it's in the file, I just didn't take a screenshot of all the months. Guess I do see how that could be confusing 🙂 I'll add it in.
I'm in Zone 5. I didn't do any of the legwork so far as zone adjustments are concerned. This is more so that once you do the work, you don't have to go back and do it again in successive years. I would encourage everyone to take their micro-climates into consideration (using USDA zones only as a guideline). Whether your garden is north or south facing, gets some shade during certain parts of the day etc…, all should play into when you start seeds or transplant seedlings. For example, my kitchen garden is on a south facing slope and as I watched the snow melt over the past few days, I'm noticing where there some snowy patches remain. Were it a smaller space, I would probably wait on planting warm soil loving seeds like corn and beans a week later than the the recommendations by the USDA. If that all makes any sense 🙂
Oh and you asked if you can adjust it… Absolutely! It's completely editable after download and once you do that you can record when you planted things this year and make adjustments as necessary.
This is awesome. Thank you for posting.
We are new to gardening and this info is great! We just started some seeds indoors but it’s hard to keep track of everything! Thanks so much!
I tried downloading each version and all open empty or don’t open at all.
Hi, I wasn’t able to get them to open. Are these still available? Thanks! Shalonne
Yes they are still available. What format would work best for you? It’s odd to me how some people can get them to work and others can’t. Trying to figure out how to get it to work universally is a lot tougher than I had imagined. Sorry for the trouble :/
No problem with Dropbox. Thanks. I think the template will be a great tool for us. My wife and I have a raised garden bed. There are eight 4 x 4 beds.
We’ve had so many wonderful tomatoes this year. The rareseeds.com provides tomatoes you can’t possibly buy in any store. Since we live in Zone 8, we have a long growing season. Again, much thanks for the template!
Dealing with a little tomato envy here Jon. Ours are loaded… but they’re all green! Now the weather has been cooler and wet so who knows if blight won’t get them before we do. Glad the download worked for you… hope the template does too.
Thank you, I saved the images to my phone to print out later….
Appreciate this post. Let me ttry it out.