Why a vegetable garden calendar is more useful than a sowing calendar

On July 20, 2022, I had no less than 12 cauliflowers. I left on July 21. When I returned 14 days later, I found 12 bolted cauliflowers on an exhausted soil in my garden. Such a waste! And besides, in July I don't eat cauliflower but want to enjoy the first juicy tomatoes. In order not to make this mistake again, I made these vegetable garden calendars per month (see above).

Having a vegetable garden is more than just putting seeds in the ground. You don't plan a vegetable garden in 1-2-3, it takes some time. It is consciously thinking and planning in function of food. Showing off vegetables from your own garden is fun, but if your efforts don't end up on your plate, it's all pointless.

Many people plan their vegetable garden based on a sowing calendar. For example, sowing cauliflower in March because it is possible according to the seed packet. I myself have also made the mistake very often. Far too many vegetables at the wrong time. Forget when you can sow what and start from the monthly calendars and click on harvest. In the harvest section of that month it states exactly which vegetables you can harvest from the vegetable garden in that month, if you have sown or planted them at the right time. In brackets it always states which crop you should choose.

In four steps to the right vegetables with our vegetable garden calendars

Plukkers’ vegetable garden calendars go beyond planting a seed and waiting for vegetables. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Choose your vegetables and the month in which you want to eat them

Choose a vegetable that you like to eat and decide when you want to eat it. In this example I will take Brussels sprouts. I like to eat Brussels sprouts from the moment the days get shorter until the beginning of spring. Let's say from October to the beginning of March.

Step 2: Check which crops are possible in the period that you want to harvest and eat using the sowing calendar

Go to the October vegetable garden calendar and click on the harvest icon below and see which crop is next to Brussels sprouts.

Right, you harvest sprouts in October via the summer crop or the mid-early crop. The summer crop produces sprouts in October and also the mid-early crop. Now it is up to me to decide which crop I will do. Remember that I also like to eat sprouts in early March.

Step 3: Choose your crops based on the sowing calendar or harvest calendar

Click on the green(t)e link in the harvest section of the October vegetable garden calendar. You will see the crop sheet with all crops and their growing period.

Brussels sprouts crop sheet

The information on this page is very valuable. If you see the 4 cultivation methods, you can already guess which crops are the most interesting for me. I will choose the Mid-early (harvest October to December) and the Late cultivation (harvest November to the end of March). The summer cultivation gives me Brussels sprouts in August and I don't feel like it at all at that moment. So I will sow my sprouts in March and April.

Step 4: How Many Plants to Grow for Your Family

Handing out lots of vegetables is great, everyone is happy with a gift from the vegetable garden. But often we only have limited vegetable garden space and we grow to provide for our own food. Some time ago I wrote an article about ' How much to sow and plant for my family '. On the link you will see for example that if you like to eat Brussels sprouts with 4 people in the family, you will have enough with 6 plants. Know that a Brussels sprout plant quickly takes up 1 m² of space in your vegetable garden. So don't grow too many, unless you eat Brussels sprouts every day, then you have to adjust the quantities. But with 3 plants Mid-early cultivation and 3 plants Late cultivation, you can eat with 4 people all winter long.

vegetable garden calendar : in addition to the sowing calendar, there is also a storage calendar and a food calendar with delicious recipes

In addition to sowing and harvesting, you can also see in the monthly vegetable garden calendar what you can have in your storage cupboard during that month, then again choose the right crop to get this. Click on the logo 'Stock' for this.

If you want recipes with the crops from the harvest and storage calendar, you can scroll all the way down in the calendar or click on the 'Eat' logo at the top of the vegetable garden calendars per month.

For all vegetables

In this example I talked about Brussels sprouts, but you can also use these vegetable garden calendars for lettuce , radish , endive , carrots or beans .

Thanks to the vegetable garden calendars, your vegetable garden will never be empty.

Planning your vegetable garden according to these 4 steps may seem like a lot of work at first. But think about how much time and space you will save throughout the year if you don't have to take care of 20 sprouts but 6. Let alone that you can drive around with your sprouts to hand them out. Think about how many novice or thoughtless vegetable gardeners sow masses of vegetables without anything ending up on the plate. With these vegetable garden calendars, you don't need 30 years of experience to do everything at the right time. An ideal winter job is to plan your vegetable garden season for next year now.

Also read the article about 'crop rotation in the vegetable garden ', so you can apply a few more tips that will give you even more results. Are you a novice vegetable gardener? Then definitely read our article ' Creating a vegetable garden - this is the ultimate guide to getting started '. Good luck and a good harvest!

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Tom