When you first start planning your garden, it can be overwhelming. There is so much information out there. How do you determine which information is the best or how do you know if it is even correct? There are a lot of reliable free resources out there to help you plan your garden. In this blog post, we will discuss 7 free resources that I have personally used during my gardening journey.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you make a purchase using these links. For more information, see my full disclosure here.
The Best Free Resources to Help You Plan Your Garden
- Old Farmer’s Almanac First and Last Frost Date Calculator
- USDA Hardiness Zone Map
- Johnny’s Key Growing Information
- Johnny’s Seed-Starting Date Calculator
- Osborne Seed Planting Guide
- Osbourne Quality Seed’ Count Chart
- Seedtime
Old Farmer’s Almanac First and Last Frost Date Calculator
The Old Farmer’s Almanac First and Last Frost Date Calculator is a simple tool that allows you to put in a location near you to determine your last and first frost dates. Knowing your frost dates will help you determine the right time to start planting your garden. Planting too early can expose tender plants to frost damage, while planting too late may result in plants that don’t end up produce before your first frost. By knowing your last frost date in spring and first frost date in fall, you can safely plant frost-sensitive plants without risking damage.
USDA Hardiness Zone Map
The USDA Hardiness Zone Map is used for determining your growing zone. Growing zones (AKA hardiness zones) are the standard by which gardeners can determine which perennial plants are compatible in their area. Growing zones are based on the average annual minimum (lowest) temperature in a given area.
Johnny’s Key Growing Information
Johnny’s has a plethora of free information on their website. The Johnny’s Key Growing Information contains essential information for planting and growing vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and more. Each vegetable, fruit, flower, herb has detailed growing information on how to plant, ideal growing conditions, how to harvest, and even information on storage for maximum freshness.
Johnny’s Seed-Starting Date Calculator
The Johnny’s Seed-Starting Date Calculator allows you to enter your spring frost-free date (last frost date) and it will automatically calculate when you should start seeds and when you should transplant seedlings.
Osborne Quality Seed’s Planting Guide
Osborne Quality Seed’s Planting Guide gives you detailed information about how many seeds are needed per 100’ row (which may be far more than you would ever plant). The most useful piece of this guide is the planting distance which is listed for both in-row and between row as well as the planting depth. This takes the guess work out of plant spacing.
Osborne Quality Seed’s Seed Count Chart
Osbourne Quality Seed’s Seed Count Chart is incredibly helpful when ordering seeds. Many seed companies will sell seeds by weight. You can use this chart to determine how many seeds there are per ounce to help you determine how many seeds you need to buy or are buying.
Seedtime
Seedtime is a crop planning tool that makes planning your garden incredibly easy. When you set up a free Seedtime account, you will put in your zip code which will give you your frost dates and growing zone. You can then add crops and Seedtime will calculate when you should start seeds (if applicable), when to transplant or direct seed, when you should prep your growing space, when you need to cultivate, and when and how long you should expect to harvest for each particular crop.
Additionally, Seedtime allows you to quickly add succession of crops, so you have access to fresh produce throughout the growing season. Once you have all of your information added, you can use the Tasks area to show you the tasks for the upcoming week to ensure you stay on track.
There is a paid version of Seedtime; however, it isn’t necessary to upgrade your account. I am confident that even using the free version of Seedtime will be huge for the planning and success of your garden. Seedtime really does take the guess work out of garden planning and keeps all of your records in one spot.
Conclusion
This is not an exhaustive list of free resources, but it is a list of free resources that I have personally used and found helpful in my gardening journey. I hope you will explore them and use them in your garden planning.
More Gardening Content:
- How to Take a Seed Inventory
- How to Start Seeds Indoors Without Grow Lights
- How to Start Sees Indoors Using Grow Lights
- The Best Seed Starting Supplies
- How to Create Soil Blocks for Healthy Plant Starts
SOme of our favorite places to order seeds:
Some of oUr Favorite Seed Starting supplies:
- Sharpie Extreme
- Masking tape or Painters tape
- 128 trays or 72 cell trays
- 1020 trays (solid bottom or slotted)
- Soil blocker or Swift Blocker
- Seed starting mix
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