How do you go about planning your garden for the year? Do you run to the garden center when it feels like spring and grab a little of this and that? Or do you pick up a few packets of seeds to plant in your flower beds and hope for the best? Do you purchase vegetable starts only to find that you planted way more zucchini than you could ever eat? And you can’t even give them away.

Whether you’re planting flowers or vegetables, it’s a good idea to plan for what you want to grow this year. When you determine ahead of time what you need, you’ll be less likely to over-plant some things while under-planting others. And your flower pots and borders will have a coordinated look, instead of a jumbled appearance.

It’s easy to get excited in the spring when the cold winter winds give way to warming weather. Many of us head to the nursery to be inspired by all the plants they have growing. We want to try everything. So we end up with a mishmash of this and that in our gardens.

One common problem that many gardeners have when planning is the once and done mentality. You plant everything out in the spring and you’re done planting for the season. This type of planting can leave your garden imbalanced.

Here are a few examples…

• You fill your flower pots with lovely spring blooms. When the heat of summer hits, the plants die back and your pots look terrible.
• You seed your flower beds with annuals that don’t bloom until August and so your beds are colorless until late in the summer.
• You plant cilantro in May so you can have a large amount of this delicious herb to make salsa. However, the cilantro is ready months before the tomatoes ripen. The spring-planted cilantro is gone by the time the tomatoes are ready to enjoy.
• You plant spinach in the early spring. By June, the rising temperatures cause the spinach to bolt and it’s finished for the season.
• You end up with a massive amount of tomatoes ripening all at the same time. Because you can’t eat or process that much all at once, much of it goes to waste.

When you don’t think through the growing times and lifespan of your plants, you can end up with these types of mismatches.

Your goal should be to have full, lush garden beds and containers that are filled with flowers from spring all the way through the autumn. And for your vegetable garden, you want to coordinate your plants so that you don’t end up with everything ripening all at once. Timing is everything! And planning is key to avoiding these problems.

4 Steps to Plan Your Garden

Step 1… Decide What You Want to Grow

Determining what you want to grow in your garden is the most important planning step you can take. Start this process by making a list of all the flowers and vegetables you would like to grow this year. If you’re not sure, then do a little research. Garden magazines, seed companies, garden books or even your favorite gardener can give you ideas on what to plant.

Next, breakdown your garden into specific areas or zones. Consider what you need for that individual space. For example, what flowers do you want to grow in your containers? How about the cutting garden? What will you plant in your flower beds this year?

Consider your vegetables. What will you grow in your main vegetable patch? Do you have a kitchen garden or herb bed to fill? For each of these garden areas, consider what plants you need and add them to your list.

As you plan your garden areas, think about the varieties of plants you want to include. When filling a flower bed, you’ll want some tall varieties such as dahlias in back of the bed. Plant medium height flowers such as zinnias in the middle. And include geraniums and other shorter varieties in the front of the bed.

If you’re planting tomatoes, consider how you’ll use them. Cherry tomatoes are great for snacking. Paste tomatoes make the best tomato sauce and salsa. And great big slicing tomatoes are delicious with your meals.

As you list each plant, ask yourself these questions…

• Where will you plant it?
• Do you have enough variety?
• How many of each will you grow?
• Do you have enough space?
• Is it easy to grow?

As you plan your garden for the year, this is a good time to pull out your garden notes from last year. We often forget the details, so it’s nice to have a reminder of what worked and what you need to reconsider for this growing season.

How to get 3 seasons of crops…

Another important consideration in planning your garden is how to have flowers and vegetables all season long. Take flowers, for example. If you want to enjoy flowers through all the seasons, you’ll need to select different types of plants. If you just plant annuals, then most of your flowers will bloom in late July through early September. But what about the other months?

Planting spring-blooming bulbs and hardy annuals will give you flowers in April, May, and June. Adding in perennials such as peonies can fill in your flower beds in the spring, while hydrangeas and roses provide flowers from June through the autumn. And don’t forget to add some late bloomers such as asters into the mix.

How about vegetables? Start with early, cool season crops such as spinach, kale and peas. Then add in the warm season veggies like tomatoes and green beans. Finish the garden with additional plantings of those cool weather vegetables in the late summer.

As you’re selecting your plants, consider how long it takes the flowers to bloom and the vegetables to ripen. This way, you can choose plants that have varying ripening times. When you select tomatoes, for example, you can choose one variety that ripens in 50 days, a second that ripens in 66 days, and a third variety that’s ready in 75 days. That way, they won’t all ripen at once.

You can also include some unknown factors as you make your garden plan. You’ll need a thriller plant for your containers, but you’re not sure what you want. Just determine how many you need and save that for a trip to the garden center this spring. As long as you know how many plants to buy and the color scheme, it’s easy to purchase when the time comes.

If you’re still not sure what you want to grow, start with a basic list of each flower, herb, or vegetable you think you’d like. You can always make adjustments to your plan as you get closer to planting season.

Step 2… Make a List of What You Need to Purchase

The next step to plan your garden is to determine how you’ll start these plants and what supplies to purchase. Using the plant list you created in Step 1, consider if you will grow from seed or will purchase plants from your local nursery or garden center. Once you know how you’ll grow your plants, you can think about getting the supplies.

Pull out any seeds you have left from previous years and assess what you can use. If stored properly, most seeds will last for several years. If you’re not sure if your seeds are viable, you can test a few seeds to see what the germination rate is. You can find the directions on how to test your seeds in this post… 10 Ways To Get Your Garden Ready For Spring.

From your plant list, determine which seeds you still need and get them purchased as soon as possible. Companies sell out of “favorite” varieties early in the year, so don’t wait until planting time to get the seeds purchased.

For plants that you want to grow from nursery starts, add how many of each plant you need to your list. Keep this list handy, so when you go shopping for plants you’ll have it ready and waiting. No second guessing once you get to the nursery.

Read: How to Save Flower Seeds From Your Garden

Step 3… Create a Timeline and Layout of When to Plant

At this stage, it’s good to map out when you should plant your seeds or starts. The first thing you must determine is your last frost date. Once you know this, you can plan when to start seeds indoors and when it’s safe to plant outdoors.

Planting seeds indoors is a great way to get a jumpstart on the growing season. Using your last average frost date, count back the number of weeks you need to get started. For many plants, start your seeds 4-6 weeks before your last frost date. However, this can vary depending on the seeds.

Check the seed packages to note the details for starting seeds indoors. You should be able to get a good idea of when to plant your seeds. Some plants dislike being transplanted. Sow those seeds directly into the garden once the threat of frost is past. Your seed packets will provide all this valuable information.

As you’re creating your timeline, consider succession planting. With this style of planting, you don’t plant all at once, but you stagger your plantings so everything does not bloom or ripen at once. This provides a continuous supply of crops such as radishes or spinach to enjoy. You can also use succession planting for a spring crop and a fall crop. The benefit of spreading out your plantings is that you don’t end up with a once-and-done garden of produce or flowers.

I highly recommend you create a visual map of your garden beds and borders. Drawing out your beds and borders gives you a physical reminder of what you want to plant. I’m fond of the pencil-and-paper drawings of my garden beds, but if you would like to use an online tool, you can find a large selection here: 11 Garden Planners and Programs.

Step 4… Implement Your Plan

This is the fun part when you actually plant your seeds. It’s still a bit early in most regions to get started, but planting time will be here before you know it. Especially if you plant seeds indoors. Now that you know what you’re going to plant, you’re prepared to get the ball rolling when it’s time. So get the dates on your calendar for starting seeds. Mark down when you can head to the nursery to pick out your plants.

As we get closer to the growing season, don’t be afraid to make adjustments as needed. If you decide to start your container flowers from seeds but they don’t sprout, it’s okay to grab a replacement flat at your garden center. If you see a beautiful flower that you’ve never heard of before, buy one and add it to your flower bed. The purpose of planning is to give you a direction to make the process easier, but it’s okay to change things up if you need to.

If this all seems overwhelming, then I suggest you start small. Start by planning just one small area of flowers or just one bed of vegetables. If you don’t have a large growing area, consider growing your flowers and vegetables in containers. As you gain confidence, you can find new areas to grow more produce and flowers.

For your most abundant garden ever, spend some time creating a plan of action before you ever plant a seed. You’ll be so glad you did when you’re feasting on fresh produce and enjoying beautiful bouquets.

When you plan your garden in advance, it’s so much easier to follow through and get your garden growing. Your flower beds won’t be a scattered hodgepodge. And you won’t have so much zucchini that you’re secretly leaving them on your neighbor’s porch at night. Planning makes all the difference.