I know having a spreadsheet in the same sentence as gardening is a little cringy but hear me out. Gardening is hard, and the best gardeners are organized, and try as I might to get my seed start dates, depths, spacing and side notes onto paper in an organized fashion... it just ain't happening so enter the SPREADSHEET! I first started using spreadsheets as an aid in my gardening organization last year and let me tell you... game changer. I learned ways to make my spreadsheet game even better this year, and that is what I am going to share with you today. This year, is the first year that I will be starting my garden completely from seed. We are also adding multiple beds to our property so we can grow vegetables for storage through the winter months. Starting seeds indoors adds a whole new level of complexity to your organization, specifically another set of dates to worry about. All of the information you need to know for your spreadsheet can be found on the back of your seed packet. The first thing you will want to note is the recommended planting method. You will likely read the terms "Direct Sow" or "Start Seeds Indoors". The first column of my spreadsheet tracks the planting method because knowing the seed start date isn't helpful if I don't know whether it should be planted inside, or directly in my garden outdoors. The second thing I note for the "Start Seeds Indoors" packets is the start date, as well as the planting or transplanting date, this is when you will stick your seedling into your garden for the rest of it's days. Your packet may or may not have a date for when to transpant. For several of my seeds I used the Snake River Seed Cooperative Guide. Please note this is designed for gardens in the Treasure Valley/6B/7A. Now your packets will likely say something like "start seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost date". This means you need to know your last frost date. In order to know your last frost date, you need to know what garden zone you are in. You can find that information out here, by entering your Zip Code. Then you can go here to determine your last frost date, this guide said 5/7/24 for our home, but I go by the 5/10/24 date as many Boise Gardeners do.
Once you know your last frost date, I make a guide to the far right on my spreadsheet with my last frost date, and then 1-12 weeks prior to my last frost date, so I can simply glance over to know what date is 7 weeks prior to my last frost. For those math geniuses out there you may not need this guide, but for some of us, it is helpful. Last but not least I have a column for my planting depth and transplant spacing. The seed planting depth will range from surface (barely under the soil) to 1" deep typically, and the transpant spacing will be anywhere from 1" to multiple feet depending what you are growing. PAY ATTENTION and R-E-S-P-E-C-T (sing it y'all) these figures. Do not do what I do and be tempted to squeeze in double the number of plants it says hoping for a larger harvest, you will have the opposite result. Once you've got all of your indoor start seeds categorized you can move onto your direct sow. Same process except you only have one date to worry about instead of two. The date you put it into the ground. Note those planting depths and spacing again, when I am doing direct sow, I like to use the thinning spacing guideline to save on seed waste, and extra work. Once you have everything in your spreadsheet you can use the "Sort Sheet" feature to put everything in order or when you need to do it. In Google Sheets you do this by selecting all the rows you want to sort, going to the data section, sort range, and sorting by your seed start/direct sow column. Voila, just like that you have an organized guide with all of your seeds, the dates you need to do something, how deep and how far apart you need to plant them. The spreadsheet is also great for making notes throughout the year about germination rates, what worked well, what didn't, what you want to grow more or less of next season. You think you will remember, but winter brain is real, and you will want to grow everythinggg under the sun in the middle of January. Trust me.
While you are doing this I highly recommend grouping your seeds into the date/planting method categories to save time searching and organizing seeds when you go to plant. I used the binder method this year. Watch this quick video to see me sorting!
If you want to listed to my episode about Seed Starting Success which covers the equipment and process I'll be using you can do so below!
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