This is part two of our planning the growing season email series. Planning can be a little daunting, but when we are growing with our own labour and without machines, we have limited time and energy. Figuring out how to make the best use of that time and energy is key to having a great season. YOU get to decide what a great season looks like, and it’s ok if this changes.

We have around 50 beds of varying sizes, so I’ve long grappled with the limits of what I can fit in my head. I’ve done my share of spreadsheet planning, and it was useful for a couple of years. Both as a record and for getting to know our beds. But these days, I find spreadsheet planning less useful, because the changing weather makes crop timing inaccurate.

I know I’ve said this before, but it’s important to take time to understand what you want to grow, why, and a few steps you’re planning to take to get there. For planning, I spend much longer on the big picture, so that the small picture flows easily.

For a few weeks of the winter season, I walk through our beds with an eye for shade & sun, soil quality, and opportunities for specific crops. Walk throughs are powerful, because they allow me to see the context and start to plan out a few small steps: composting, clearing, timing. I walk through with Hana (our 10yo) and harvest most mornings, and while i’m doing that I think through what crop would be best to follow the one that’s finishing up. We look carefully at water systems, so that our big picture plan matches the water available to us.

If we can start summer crops early, they get established before the winter rain stops, and this helps a lot with water requirements throughout the year. But it’s also possible to start a little too early, especially with cucurbits (squash, watermelon etc). Having saved abundant seeds helps, because there is less cost to planting early and then plant again later if necessary.

I spend a bit of time figuring out general numbers of plants so that we’re supplied with both calories and nutrients, but I don’t micro-manage nearly as much as I once tried to.

For example, I calculate the minimum number of tomato plants required to keep our family in tomatoes for the whole year, then I multiple that number by 1.5, to allow for sales and disasters. I focus on heirloom Jam/plum tomatoes, because we eat most of our tomatoes in sauces and soups. Say I need 1.5kg tomatoes for 1kg of passata, and I would like around 100kg of passata, or 150kg paste tomatoes. I know I get around 5kg of tomatoes per plant, so I need at least 30 tomato plants to supply our basic needs. So I’ll plant around 45 for safety, usually from around 6 different varieties of plum tomatoes. Then around 10 just for fun tomatoes of various varieties— cherry and large tomatoes. So now I know I need space for around 60 tomato plants, and I’ll think about spacing and the best locations for those tomatoes as I walk around, knowing that I’ll always put basil and a few marigold in the beds, so I need to account for a little extra space.

I might look at a calorie crop like potato, sweet potato, butternut, and pumpkin with some level detail as well, then sweet peppers, cucumbers, brinjal, melons, watermelons, zucchini/courgettes, greens, early spring brassicas, more heat tolerant brassicas.

Our onions are only harvested around mid November, which is late for our primary summer crops to be planted. So I keep those beds as wild cards, for peanuts and beans, which are ok planted late.

Then key calorie crops of beetroot and carrots, and core nutrient crops of leafy greens, are planted throughout the year, ideally in fairly large volumes, as I harvest. So I try to roughly match harvest and planting volume.

And lastly, I try to keep our beds full as much of the time as I can. There are a few beds that are too shady in winter to do much, but otherwise, my assessment of success is: are my beds filled with healthy plants? Are they being eaten with very little waste, mainly by humans but where necessary also by animals?

Hopefully this didn’t sound more complex than it needed to be. Take or leave as it resonates, and know that whatever we grow is building our skill and ability to help other people. We don’t need to plan perfectly, you just need to plan to keep growing.

Here’s to an amazing second half of the year of growing!!!

Grow our newsletter

If you are enjoying our newsletter, please consider forwarding on to someone in your community! If you received this from a friend, you can sign up here

You can get our ebook on growing veg in Cape Town, here.