Spring is on the horizon and with it a new season to test, experiment and grow in the garden. For gardeners who love order and efficiency, it might be time to try out the Square Foot Gardening technique. And for those who already know about the wonders of Square Foot Gardening, there’s some exciting news this season. The official planner from the Square Foot Gardening Foundation is finally here—designed specifically for the rhythms and techniques used in this intensive growing method.

The Square Foot Gardening Planner: A 3-Year Journal for Recording the Planning, Planting, and Care of Your Square Foot Garden is a 224-page, flexi-bind companion book created to help gardeners document and refine their gardens over not just one season but three full growing seasons. It takes about three growing seasons to really get a technique down in the garden, so right off the bat this planner will be with you for the foreseeable future.

Square Foot Gardening Basics

Planning a Square Foot Garden isn’t quite the same as mapping out a traditional row garden. Square Foot Gardening is based on dividing a raised garden bed into 1-foot by 1-foot grids and planting each square with a specific number of plants depending on crop, using intensive spacing, succession planting, and lush soil to maximize yields in a small space.

With all of the specific techniques involved in the process, the method really demands you to be organized and to be rigorous with recordkeeping. This planner is designed to help you do that—simply and consistently! And gardening is all the more successful when practiced with consistency.

What’s In the Book?

A better question might be, “What’s not in the book?”! It has plenty of blank grid template for mapping your squares, along with log pages for:

• seed starting (indoors and out)
• transplanting
• pruning
• staking
• succession planting

It also helps you keep track of what you have with inventory charts for seeds and supplies, pages for pest and disease tracking, and dedicated sections for recording harvest dates, yields, and your reviews of the varieties you grow. You’ll never have to question when you last applied compost! Record your end-of-season garden reflections, and even daily, weekly, and monthly journal entries. Seriously, this planner has space for everything.

Multi-Year Use

One of the handiest things about this planner is that it allows you to track your progress year to year. Each year is coded with a different color, so it’s easy to look back and compare. You’ll find that over time, the planner becomes more than a just a garden notebook—it’s your personalized growing archive that will help you spot patterns, improve timing and make better crop choices.

Whether you are new to Square Foot Gardening or just starting out with the practice, I bet your gardening adventure this year will be your constant companion, helping you grow with greater confidence throughout the season and each subsequent year.