(including my own method for keeping everything organised)

Being in the north of Scotland and not having a proper greenhouse means there is not a lot I would chance sowing at this time of year but I checked my list and managed to come up with a few crops I can start now.

Firstly I would like to share my method for keeping track of what needs to be sown and when. This is information I take from the seed packets and transfer onto my template, trying to keep seeds organised by type: legumes, brassicas, greenhouse, salad and so on. I use the templates year after year and fill in details depending on what seeds I currently have. This sounds like an arduous task but many of them stay the same or very similar.

Here is an example of the sheets which show I have seeds which can be started now:

From the details I have, I now have a list of what to start indoors and outdoors:

INDOORS

Onions – Ailsa Craig and Red Brunswick

All sweet and hot peppers

Celery – Octavius F1

Cabbage – Greyhound

Flowers –

Nasturtium

Cleome – violet queen

Sweet peas

OUTDOORS

Broad beans – The Sutton and Bunyard Exhibition

I will also try a few spinach seeds and I found a few little garlic bulb/seed type things which I will use as an experiment.

That’s just enough for now so I’m glad there isn’t too much to do yet. I still have plenty to keep me going at the allotment. We are concentrating on getting the ground ready for the potatoes then the bay for the legumes will be done last as they are not going to be going in for a while yet.

If anyone would like a copy of my template please let me know. I considered putting it up as a download on my buymeacoffee page (for free) as I thought that would be the easiest way but if there were only a couple of folk interested I could just email it to you. Any takers can let me know what method they would prefer. I really do find those pages the best way to keep track of all my vegetable, herb and flower seeds, for knowing when seeds are to be sown but I also put the date in when they were sown so I can keep an eye on what has germinated well or what can be re-sown if there is time – all the things us gardeners need to know but can’t possibly keep in our heads!

UPDATE: There is now a free downloadable planning page. Just follow the link: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mysliceoflife/e/224169