Plan it once, eat all year

How to plan a vegetable garden in 2026.

Planning a vegetable garden takes 6 decisions: what to eat, when your frosts hit, how much space you need, how to lay out beds, when to sow, and what to do with the harvest. This guide walks each step, and the free planner does the math for you.

Build your free planWhat the free planner includes →

Step 1 of 6

What do you actually want to eat?

Start from your table, not a seed catalog. List the vegetables your household really eats in a normal week, and how much. That list, not your yard size, is the right input for a garden plan.

Most garden plans fail at the grocery store: they grow what was fun to plant, not what the family eats. Write down 8 to 12 vegetables you buy every week and a target, like “salsa all summer” or “salads for two, April to October.” If you want numbers, see how many plants to grow per person.

Step 2 of 6

When is your last frost?

Look up your last spring frost and first fall frost by ZIP code. Every sow date on your plan counts forward or backward from these two dates.

Use the free planting calendar by ZIP code to get both dates plus what you can sow each month. Tender crops go in after the last frost; hardy crops can start 2 to 6 weeks before it. Frost dates explained here.

Step 3 of 6

How much space do you need?

Convert your crop list into square feet before building anything. Typical result: a family of 4 needs 200 to 400 square feet for a meaningful share of their vegetables, far less than most people assume.

Each crop has a per-plant footprint and a per-person count, so the math is mechanical: plants times spacing equals bed area. The planner does this automatically; if you want to sanity-check it by hand, start with how big a garden for a family of 4 and how much land to feed a family.

Step 4 of 6

How do you lay out the beds?

Fewer, wider beds beat many small ones. Use beds 3 to 4 feet wide so you can reach the middle, run them north to south for even sun, and give tall crops the north edge so they do not shade the rest.

Intensive spacing fits 2 to 3 times more plants than traditional rows in the same bed. Check your numbers with the free plant spacing calculator, and see raised bed planning and vegetable garden spacing for layouts that work.

Step 5 of 6

When does each crop get sown?

Build the schedule from your frost dates: each crop gets a sow window, a transplant date if started indoors, and a projected harvest window. Write it down; memory is not a system.

This is the step where spreadsheets die. A season has 30 to 60 dated actions across a dozen crops, plus succession rounds every 2 to 3 weeks for quick crops. The planner generates the full schedule and Premium can push it to your phone calendar with reminders.

Step 6 of 6

What happens to the harvest?

Plan the preservation before the glut arrives. Decide now what gets eaten fresh, canned, frozen, or dried, and the August zucchini pile becomes a pantry instead of a problem.

A goal-first plan includes the after-harvest half: how much to plant for canning and which method fits each crop. Start with how much to plant for canning and the preserving guides.

Layout-first vs goal-first

Most garden planner apps are drawing tools: you drag beds and plants around a grid, then hope the result feeds anyone. PlotToTable flips the order. You say “salsa for a family of 4” and it computes the plants, the beds, the dates, and the preserving plan. The numbers come from a tested timing engine covering over 130 crops and every US ZIP code; AI only writes the plain-English instructions.

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Garden planning questions

What is a goal-first garden planner?+

A goal-first garden planner starts with the outcome you want, like feeding a family of 4 or growing a year of salsa, and works backward to plant counts, bed sizes, and sow dates. Layout-first planners make you draw beds and drag plants around first, then hope the result adds up to meals. Goal-first does the math before you touch a shovel.

How big should my vegetable garden be?+

Size the garden to the harvest you want, not the other way around. A rough planning number is 100 to 200 square feet per person for a meaningful share of your vegetables. A goal-first planner computes the exact square footage from your crop list, so you build only the beds you will actually use.

When should I start planning my garden?+

Plan 6 to 10 weeks before your last spring frost so you have time to order seeds and start transplants indoors. Planning in fall or winter is even better: you can prep soil and take advantage of seed availability. Enter your ZIP in the planting calendar to see your frost dates and count backward.

Is the PlotToTable garden planner really free?+

Yes. You can build your whole garden plan free with no credit card: goal, crop list, plot layout, and your first 3 crops in full detail with the planting timeline and weekly checklist. Premium adds unlimited crop detail, calendar subscriptions, reminders, and the printable field guide.