Would you like to see what a year in my gardening calendar looks like?

Many here already keep a garden. Some don't, either by choice or constraints. But some here may be wondering what the work actually looks like on a year by year basis.

After a light winter, my gardening year begins in March.

March 

• start seeds indoors under lights
• make plans for where each variety will be planted
• prepare soil in beds
• harvest watercress and last season's kale

April 

• continue starting seeds indoors
• harden off some plants outdoors on deck during daytime
• transplant lettuce seedlings to container garden on deck
• later in month remove last year's kale
• plant out some plants (tomatoes outdoors under a poly tunnel, Cole crop plants in open garden)
• direct seed carrots, turnips, beets, and radish
• plant potatoes
• harvest this last year's kale, free-seeded watercress, and perennial sorrel

May 

• begin harvest rhubarb and salad greens
• plant out cool weather plants early in month, warm weather plants at end of month
• thin radishes
• begin more salad greens under lights to replace spent plants later
• hill up potatoes as they grow
• harvest and dry thyme, oregano, sage
• make chive blossom vinegar

June 

• finish transplanting warm weather plants if May was too cool
• direct seed green beans around the 1st
• thin carrots, turnips, beets (thinnings can be used in cooking)
• harvest salad greens beginning around the 1st
• later in month harvest kale, strawberries, rhubarb, radishes
• add supports to tomato plants
• mulch berry canes
• hill up potato plants
• chop and freeze chives

July

• harvest currants, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cabbage, Swiss chard, turnips, beets, salad greens, rhubarb
• replant lettuce container garden
• very end of month harvest early apples
• harvest and dry second batch of thyme, oregano, and sage
• make currant jelly
• freeze excess cherries, raspberries, and blueberries

August 

• main harvest of early apples, early pears, figs, blackberries, blueberries
• continue harvesting of garden
• tomatoes and peppers begin to ripen for use 
• replace spent lettuce in container garden with fall radish greens and cilantro for salsa
• make rosemary vinegar
• wash empty flats that go to light garden

September 

• begin indoor salad garden in containers under lights late in month
• harvest plums, fall raspberries, late pears at end of month
• harvest garden
• preserve produce
• end of month bring in pumpkins and squash if ready
• dig garlic
• harvest third batch of thyme, oregano and sage
• chop and freeze basil and rosemary

October

• harvest late pears around 1st
• bring in remaining tomatoes, squash, peppers
• harvest crabapples and cranberries (if any), unripe figs, potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, cabbage, celery and bring indoors
• preserve produce
• around 1st plant garlic
• chop and freeze rosemary, tops of turnips, beets, carrots, and celery
• mid to late-month move pumpkins, squash, potatoes to cool storage, onions to fridge
• make pickle relishes from small green tomatoes
• can unripe figs in syrup
• make crabapple sauce and juice for freezer

November 

• around 1st harvest all Brussel sprout leaves and Swiss chard to chop and freeze
• continue harvesting kale as wanted
• tend indoor light garden for salad greens

December

• tend indoor light garden for salad greens
• grow lentil sprouts in jars on counter

January 

• rest from garden
• shop thrift stores for canning jars
• tend indoor light garden for salad greens, allow to die off at end of month
• grow lentil sprouts in jars on counter

February 

• choose seeds
• make plans
• order new canning lids
• prune fruit trees
• clean up the light garden
• brush out seed starting pots and cells

My heaviest work months are August, September, and October for both harvesting and preserving. Spring months comes in second as I dig and prepare the soil. It's difficult to travel more than 2 or 3 days at a time from Mid-March through mid-October, as the garden needs watering, tending or harvesting. I've done it before, but it's difficult. 

In 2013 we took a 9 day trip at the end of September and it was a rush to harvest all the plums and tomatoes. I was picking the day before our trip and we packed whatever fruit wouldn't keep for a week with us (driving trip). 

Early in the season (March, April, May) so many plants are still in flats under lights or on the deck that watering needs are a challenge to traveling. In early May 2022 we drove to Arizona to see my step-mom and were gone a week. I put all of the plants on the deck, hoping they would catch rainfall for watering. It poured rain while we were gone and some plants suffered from chlorosis (overwatering). The answer to wanting or needing to travel during the early months of the season is to have someone come and water while we're away. There's a brief window of about a week or two in late August where a week of travel is do-able, if I have someone to water outdoors. This is also the time of year I typically choose to do an outdoor painting job, as the harvest isn't heavy yet.

In fall, the floor near the door to the deck is littered with pumpkin, squash, garlic, potatoes, and onions, as they cure. The dining room table is covered with ripening tomatoes, the fridge drawers are bursting with produce, the dehydrator runs daily, and my canning equipment is permanently on the stove and countertop, My canning jars begin to fill up and the space where they are kept begins to look empty. 

If it sounds like a lot of work, it is, and I moan and groan about it at times. However, and this is a big however, it's so worth it. The real worth is not in the financial savings, although we appreciate that aspect. No, the real worth is in the improved health we have. The outdoor work combined with eating more and better produce I think really makes a difference. Our produce is all organically-raised, typically of older varieties that can contain more nutrition (as they're not bred for transportation or long storage), and we eat most of it fresher than if I were buying produce from a supermarket. Because we grow so much, we eat more servings of fruits and vegetables every day, pushing less nutritious foods out of our daily meals and snacks. That doesn't even touch on how our garden provides food security for us. 

I do need to add that even in the harvest season, there are produce items we do buy, either because we don't grow enough due to space of a particular item (fresh carrots and beet powder) or I don't grow it at all (such as wheat grass and algae in a greens powder). And of course, when I have other stuff going on in summer, in some years I haven't gotten to absolutely everything on the calendar. For example, I may only harvest and dry 1 batch of herbs. Or, as in this year when I had a minor procedure in June, I may miss cutting and freezing chives.

Anyway, that's what a year of my gardening calendar looks like.

Wishing you all a peace-filled weekend!