Planting Chart Explanation:

This Excel file is a planting chart made specifically for school gardens in the greater Eugene/Springfield area. It differs from other planting charts you might have in that it includes only those annuals that we specifically recommend for school gardens and lists planting dates that will allow planting and harvesting during the school year (plus a bit of August for a few crops).

Having this chart in Excel is useful because you can sort it by spring planting date or by fall planting date, depending on when you are using it (currently it is sorted by Spring planting date). Or sort it by crop name for easy reference at any time.

A few notes to help you understand and use this chart:

Temp refers to whether the seeds can germinate in "cool" temperatures if if they need "warm" temperatures.

Plant Spring gives the earliest planting dates for crops that you can harvest before school lets out. You can plant them later, but they might not be ripe until after June 16. For fall harvested crops, this column gives a date that will ensure that the crop will not be overripe by the time school starts in September. What variety you plant has a big impact on harvest dates, so look for short-season (early) varieties to harvest before school gets out and long-season (late) varieties to harvest after school starts in September.

Spacing refers to the final spacing after thinning. To avoid seed waste, mark out the final spacing in the bed and plant 4-6 seeds in each spot.

Use and Don't Use refers to fertilizers. Unless it says "any" under Don't Use, all plants should get a complete organic fertilizer mixture such as Steve Solomon's recipe (given below). If it says "N" under Use, you should add a higher percentage of a nitrogen source to the mixture (such as soybean meal). If it says "P" under Use, you should add a higher percentage of a phosphorus source to the mixture (such as bone meal). Most of our soils are already high in potassium (K), so that is not listed. For potatoes, leave the lime out of the mixture.

Plant Fall We know school doesn't start by September 1, but for many of these crops the recommended planting time is really in August, so this is to let you know to plant them ASAP after school starts if you want a fall harvest.

Reference: "Solomon" refers to Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, 5th edition, by Steve Solomon. The founder of Territorial Seeds, Solomon has some very thorough and time-tested advice for growing many of these crops, although we don't agree with his advice to use Round-up to kill grass, and recent soil science research indicates his advice not to use more than 1/2 inch of compost per year to avoid symphylan damage to crop roots may not be the best approach.

"Terr. Seeds" refers to the Territorial Seed catalog, which is a great reference, available free at Capella Market (formerly Oasis on Willamette St.)

"Herbs" refers to the Sunset book on Herbs.

Variations in weather will affect the planting and harvest dates. If you are gardening in parts of Lane County outside of the greater Eugene-Springfield area, your dates may be quite different.

If your experience leads you to believe this chart is inaccurate in any way, please send us your suggested changes! Or if we can make it more useful, please let me know.

Steve Solomon's recipe for Complete Organic Fertilizer (parts are by volume): 8 parts soybean or canola meal, 1 part bone meal or fish bone meal, 1 part kelp meal, 1 part lime (best is a mixture of half dolomite lime and half ground oystershells). All of these ingredients are available at Down to Earth, or you can get their pre-mixed complete organic fertilizer. Mixing 1/8 to 1/2 cup of this (depending on the size of the plant) into the soil at each place where you plant will make a huge difference in your harvest.