Garden Planner Spreadsheet | Seed Starting Calculator by Frost Date, Planting Calendar, Vegetable Garden Planner, Harvest Tracker, Excel

Garden Planner Spreadsheet is a seed-starting calculator for vegetable gardeners, for planning the season by frost date. Excel and Google Sheets, editable on computer or phone. Instant download.

The seed packet says to start six to eight weeks before the last frost, and the calendar on the wall does not know when that is. Type your frost dates once and this workbook dates every step for 60 crops. In the invented sample garden, a last spring frost of Apr 25, 2027 puts START TOMATOES at Mar 14. Move the frost date a week later, to May 2, and it reads Mar 21, and all 142 calculated dates in the crop library move with it.

Type your dates and crops in Excel, or in your Google Sheets copy, and check this week's tasks on the Dashboard as the season runs. No Canva, no macros.

————————————————————
📦 WHAT'S INCLUDED (6 FILES)
————————————————————

01. Garden-Planner-Spreadsheet.xlsx (Colorful edition)
The workbook, and the one to open first: 13 tabs (Start Here, Setup, Seed Starting Calculator, Planting Calendar, Succession Planner, Bed Layout, Seed Inventory, Harvest Log, Costs, Pantry Inventory, Garden Journal, Dashboard and Help), 16,106 formulas, a 60-crop library with 20 blank rows for your own, and a 52-week planting calendar.

02. Garden-Planner-Spreadsheet-Editorial.xlsx
The same workbook, cell for cell, in a quiet editorial palette.

03. Garden-Planner-Spreadsheet-3color.zip
The Colorful, Light and Dark editions together.

04. ACCESS-YOUR-TEMPLATE.pdf
The Google Sheets copy of the workbook: open it and click Make a copy.

05. QUICK-START-Garden-Planner-Spreadsheet.pdf
Two pages: the four first steps and what every tab is for.

06. START-HERE.txt
The plain-text version, with how every date is worked out and the honest notes.

————————————————————
👤 WHO THIS IS FOR
————————————————————

A vegetable gardener with a stack of seed packets who wants to know what to start indoors, what to transplant and what to sow, and on which dates, for their own frost dates.

A raised-bed or square-foot gardener who wants plant counts per square, a succession schedule for crops like lettuce, beans and radishes, and a rotation check.

A homesteader or kitchen gardener who wants to know what the garden produced, what it cost, and what is on the pantry shelf.

————————————————————
🚫 WHO THIS IS NOT FOR
————————————————————

Anyone who wants a printable garden journal to decorate. This is a spreadsheet that calculates; the only PDFs are the guides.
Gardeners planning fall-planted garlic or perennial crowns like asparagus and rhubarb. The library works from the spring frost and leaves them out.

————————————————————
✅ KEY BENEFITS
————————————————————

Four dates for every crop from your last spring frost (start indoors, transplant, direct sow and first harvest) across a 60-crop library of 49 vegetables, 7 herbs and 4 flowers, with 20 blank rows for your own.
A 52-week planting calendar and a succession planner that stops repeat sowings at the last date that still ripens before your first fall frost.
A square-foot bed layout for up to 10 beds that counts the plants and flags a bed planted in the same crop family as last year.
A harvest log that values each picking at your prices and sets the season against what you spent, plus seed and pantry inventories and a garden journal.
16,106 formulas in every edition, for Excel 2016 or later and Google Sheets, in four color editions. No macros, no account, nothing to install.

————————————————————
🔧 HOW IT WORKS
————————————————————

1. Find your average last spring frost and first fall frost (your local cooperative extension office has both) and type them at the top of Seed Starting Calculator. Type Y beside each crop you will grow and pick Transplant or Direct sow.

2. Read the dates. The invented sample, Maple Hollow Kitchen Garden in zone 6b, has a last frost of Apr 25, 2027 and a first fall frost of Oct 12, 2027 (170 frost-free days) and grows 20 of the 60 crops. START TOMATOES reads Mar 14 and TRANSPLANT TOMATOES reads May 2. Move the last frost to May 2 and they read Mar 21 and May 9, and the planting calendar moves with them. The season holds 91 dated tasks, and by Aug 2 the sample's 59 pickings are worth $398 against $279 spent.

3. Plan the beds on Bed Layout, work from the Dashboard's list of this week's tasks, and log each picking, purchase and pantry batch as the season goes.

————————————————————
❓ QUESTIONS BUYERS ASK
————————————————————

What format is this? One workbook (.xlsx) in four color editions (Colorful, Editorial, Light and Dark), with a quick-start PDF, a START-HERE file and the Google Sheets access PDF. 6 files in one zip, ready to download the moment payment clears.

What do I need to open it? Do I need Canva? No Canva. Use Excel 2016 or later, or Google Sheets: open ACCESS-YOUR-TEMPLATE.pdf and click Make a copy, or choose File, Import, Upload. There are no macros and nothing to install. Apple Numbers opens it but drops some formatting.

What does it work out? Start indoors, transplant, direct sow and first harvest dates for each crop; a week-by-week planting calendar; every repeat sowing up to the last one that ripens before fall frost; plants per square and a rotation check; seed packets to reorder, replace or test; harvest value against costs; pantry batches past or near their use-within window; and this week's tasks, with the next one on the Dashboard.

Are the planting dates right for my garden? They are typical values from US cooperative extension planting guides, worked from the frost dates you type, and every timing is a cell you can change. Frost dates are averages and first harvest is an estimate, so follow your seed packet, your local extension office and the forecast.

————————————————————
⚠️ PLEASE READ
————————————————————

Crop timings are typical values from US cooperative extension planting guides, and crops those guides do not list take values from close relatives. Type your seed packet's numbers over ours.

Frost dates are averages: watch the forecast and your soil before planting tender crops. First harvest is an estimate from days to maturity, and days to maturity is one column, so retype it if you switch a crop between transplanting and direct sowing.

The calendar grid starts the week that holds January 1 of your season year, so an earlier seed start stays on the task list but not on the grid.

Use within on Pantry Inventory is a best-quality window you choose, not a food safety rule. For home canning, follow a tested recipe.

Harvest prices on Setup are sample prices. Every name and figure in the sample, including Maple Hollow Kitchen Garden, is invented. The four color editions are separate files: pick one and keep your season in it.

————————————————————
📥 INSTANT DOWNLOAD
————————————————————

Your files are ready to download the moment your payment clears. Nothing is shipped.

Start with the two-page Quick-Start guide. It has the four first steps and what every tab is for.

🎬 WATCH THE FULL WALKTHROUGH before you buy, 7 minutes, every file of the real product:
https://youtu.be/u3pgz4_kwA4

Also in the shop: the Farm Bookkeeping Spreadsheet for ranch and homestead records, and the Meal Planner Spreadsheet with its automatic grocery list.

Questions? Send a message. I read and answer them myself.