Empress of Dirt Printable Garden Planner & Notes

This printable garden planner comes as a digital file you download to your device and print out. With its simple forms and lists, it is intended for gardeners who like to do their garden planning and journaling by hand with a pen on paper. This is not a gardening guide but instead a simple framework to assist with garden planning and note-taking.

For more Empress of Dirt products, also see the creative and how-to ebooks here.

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Printable Garden Planner

If you like to do your garden planning, note-taking, and journaling with pen and paper (or markers and pencil)—not on a screen—this is for you.

This printable garden planner provides a basic framework for planning and tracking your garden your way.

It’s a digital file you save, print, and use to jot down your garden notes. There is no physical product.

The planner includes a variety of basic forms and checklists, plus an assortment of other pages to organize your thoughts, prioritize your wishes, and keep track of everything as you go.

This is not a garden guide. It is simply a starting point to give the basic structure you need to keep track of what matters as you forge your own path.

We all approach gardening differently—some much more spontaneously than others—but everyone benefits from having notes, checklists, and reminders.

Whether you want to create an overview of the year to come, use monthly, weekly, or daily lists, track your budget or seed inventory, or keep a list of seasonal reminders, there are pages for creating all these things and more. You can see the complete list of pages here.

Print out what matters, get some good pens, pencils, or markers, and start mapping out your garden as it is today and how you want it to be.

By the end of each growing season you’ll have a valuable resource—of your own making—to guide future garden decisions.

Plus, the calendars are undated so it’s yours to use over again, year after year.

Buy The Planner

Details

• Format: PDF file (3.4mb), full color, high resolution for good quality printing.
• Use Adobe Acrobat (available free here) to view and print the file.
• Size: Letter size pages (8.5 x 11-inches).
• Printing: For best quality, print in full color at high resolution.
• Choose paper that is nice to write on with your favorite pens and markers.

Steps

1. Ensure you have Adobe Acrobat (available free here) on your device.
2. Purchase the planner and add the file to your device. Watch where it saves to (so you know which folder to find it in).
3. Open the file in Adobe Acrobat. View all the pages and decide which ones you want to print (or just print all of them). You may want more than one copy of some pages.
4. If using a local print shop, bring the file on a USB drive along with proof of purchase in case they request it. Be sure to choose paper that is nice to write and draw on. And ask for hole punching if using a binder. It’s also wise to print a few test pages first and adjust print settings as needed.

Contents

This planner provides forms and checklists you fill in.

• Cover
• Garden Profile | Overview of garden & growing conditions
• Garden Bed Maps (2) | Map out your growing areas
• Garden Plants | Planting notes
• Garden Project Plan | Planning, supplies, steps
• Garden Project Sketch | Draw your idea
• Garden Layout Ideas | Draw or map out new ideas
• Garden Wish List | Jot down items wanted
• Garden Budget | Plan for the season ahead
• Garden Expenses | Track purchases
• Garden Year (3) | Overview of major tasks, projects, & milestones
• Monthly Calendar | Generic month at a glance
• To Do This Week | Plan your week
• To Do Today | Daily checklist
• Help Needed | Items requiring helpers
• Winter Tasks | What needs doing each winter
• Spring Tasks | What needs doing each spring
• Summer Tasks | What needs doing each summer
• Fall Tasks | What needs doing each fall
• Garden Journal | Notes
• For Follow Up | Buy/reorder, ideas, questions, reminders
• Planting Notes | Date, location, what you planted
• Bulb Planting | Map and notes
• Soil Tests & Amendments | Test results, reminders, amendments
• Tree, Shrub, & Vine Care | Planting, pruning, care
• Wildlife & Phenology | Sightings and firsts of the season
• Winter Storage | Plants to protect and check on
• Plant Profile | Info on specific plants
• Food Seed Inventory | Vegetable, fruit, and herb seeds
• Flower Seed Inventory | Flowers and other seeds
• Seed Starting Notes | Tracking seeds started
• Food Growing Notes | Vegetables, fruits, and herbs
• Harvest Notes | Crop notes
• Garden Resources | Helpful books, magazines, websites
• Tips For Using This Planner

Sample Pages

Terms

• The planner document file is for your personal use only. This means you can print as many copies as you like for your own personal use but you may not share, copy, resell, reproduce, or distribute it by any electronic or physical means for any other purpose.
• Any commercial use of this digital file for financial gain or profit is prohibited.
• By opening this file you agree to these terms of use.
• Digital products are non-refundable.

Details

• Format: PDF file (3.4mb), full color, high resolution for good quality printing.
• Use Adobe Acrobat (available free here) to view and print the file.
• Size: Letter size pages (8.5 x 11-inches).
• Printing: For best quality, print in full color at high resolution.
• Choose paper that is nice to write on with your favorite pens and markers.

Steps

1. Ensure you have Adobe Acrobat (available free here) on your device.
2. Purchase the planner and add the file to your device. Watch where it saves to (so you know which folder to find it in).
3. Open the file in Adobe Acrobat. View all the pages and decide which ones you want to print (or just print all of them). You may want more than one copy of some pages.
4. If using a local print shop, bring the file on a USB drive along with proof of purchase (email receipt) in case they request it. Be sure to choose paper that is nice to write and draw on. Ask for hole punching if using a binder. It’s also wise to print a few test pages first and adjust print settings as needed.

Using Your Planner

Recommended Resources

As you work on your planner, there are plenty of garden tips to help you here at Empress of Dirt.

Search This Site

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Garden Profile

• Garden Name Generator – find the perfect name for your garden

• Get a Soil Test
• Sand, Silt, or Clay?
• How to Plan a Garden (Start Here)

Seasonal To-Do Lists

This Handy Garden Checklist lists tasks by season.

• Spring Garden Tasks
• Fall Garden Tasks
• What to Prune When
• How to Overwinter Potted Trees
• How to Overwinter Geraniums

Seed Starting

• Recommended Indoor Seed Starting Supplies
• Recommended pollinator-friendly spring-flowering bulbs
• Get a Soil Test

Seasonal Observations

• Wildlife & Phenology | Tracking Seasonal Firsts In Your Garden

Soil, Compost, & Other Amendments

• Soil Calculator (Mulch, Compost, & Potting Mix Too)
• Why Your Garden Needs Mulch & How To Do It Right
• The Cardboard Method For Turning Lawn Into Garden Beds
• Tips for Using Animal Manures in the Garden
• How to Make Leaf Mold (Free Organic Soil Amendment)

Wish Lists

• 10 Must-Have Seed Collections to Give as Gifts
• 60 Garden Sign Ideas—Funny, Sweet, & Practical
• Garden Gift Guide: Thrifty Ideas For Gardeners

Eco-Beneficial Gardening Books

I recommend these books because they get gardeners excited about ecological gardening and the incredible relationships between plants and animals. Our future is in our hands!

1 The Pollinator Victory Garden | Kim Eierman | Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening; Attract and Support Bees, Beetles, Butterflies, Bats, and Other Pollinators

2 A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators: Ontario and Great Lakes Edition | Lorraine Johnson, Sheila Colla | All the information gardeners need to take action to support and protect pollinators, by creating habitat in yards and community spaces, on balconies and boulevards, everywhere!

3 The Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants of the Southern Great Lakes Region | Rick Gray and Shaun Booth | Distills all the information essential for growing 150 species of garden-worthy native plants into a single, at-a-glance guide.

4 Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants | Doug Tallamy

5 Garden Allies: The Insects, Birds, & Other Animals that Keep Your Garden Beautiful and Thriving | Frederique Lavoipierre

6 The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife (How to Create a Sustainable and Ethical Garden that Promotes Native Wildlife, Plants, and Biodiversity) | Nancy Lawson

Let the planning begin!

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛