Now that I’ve been gardening in Iowa for over 40 years, it seemed an appropriate stage in my life to construct a personal gardening schedule, reminding me not to forget various gardening tasks throughout the year. Although much of this work is determined by the weather, some tasks–such as sowing seeds and transplanting–must often operate within a rather tight time frame. I thought a simple chart might help me stay on track. In this chart I have identified a specific target date for some tasks, but for most items I’ve simply identified the month when a job probably needs to be done. In constructing this schedule, I have consulted a variety of resources (garden journals, websites, books, etc), but this almanac is primarily based on my own inclinations and experiences with several Zone 5a vegetable, fruit, and flower gardens in east-central Iowa, 850-900' above sea level. My monthly chart of gardening tasks [open this link to access pdf] is separated into three columns: indoor greenhouse, outdoor vegetables/fruit, and outdoor flowers/shrubs. ~Bob
The 2021 Almanac: A Monthly Gardening Schedule
Now that I’ve been gardening in Iowa for over 40 years, it seemed an appropriate stage in my life to construct a personal gardening schedule, reminding me not to forget various gardening tasks throughout the year. Although much of this work is determined by the weather, some tasks–such as sowing seeds and transplanting–must often operate within a rather tight time frame. I thought a simple chart might help me stay on track. In this chart I have identified a specific target date for some tasks, but for most items I’ve simply identified the month when a job probably needs to be done. In constructing this schedule, I have consulted a variety of resources (garden journals, websites, books, etc), but this almanac is primarily based on my own inclinations and experiences with several Zone 5a vegetable, fruit, and flower gardens in east-central Iowa, 850-900' above sea level. My monthly chart of gardening tasks [open this link to access pdf] is separated into three columns: indoor greenhouse, outdoor vegetables/fruit, and outdoor flowers/shrubs. ~Bob
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April 2024
Who is Bob?
A Kansas farm boy, married to a Kansas farm girl. During his first 35 years at Coe, he directed the Writing Center, served as coordinator of the WAC Program, founded the Rhetoric Department, and taught over 25 different writing courses. Since retiring in August of 2014 he has been trying to learn how to become a gardener. |