I used to be pretty anal about my garden plan and succession planting but I've cut down on the things I grow now so I have plenty of room to just wing it.

I do a lot planning on paper. I keep gardening spirals and when one fills up I start another. I like to keep notes to look back on. I would never be able to keep all the garlic and alliums straight in their beds if I didn't map it out to remember what is where. It also helps keep me a good kid when I go out to the nurseries in the spring. Mapping it out helps me not buy those extra whatever or know I can put in a whatever this year that I didn't start from seed.

I also grow through the year, so I have to have plans for it. Right now outdoor harvest under the caps is just parsley and a couple greens, but I know which bins have what in them and have started the first half dozen or so spring greens to go out. And once the caps are off, plans for what goes in the bin after the greens. Main beds are mostly winter dead, but some of them are going into early spring too.

It helps a lot that I have been working these same garden areas for years and push the use of my season extenders. I know the rules of the areas and can play around in that. I get much more wild with the rest of the yard.

I used to plan but haven’t bothered for years now. I just plan in my head while surveying the space.

I used to keep it all on paper, then life kind of got in the way and growing things became more haphazard. I only wish we'd had a bare slate when we bought this house. Can we say the landscaping was 'mature'? Like mature to the point I think the three cherries - that are or have been mainstays when driving in the front, are reaching the end of their lifespans and I don't know what I'll do when they are gone. I have clay, and so many deciduous tree roots I barely know what to do and on an acre. It took us two years to conquer the false lily of the valley and ivy that was climbing every tree. I'm embarrassed to admit there are still two trees here we haven't identified and DH is a forester. Only his forte is evergreens and these are not ;) Oh, and those stinky trees that people complain about - the ornamental pears? I'd never encountered one. We have two. Happily they are on the hill above where he parks his truck and we only get a rare whiff of them under their ideal conditions for blooming, like a very hot still day and here so close to the ocean we get few of those days. The first time we noticed, DH even went down into the ravine across the way, he thought someone had cleaned clams or crab and thrown the debris over the guard rail. It was our trees.

Almost always wing it. I just try to keep track of what grew where and try to rotate things.

I have only a rather small in-ground garden and lots of containers. The main things that go in the ground are tomatoes, legumes & winter squash. This year, I'm trying cucumbers again after a long hiatus.

I do a rough garden planting plan mainly for 2 things, where to place irrigation lines and also to plant early Spring plants near the Summer vining plants so that the vining plants can take over the early plant spaces as they are vacated by late Spring.

My garden is flowers and flower pots only. Some things always go in the

same places, and a few new things are put in between each year. I use a lot

of annuals, so, of course they can change every year. I can't plant until last

frost, so, here in the North where I am right now, it will be several months before

I can even think about it. :) This year, I have had a lot of trouble with deer,

and not sure what I will have in the way of hardy plants left. A small "herd" of deer

has lived right in our area...back and forth, back and forth...and they have been

eating very well. They have a few rabbit friends that travel with them. Thumper

and Bambi have been very busy. I mulched very well last Fall, but we have

had such a small amount of snow, not sure how well other things have survived,

without the helpful ground cover of some snow.

I used to do diagrams and keep detailed notes in a journal. Now I pretty much just plan things in my head. The journal notes have become much briefer.

I started tithonia and zinnia seeds last month. They're in the cold frame now. I'l have to start potting up in another week or so. Yesterday I started tomato and serrano pepper seeds on the heat mat in the garden shed. They'll move to the cold frame once they germinate. Next will be Thai basils and maybe a few more zinnias. Can never have enough of those.

The aquatic milkweed seeds I sowed this winter need thinning. Maybe this weekend I'll get to that.

I use a lot of wine/whiskey barrel planters so that I can have plants on the concrete parts of the patio. I tend to grow herbs and chilies in large pots, but I really want to get my favorite chilies in the ground so that their roots will have all the room they want, and I should have done this a couple of years ago.

I don't grow as many herbs as I used to, and I grow essentially nothing in the desert, where I spend about half my time. When I stayed in L.A. all year, I could manage the garden better.

I plan! And then end up plopping spur of the moment buys too. I'm surprised how close I am to what I drew out seven years ago. I like my combinations and have sited them properly. Somehow. Bit of tweaking, but mostly the same.

I plan, because my flower beds are pretty large and I do change the plants from year to year. I situate them according to their ultimate size and their needs for direct sun or shade. I grow nearly all of my nearly two thousand annuals from seed, most of them sown in flats on lighted carts in the garage. By the time they are ready to go outside, many will be blooming.

I also plan my vegetable garden each year because my space is limited, I try new things frequently, and I want to make optimum use of the area. I plant most of my veggie seed in situ, adding my nicely grown tomatoes and peppers when it warms up. Cold weather seeds are already in the ground, under woven gardening cloth for a bit of warmth and protection from critters of the 2, 4, and 6 legged varieties.

I still get excited when the early seed catalogs show up in the mailbox or online. The love of that whole process comes from my Dad, who was an inveteret and passionate gardener. I loved sitting at the kitchen table with graph paper and catalogs spread out, listening to Dad talk about what each vegetable would look like and taste like.

I have a couple of things that I need to move, while they are still dormant - but I am not looking forward to the digging. Some of my neighbor's large trees have gotten to the point that there is too much shade on the plants that need to be moved.