I’m not great at planning or being organised or looking too far ahead, although it’s something I’ve been working on for a long time (especially if the number of to-do apps I’ve reviewed on this blog are anything to go by). However, when it comes to gardening, apparently, a bit of forward planning is necessary.

I’ve talked about how this year I’ve dived into Huw Richard’s step by step book which has really held my hand throughout the growing year. It’s still ongoing, there are green things ready to be harvested as we speak, but even with that, I’ve been getting a bit anxious about knowing what to plant next year when the book pages run out.

I should have trusted in Mr Richards, though, while I was watching a video on his YouTube channel there was a link in the notes for a couple of courses that he’s set up on his own education site - the Abundance Academy.

There are a couple of courses on there, paid and free, but the one that caught my eye was about creating a planting plan, where you get shown how to create a monthly planting plan to maximise productivity whilst also growing what you actually want to eat.

I won’t spoil the course, obviously, because a lot of effort clearly went into creating it, but all I’ll say is that it’s made me feel a lot better and actually very excited for going independent next year and growing what I want where I want.

One of the main things everyone says, not just this one course, is that you have to map out your garden and know how much space you’ve got. There are loads of apps out there that help you with garden design and putting that designer’s eye on your outdoor space, but that’s not what I wanted to do. Really, this is just about drawing some boxes to signify raised beds and being able to note down what’s in there.

You’ll never guess which app was perfect for this? GoodNotes! Oh yes, having only just stumbled across this app a month or so ago I’ve got another template and another obsession on the go in there. It’s all coming together nicely! Now I just have to get around my aversion to forward planning and we’ll be in business.