Have you set goals you want to achieve through home farming? If so, let’s take the next step together.
This monthly calendar is designed to guide me along the journey, showing what I can sow, plant, and harvest throughout the year. When I created it, I looked not just at this season, but up to ten years into the future — imagining how each year builds on the last. My plan is to create a separate calendar for each year and print it, so I can track progress over time.
Because I live in the Southern Hemisphere, this calendar follows my growing conditions. Wherever you are in the world, your calendar will look a little different — and that’s the beauty of farming: it connects us to our place, our climate, and our own rhythm of life.
My 2025-2026 Farming Calendar (will be updated each month as I plant, grow, and harvest new crops.)
October
Spring
- Planting: Cherry tomatoes, chillies, rocket, herbs (marigolds, basil, mint, coriander and chives)
- Harvesting: ?
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Mulch freshly planted summer beds
- Other tasks: Succession sow lettuce/greens for summer
November
Early Summer
- Planting: Black beans, soybeans, lettuce, spring onion, herbs (rosemary, thyme, lavender)
- Harvesting: Herbs
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Add compost tea to boost growth
- Other tasks: Preserve herbs (drying/freezing)
December
Harvest High
- Planting: Carrots, broccoli
- Harvesting: ?
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Use summer weeds in compost
- Other tasks: Daily harvesting, food preservation in full swing
January
Peak Summer
- Planting: Cucumbers, lettuce
- Harvesting: Carrots
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Turn compost weekly, collect grass clippings for mulch
- Other tasks: Pick produce daily to encourage growth, preserve excess (bottling, drying)
February
Summer
- Planting: Spinach, kale, radish
- Harvesting: Black beans, soy beans
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Mulch heavily to retain moisture, start saving autumn leaves
- Other tasks: Save seeds from summer crops
March
Autumn Shift
- Planting: Lemon, garlic, olive tree
- Harvesting: Broccoli, spinach
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Compost crop residues
- Other tasks: NA
April
Autumn
- Planting: Onions, Asian greens
- Harvesting: Spinach Sweet potatoes, late apples, pears
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Build new compost heap, cover fallow beds with mulch
- Other tasks: Check fences before winter winds
May
Early Winter
- Planting: snow peas, legumes
- Harvesting: Lemon
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Cover compost heaps against rain
- Other tasks: Plan crop rotation for spring
June
Winter
- Planting: Strawberry, blueberry
- Harvesting: greens
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Apply compost to garden beds
- Other tasks: Sharpen tools, prune dormant trees
July
Deep Winter
- Planting: Apple, pine nut
- Harvesting: ?
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Turn compost, spread mulch on bare soil
- Other tasks: Pruning, plan spring plantings
August
Late Winter / Early Spring Prep
- Planting: Sweet potatoes, potatoes
- Harvesting: Spinach
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Fertilise with seaweed or compost teas
- Other tasks: Start indoor seedlings (tomatoes, capsicum, eggplants)
September
Spring Burst
- Planting: Watermelon, walnut
- Harvesting: Berries
- Animals: NA
- Soil/Compost: Turn compost, sow cover crops on unused ground
- Other tasks: Build trellises, set up irrigation
Tips :
- When designing your own calendar, consider your climate and seasons. Know your frost dates, rainy periods, and hot spells, and divide your year into planting windows—cool-season and warm-season crops.
- If possible, try adding a long-term roadmap alongside your monthly calendar. This way, you’re not only planning what to grow each season, but also how your farm will evolve year by year. For example:
- Year 1: Focus on building healthy soil and establishing a compost system.
- Year 2: Add diversity with more vegetables and herbs, and start saving seeds.
- Year 3–4: Introduce perennials such as fruit trees and berries.
- Year 5+: Expand into livestock, grains, or food preservation, depending on your goals.
- By layering short-term planting tasks with long-term milestones, your calendar becomes a guide not just for a season, but for an entire journey toward self-sufficiency.
(reference: chatGPT)