Allotment Planner Excel - Free Template

1. Open the Planting Plan sheet and enter each crop on its own row. Add the variety, bed or plot, sowing method and quantity first, then fill the dates.
2. Set whether each crop is sown indoors, outdoors or both. For example, tomatoes may start under cover, while carrots usually go straight outside.
3. Enter sowing, planting out and harvest ranges in DD/MM/YYYY format. Keep the dates realistic for your local weather and the length of your season.
4. Use the notes column for detail such as fleece cover, succession sowing or pest protection. That makes the sheet useful when you come back to it after a few weeks.
5. Check the status, priority and estimated harvest weeks to decide what needs attention first. This is the quickest way to see what is due next.
6. Review the Crop Calendar and Dashboard sheets before each planting session. They give you a faster view of the same plan without scrolling through every entry.

This sort of spreadsheet is for the point where seed packets, labels and memory stop being enough. A plot holder with 8 raised beds, a community garden with 24 crops on the go, or a family growing soft fruit and salads all need the same thing: a dated plan that says what goes where and when.

Image 1 is the working sheet. You record each crop on its own line, then add the bed, sowing method, date ranges and quantity so you can see the season rather than guess at it.

Who uses it in practice

A solo allotment holder may use it in February to map early brassicas, then again in May when the first beans go in. A small garden team may use it on a Sunday morning to check that 12 tomato plants, 18 lettuce plugs and 3 rows of carrots are all moving according to plan.

Why the dates matter

The useful part is not just the crop name. If you have 6 courgette plants starting on 01/04/2026 and a harvest window from 15/06/2026 to 30/09/2026, you can see when the bed becomes free again and whether you need a second sowing elsewhere.

This template is built for UK conditions, where a sowing date that works in Kent may be too early for a colder inland plot. You still plan by the calendar, but you need to respect frost risk, the difference between indoor and outdoor sowing, and the practical gap between sowing and planting out.

Image 2 helps you see the crop schedule by month, which is useful when you are squeezing several sowings into one short season. If you sow 24 lettuce plants every 3 weeks, the planner shows you the repeated windows instead of leaving you to work it out by hand.

Practical timing choices

For tender crops such as tomatoes, peppers and courgettes, starting indoors first is usually the safer choice. Hardy crops such as broad beans, beetroot and spinach can often go straight outside once the soil is workable, which saves space on the windowsill or in the propagator.

Making the most of limited beds

If you have 4 beds and want 3 harvests from each one, the sheet helps you sequence them. A bed cleared from early radishes in May can take French beans in June, then winter salads later in the year, which is the sort of practical rotation that keeps an allotment productive.

The usual mistake is treating every crop as if it needs the same amount of time and space. One missed sowing window can waste a full bed for 4 to 6 weeks, and a wrong succession can leave you with 2 kilograms of lettuce in one week and none 2 weeks later.

Image 3 is there to reduce that kind of drift. It gives you a summary view so you can see if the plan is overloaded, underused or out of sequence before the season gets away from you.

Spacing and crowding errors

If you squeeze 20 carrot seedlings into a strip meant for 12, you will usually get thin roots and more thinning work later. If you put 6 courgettes into space that only suits 4, you lose airflow, invite mildew and make picking awkward.

Missing a second sowing

Fast crops need follow-on planting. A bed that gives you 2 trays of salad leaves in April should probably be replanted in May or June, otherwise you lose the easiest harvest of the year and end up buying the same produce from a shop.

The spreadsheet works best when you tie it to a fixed habit. Use it every Friday evening or every Sunday morning, then update only the rows that changed during the week.

Image 4 contains the instructions, which is useful if several people share the plot or you come back after a few months away. Once you have used the same format for one season, it becomes much quicker to copy forward than to start again.

Simple habits that keep it alive

• Copy last month’s planting lines forward instead of rebuilding the plan from scratch.
• Check the dashboard before you buy seed, so you do not order 3 packets of the same crop.
• Use the priority field for anything with a short window, such as salad leaves or peas.
• Review harvest dates after a cold spell, because the season can easily slip by 1 to 2 weeks.

When you need something bigger

If you are tracking several sites, shared greenhouse space or crop sales, a basic sheet will start to feel tight. At that point you may need a fuller stock or production system, but for one plot or a small garden this template is usually enough.

For shared greenhouse space or crop sales, the next step is often a cash flow forecast to keep the money side in step with the plan.