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When can you start a Planty Garden?

Do you have to start your vegetable garden at the beginning of the year? No, with a Planty Garden you don't have to. You can start all year round.
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Our Planty Garden in May, sowed in March and April

Do you have to start in the early spring?

Many people think that you have to start at the very beginning of the season. If it's later in March, they think they're too late for that year.

But with a Planty Garden, it's different: it doesn't really matter.

Personally, I think it only gets really fun around mid-May. Then the weather is nice, everything grows super fast and it's time to move the pre-sown zucchini and tomato plants into your garden boxes.

The ideal time to start a Planty Garden?

There's no such thing. You can do it anytime.

If you start in March you get the whole spring season: nice 🙂

Is it already April, May, or early June? Then the weather is warm enough, seedlings surface quickly, and your plants start to grow faster and faster.
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Plenty to harvest in June
Even at the end of the summer or early fall, you can still sow a lot to harvest in the winter or early spring. That's great if you want to get a head start.

Because you're setting up a Planty Garden not just for this season but for years of enjoyment.

Does that also apply to a regular vegetable garden?

No.

Because in a regular vegetable garden, you start from scratch every year: removing all the waste and weeds, preparing and fertilizing the soil, making seedbeds, and drawing up complex plans.

And you have to do all of this as early as possible. Otherwise, you won't get enough out of your garden. And all that work won't have a lot to show for it.
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Traditional vegetable gardens in early November: digging to prepare for next spring
That is why most growers start digging in late fall. Because only then can you start early in spring with the rest of the work - if the weather is good. And this has to happen every year. Year after year.

With a Planty Garden, it's a completely different story.

Starting a Planty Garden

You set up your MM-Hero or MM-Bamboo garden box just once. Then you're ready for this year, next year, and the years to come.
Zet een Makkelijke Moestuin op
Setting up a Planty Garden is easy:
  • put together the garden box
  • fill it with MM-Mix
  • lay a grid on top (the MM-rasterset)
  • and done!
That's it, really. Minimal preparation. Check out our Planty Garden in 2012. We set up some of it the year before, but most of it was new:
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April 25, 2012: the garden boxes are set up and getting filled up
We used some of the soil mix from older garden boxes, some we made fresh. We didn't have the ready-made MM-Mix back then 😉

By early July it looked totally different:
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July 4: growing strong and already got the first harvest in
Just 2 months later it turned into a complete vegetable jungle.

And boy, was I young: 😉
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The same garden boxes on August 23, 2012
We harvested our vegetable patches the whole growing season, even in the middle of summer. Then we immediately sowed them again when they were empty.

So, whether it's your first or second round of sowing - it doesn't matter in a Planty Garden. Your plants know what to do 🙂

What can you sow in June?

Plenty. Some vegetables you can harvest after a few weeks:
  • carrots
  • all kinds of beans
  • arugola
  • radishes
  • beet
  • dino kale
  • endive
  • chard
You can also plant lettuces but it depends a bit on the weather. If your garden box is in full sun and it's very hot and sunny, lettuce won't grow as well. But during a wet, cold summer it will do very well.

Herbs - like dill and cilantro - can be sown throughout the summer. They taste best when the plants are still young.
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The August garden box with patches in different stages of growth

Head to the garden center for seedlings

If you start late in the year, you can also get some seedlings from the garden center.

In early June most carry tomato and cucumber plants. Some have fruits already, so you can count on a quick harvest. 

You can also find young lettuce, beets, herbs and cabbage there too. And because everything grows fast in the summer, you can harvest some lettuce after a week or so.

July and later

From July onward, it's time to sow vegetables for the fall and winter. Like endive and dino kale:
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Dino kale does great in the winter
Spinach, lamb's lettuce, kale, winter lettuce, winter peas, and winter purslane can be grown even later, even in September and October.

They may not grow as quickly, but these types can handle the cold weather. In the spring, they'll start growing will again so you can harvest them extra early.

In October and November, you can plant bulbs, winter onions, and garlic.

If you're using the Makkelijke Moestuin app, it will tell you exactly what you can sow at that moment. It even provides step-by-step guidance for sowing, caring, and harvesting.
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A few herbs can last all year. Like parsley: in mild winters you can harvest even in January.

November, December and January

So, these are not the most obvious months to start. Sowing or planting isn't really possible. 

But setting up your garden boxes is a good idea. Then you have everything ready to start early in the spring. 

To sum it up

  • It is never too late or too early to start a Makkelijke Moestuin.
  • In spring, summer, and fall you get a lot from your garden boxes.
  • You can also set up your vegetable garden in winter.
  • Sowing and harvesting are possible for most of the year.
  • You can also plant some ready-to-use (herb) plants in your garden box for a quick crop.
  • You set up your Makkelijke Moestuin only once. And it's made to last for the coming years. So you skip most of the work you'd have to do in a regular vegetable garden.

Ready to start your Planty Garden?

In the shop, you can find everything you need to get a running start. Even complete starter kits:
Nice. Now that you've got this part covered, it's time to make a concrete plan. What do you want to grow and how many garden boxes do you need?

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