It’s that time of the year again: spring. Days have been growing longer. Snowdrops, crocus, and daffodils have begun to awaken from their long winter sleep. It’s also time for me to begin planning my vegetable garden for this year. There are many questions – what should I plant, what varieties (hybrid or heirloom), how many of each, when should each vegetable be planted, where should they be planted (full-sun or partial shade), what type of soil or compost should I use, etc.
Spring is an exciting time for a gardener. It’s a time to plan and prepare for exactly the garden you have wished for. In many ways, one can equate all of these activities to project management. While the desire is high at this moment to just dive right in and begin planting, be forewarned! I have learned that employing some project management discipline in my garden is wise.
As gardeners, we really do go through all the project stages.
Initiation: What are my needs and what assumptions (in our area I assume our average last frost date is around Memorial Day), dependencies (weather), and constraints (limited space, time, etc.) am I faced with?
Planning: What are my requirements (will I use seeds or transplants), where should I plant (think crop rotation), what fertilizer should I use and when, how far apart should the rows be spaced?
Executing: Getting in there and digging up and treating the soil, sowing seeds, or planting transplants.
Monitoring and Controlling: Adequate watering, checking PH and fertilizer balance, and yes, that dreaded task of weeding.
Closing: This one, at least in the garden project, is probably my favorite stage. This is when I get to reap the rewards of my garden project management. This is when the fresh, nutritious produce is harvested right from my back garden and I can share a simple yet organic, beautiful home-grown meal with family and friends.
I’ve only recently begun gardening in earnest and just like all projects, there are always ways to improve the process and produce (in this example) better yields. I’ve also been well-served by “lessons learned” from previous projects. Hint: Last frost date on seed packets means the “average last frost date” in your area, not the actual last day the temperature dipped below freezing. 🙂
Are there any gardeners out there? How well do you plan your garden projects and do you have any project management lessons to share?
I am part of a co-op garden and I agree with your analogy to project management. Our garden has a leader, we meet weekly to work and success depends on all of our efforts. One benefit of the co-op garden is we get to enjoy some wine and look at our beautiful garden at the end of each work session.
Hi Michael — I enjoyed your post! My seeds are still in the packets and my window boxes still empty. With the growing season in New England relatively short, I think time management is also of utmost importance. We all know this, too, can be a key factor in project management. Hopefully, the upcoming long weekend will give me some much-needed planting time!
Donna and Joan – thank you so much for your kind comments and I’m glad you enjoyed the read. Unfortunately my garden has yet to yield some grapes for me to enjoy some wine tasting sessions. Hopefully that may happen sometime in the future. Joan, as you mention, time management is critical. I hope you both got to enjoy the beautiful weekend and can site back now for the next two days to let the rain do its part.
I’m not a gardener, but I agree with applying project management practices to home projects. I’ve decided to do a huge spring cleaning/organizing effort to eliminate the piles of paper that have accumulated, weed out closet contents, fix or get rid of things that are broken, really scrub and clean things that are often missed during routing cleaning, etc. Without a plan – and yes, a documented plan! – it will remain a good idea with great intentions but never truly get done.
Hi Michael,
It is great to see your post on gardening.My earlier gardening was only vegetables but now do veggies and flowers and exotics. Have been looking after a cardamom plant for last ten years but it is yet to bloom, still it is a great indoors foliage plant and so have kept it going! Believe this project had a different yield then what I had hoped for when I got it. Today it is valuable for the bright green it provides in winter and it is as proliferative as a hosta without dying out on you in winter. Edible successes I have enjoyed are the perrenials grapes and berries, all New England staples! to paraphrase “When in Rome grow as Romans grow” for gardening success.Have spent this week closing on strawberries! Do let me know of your future posts. My ongoing projects include mango, saffron, banana and bayleaf plants/bulbs. Any tips would be welcome.