Harvest calculator & Seasonal Food

You could use paper and math and lots of tricky calculations with dates and months, etc.
Or you could just throw your seeds into the ground and figure they're ready when they're reading.
Or you could give this a go: my Harvest Date Calculator.

First save it to your computer, so you have your own copy of it. Click "file" go to "download as" and select "Excell", then save it to where you want it in your computer.
After that, it's pretty straightforward: simply type in your planting date, and the days to harvest (usually found on the seed pack), and there you go!

It's May long weekend - in Ontario, the traditional weekend for putting plants in the ground.
Which means that if you go anywhere in the vicinity of a grocery store, much less a garden centre, you will probably be crushed.
It also means that for a lot of people it's planting time! Woo!

I actually jumped the gun on tradition and had things in the ground last week -
so far the radishes, carrots, beets, and peas, that I've planted in the ground are germinating. And the rest of my plants are doing pretty well as well. (Ok, there are a few minor bites out of them here and there, and the squirrels levelled several chard and kale plants but overall we're going pretty well).

As well as making the harvest calculator, I've created an Ontario Seasonal Food chart: it still may need a bit of tweaking in places, but it shows you what foods are available locally during all the months of the year.
Obviously local food is going to be fresh, in season, and thus tastier and more nutritious (the nutrients in fresh produce start degrading as soon as it is picked).
And it's sort of silly to buy something from far away when you could be supporting local farmers and getting better food.
Again, anyone is welcome to download and use this however they wish. (Click "file" then "download as" - same as the other one).

Happy growing and eating, everyone, and have a gorgeous long weekend!