1. What you are selling
One crop per line: crop, sale date, units, germination weeks, growing weeks, units per sq ft on the bench, survival %, price, cost per unit, weeks you could sell late. Dates are YYYY-MM-DD. Only the first six are required. Put a name containing a comma in quotes.
2. Your space and rules
Choose a file or paste the crop list, then click Build the plan.
Result
Sowing plan
| Sow | Crop | Sown | Sale | Sold | Short | Timing | Margin |
|---|
Space by week
| Week of | Germination sq ft | Bench sq ft | Bench used |
|---|
What more bench space would earn
| Extra sq ft | Units sold | Units short | Margin |
|---|
Margin per square foot of space-week
| Crop | Margin | Per sq ft-week |
|---|
How it decides, and what it leaves out
- Sow date: the sale date minus germination weeks, growing weeks and any weeks held. Plants sit in germination space first and then on the bench until sold.
- Space: bench use is units sold divided by units per sq ft; germination use is seeds sown (units over survival) divided by seeds per sq ft. Each week's total must stay inside what you entered.
- Priority: orders are placed in order of margin per sq ft-week of space they use. Each tries on time, then held early up to your limit, then late up to the weeks you allow, and keeps the cheapest option that fits in full or, failing that, the one that sells the most. This is a fast heuristic, not a proof of the optimum, so the space table shows the best plan found at each size and never reports a bigger bench doing worse.
- Not decided: light, temperature and crop timing (weeks come from you and your own records), pot or flat sizes beyond the density you give, labor, heating cost, disease and weather losses beyond the survival rate, customer demand and pre-order terms, and anything not in the list. Treat the plan as a check on your own numbers.
Common questions
How far ahead do I sow plants to be ready for a sale date?
Count back from the sale date by the weeks in the flat or germination chamber plus the weeks on the bench. A 4-inch tomato that spends 2 weeks germinating and 6 weeks growing is sown 8 weeks before the sale. This page does that for every crop and then checks that the bench has room in each of those weeks.
How much bench space do I need in spring?
Not the sum of your crops, but the busiest week: every crop that has been transplanted and not yet sold occupies bench at once. The page prints the peak week, the square feet needed to grow everything on its date, and what each extra 50 to 400 square feet would recover.
What happens when the orders do not fit?
Orders are placed in order of margin per square foot-week of space. Each one may be held early on the bench (costing space) or sold up to the weeks you allow late (costing margin). Whatever still does not fit is shown as a shortfall by crop, so you can raise a price, cut a crop or add a bench.
Does survival rate matter?
Yes. If 90 percent of seeds make a sellable plant, 100 plants need about 111 sown. The page sows enough to sell the quantity you enter and uses the extra seedlings in germination space only.
Does it store my crop list or contact anyone?
No. It runs in this browser tab, saves nothing and sends nothing. You download the plan as a CSV or a sowing list.