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Good planning turns hard work into steady progress—and makes growing more rewarding
Productive gardens don't happen by accident. The Well-Planned Garden: A Grower's Guide shows how thoughtful organization, timing, and goal-setting can dramatically reduce effort while increasing yields—whether you're managing a home garden or a diversified market farm.
Based on The Market Gardener Method, this practical, highly illustrated guide brings clarity to the many moving parts of food production. From space planning and crop rotation to season-long scheduling, it helps growers align daily tasks with long-term goals, working in harmony with natural cycles rather than reacting to problems as they arise.
What this Book Offers
- A clear framework for organizing gardens and small farms for efficiency
- Practical guidance on crop planning, spacing, and rotation
- Tools for aligning production with climate, seasons, and available labor
- A perpetual garden calendar with monthly priorities and task summaries
- Strategies for balancing productivity, profitability, and quality of life
Rather than overwhelming growers with rigid schedules, this guide encourages flexible planning that adapts to changing conditions while keeping the big picture in view.
Who this Book is For
- Gardeners who want better results with less stress
- Market growers managing multiple crops and timelines
- Growers transitioning from reactive to intentional systems
- Readers seeking structure without rigidity
- Anyone aiming to grow more food with greater confidence
Jean-Martin Fortier has spent decades refining systems that help small-scale growers succeed economically while maintaining ecological integrity. His planning approach reflects real-world experience managing complex gardens efficiently.
The Well-Planned Garden is part of the Grower's Guides from the Market Gardener series—practical manuals designed to support growers with tools that build resilience, clarity, and long-term success.
If you want your garden to work for you, not against you, this guide provides a clear path forward.
— David R. Montgomery, co-author, What Your Food Ate and The Hidden Half of Nature
I was thrilled with this series. I love the illustrations and pored over them. The techniques and strategies are useful and appropriate. The information is well organized and the language is clear. It is such a useful addition to home gardeners and commercial growers.
— Rowe Morrow, Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute, author, Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture
The Grower’s Guides from The Market Gardener series has something for everyone, from seasoned gardeners and small farmers, to newbies. Read it. Enjoy it. Learn from it. The contents of these books belie their small size; they are packed with solid information, which, along with the layout and illustrations, make for an engaging and very pleasant read.
— Lee Reich, PhD, scientist, farmdener (farmer/gardener hybrid), and author, Growing Figs in Cold Climates
It’s always fun and informative to read a seasoned grower’s tips and tricks for any crop. I know Jean-Martin has spent years refining his techniques, and it’s great to see his methods laid down in these little guide books.
— Josh Volk, Slow Hand Farm, author, Compact Farms and Build Your Own Farm Tools
Market gardening innovator Jean-Martin Fortier draws on his decades of experience in a difficult climate to share his strategies and techniques for producing high yields in healthy gardens.
— Darrell E. Frey, author, Bioshelter Market Garden, and co-author, The Food Forest Handbook
Jean-Martin Fortier, a distinguished farmer, author, and educator, has been spearheading a movement in ecological agriculture for over twenty years. Since 2004, he and his wife have been operating Les Jardins de la Grelinette, an efficient and productive 2-acre microfarm. This farm is often referred to as a blueprint for effective human-scale organic farming.
In 2015, Jean-Martin established La Ferme des Quatre-Temps, a research farm dedicated to training apprentices and developing new strategies for market gardening, including year-round production. His pioneering methods are taught worldwide through the Market Gardener Institute, which is present in more than 90 countries.
Jean-Martin is the author of The Winter Market Gardener and The Market Gardener, which have sold over a quarter of a million copies in nine languages. His contributions to organic farming and regenerative agriculture have earned him the Meritorious Service Cross from the Governor General of Canada. He farms and lives in Quebec, Canada.
Pierre Nessmann was born to a family of Strasbourg market gardeners and holds a degree from the École d'Horticulture de Genève, in Switzerland. He has worked as a landscape gardener and a journalist for over 40 years. He is the assistant editor of the popular French gardening magazines Rustica Pratique and Rustica Weekly, covers gardening and DIY stories for the French television Network TF1, and currently hosts a gardening segment on the show Nous Voilà Bien, on the French radio station RTL. He is the author of several books about vegetable growing, gardening, and landscaping. Pierre lives in Paris, France.
Flore Avram is a freelance artist and graphic designer specializing in scientific and botanical illustration. She has collaborated extensively with the French language children's publisher KiloWatt Editions, and with Inserm Magazine, a quarterly journal which explores health and biomedical research. Flore has earned several professional certifications in graphic design and scientific illustration from L'Ecole Estienne, the Municipal Graduate School of the Arts and Printing Industry. She also works as a Médiatrice en botanique at Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil, a unique French natural heritage site and eco-garden. She is based in Paris, France.
Introduction
My Background
What is the Market Gardener Method?
Proper Planning – the Key to Success
Why Plan
Create Your Microfarm with the Market Gardener Method
The Five Major Steps of the Market Gardener Method
Identify Financial and Human Goals
Establish and Action Plan
Organize the Space and Sketch and Plan
Establish a Schedule of Operations
Equip Yourself to Get Started
Applying the Market Gardener Method to Your Vegetable Garden
The Market Gardener Method in 5 Steps
Analyze Your Garden Environment
Develop Your Vegetable Garden Plan
Establish Your Crop Calendar
Equip Yourself
Planting and Sowing
Monitoring and Management
Harvest Time
A Year of Vegetables – Monthly Calendar of Tasks
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November December