FieldCycle Season plan Season Planner · USD 39
2027 season: 4 hectares, two markets, one pair of hands
Month by month, where the work actually lands, and the three weeks that decide the year.
Last season you ran out of time in late May and never caught up. This plan puts every recurring task in the month it has to happen, shows where the labour peaks actually fall, and identifies the three weeks where being a week late costs the rest of the year.
The plan works for ten months of the year on your own hours. Weeks 18 to 21 and weeks 34 to 36 each need roughly double what one person has, and both are immovable because they are set by the crop, not by you. Casual help booked now is far cheaper than crops lost in May.
Load
Where the work actually falls
Estimated hours a week by month, from your crop plan, bed count and last season's records. The line you cannot cross is 48 hours, which is what you said you can sustain without the season stopping being worth doing.
Windows
The timing that cannot slip
Two bars are marked as immovable. Planting out late compresses everything after it, and lifting storage crops late loses them to weather. Succession sowing is the sleeper: it is the easiest thing to skip in May and the reason August has nothing to sell.
Labour
What the two peaks actually need
| Peak | Weeks | Hours short | Cheapest cover | Book by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planting out and first markets | 18 to 21 | 40 h per week | Two casual days a week, 4 weeks | End of February |
| Storage lift and autumn markets | 34 to 36 | 30 h per week | Three casual days, 3 weeks | End of June |
Roughly 26 casual days across the year. Booked in February and June they are straightforward to find locally. Needed at two days notice in May they are not available at any price, which is what happened last year.
Book casual labour now
Two people you already know, agreed in February for specific weeks. Costs money, solves both peaks, and is the only option that does not change what you grow.
Drop one market, May to June
Removes about 14 hours a week at the worst point. Costs revenue in the highest revenue month, and customers who leave in May do not always come back.
Reduce the May planting by a fifth
Brings the peak inside capacity. It also reduces August and September income, because the two are the same crops seen three months apart.
Contingency
When the weather takes a week
| What happens | What to protect | What to sacrifice |
|---|---|---|
| Wet March, ground prep delayed | Planting out window | Early direct sowings. Repeat them in April |
| Cold May, growth behind | Succession sowings | Market variety. Sell fewer lines, not fewer weeks |
| Dry July | Storage crops and anything transplanted | Salad. It will bolt anyway |
| Illness or injury, one week | Watering and harvest for market | All propagation and all weeding |
| Illness, more than two weeks | One market only | Call the casual help early, not once it is a crisis |
The principle across every row is the same: protect what already has months of work in it, and sacrifice what can be sown again in a fortnight.
Monthly
The questions to ask yourself each month
- Did the succession sowings actually happen this month
- Am I within 10 percent of the planned hours
- Is anything ready earlier or later than the plan assumed
- Is there a market week coming with nothing to fill it
- Is the casual help still confirmed for the peak weeks
- What did I not get to, and does it matter in six weeks