I don't know of something garden-specific, although is certainly exists, but I use Adobe Illustrator to sketch this out. Any of the myriad alternatives could work too, as long as you have a grid-based design option, which makes it quite easy. I'm pretty sure Adobe offered an older version, either CS3, 4 or 5 for free a couple of years back and this is what I downloaded.

Thanks!

My garden is 45' x 40' and I think I can actually fit a lot more in there, especially if I forgo the pumpkins and watermelons next year, or put them in a different part of the yard where they can just snake around things.

Corn takes up a lot of space too, but since that and peas are the only thing all four members of my family will eat, I've probably gotta allocate space to it.

I'm not aware of any software planning tools that are smart about vining. As you say, you can plant things that snake around other things, and that's not a "square foot" proposition. Also, it's not clear if planning tools are smart about shadowing -- as in, don't plant your corn to the south of your strawberries. Software can formalize good ideas, in the same way that it can formally ignore good ideas. The thought process that goes into assessing the quality of garden planning software might just as well be invested in garden planing.

But a lot of gardening is reacting smartly to circumstances, and things like that are hard to plan.

I messed around with a couple different programs and really didn't like any of them. They all seemed to be too restrictive in not letting me enter what I wanted to write.

I ended up using Excel, and making each cell be a square foot. I can type directly in the cell, add a note, and even have different tabs for different seasons if I'd like.

On one side of the page I have notes by date, and I have another tab that keeps a running tally of the harvest weights and estimated $$ value.

If you don't have excel you could always use google sheets or other free spreadsheet software.

Have tried several of them over the years and found them to create more problems than they help with. They are built to the lowest common denominator for a garden. Just not flexible enough and too many factors they don't even consider.

You have learned lessons this year to not repeat next year. Keep good notes. And just like the rest of us you'll make new mistakes next year and the year after that and the year after...to learn from. ;-)

Dave

I may get some old fashioned graph paper, to help with calculating distance.

Yep paper or software program we still have to first understand plant spacing for each thing we plant and each variety of each thing. Spring spacing appearances can be so deceptive come late June's growth. ;-)

Then there is support structures like trellis and paths to incorporate, water lines to lay out, and then factor in what our soil can support nutrient and water-wise.

Dave