seed-planner 🌱

A zone-aware seed starting calendar for gardeners. Input your last frost date, and get precise indoor start, transplant, and direct-sow dates for over 60 vegetables. Plan your entire season with confidence.

✨ Features

✅ Zone-Aware Calculations – Schedules adapt to your specific last and first frost dates. ✅ 60+ Vegetables – Comprehensive database covering common and heirloom varieties. ✅ Succession Planting – Automatically generates schedules for multiple sowings. ✅ TypeScript First – Full type safety, strict mode, and zero external dependencies. ✅ Multiple Outputs – Get raw data for your app or formatted exports for printing.

📦 Installation

# Using npm
npm install @adametherzlab/seed-planner

# Using Bun
bun add @adametherzlab/seed-planner

🚀 Quick Start

// REMOVED external import: import { getSchedule, findPlantById } from '@adametherzlab/seed-planner';

// Find a plant and get its schedule
const tomato = findPlantById('tomato-cherry');
if (tomato) {
  const schedule = getSchedule(tomato, '2025-05-15');
  console.log(`Start tomatoes indoors: ${schedule.startIndoors}`);
  // Output: "Start tomatoes indoors: 2025-03-27"
}

📚 API Reference

Function	Description	Parameters	Returns
findPlantById(id)	Find a plant by its unique ID.	id: PlantId	Plant | undefined
findPlantsByName(name)	Search plants by common name (case-insensitive).	name: string	readonly Plant[]
getAllPlants()	Get the complete database of 60+ plants.	none	readonly Plant[]
filterPlants(filter)	Filter plants by frost tolerance, sowing method, etc.	filter: PlantFilter	readonly Plant[]
getSchedule(plant, lastFrostDate, firstFrostDate?)	Calculate base planting dates for a single plant.	plant: Plant, lastFrostDate: string, firstFrostDate?: string	PlantingSchedule
getSuccessionSchedule(plant, lastFrostDate, firstFrostDate?)	Generate multiple sowing dates for succession planting.	plant: Plant, lastFrostDate: string, firstFrostDate?: string	SuccessionSchedule
getPlantSchedule(plant, config)	Get a complete schedule (with optional succession).	plant: Plant, config: PlannerConfig	PlantScheduleResult
getAllSchedules(plants, config)	Generate schedules for multiple plants at once.	plants: readonly Plant[], config: PlannerConfig	PlantScheduleResult[]
createPlannerResult(plants, config)	Create a structured result object with all schedules.	plants: readonly Plant[], config: PlannerConfig	PlannerResult
validateConfig(config)	Validate planner configuration for correctness.	config: PlannerConfig	ValidationError[]
validateDateString(date)	Validate that a string is a proper ISO date.	date: string	boolean
exportSchedules(result, options?)	Export schedules to CSV or JSON format.	result: PlannerResult, options?: ExportOptions	string
calculateSeasonBoundaries(lastFrostDate, firstFrostDate?)	Calculate the start and end of the growing season.	lastFrostDate: string, firstFrostDate?: string	SeasonBoundaries

🧠 Advanced Usage

Here’s a real-world example planning an entire garden bed with succession planting.

import {
  createPlannerResult,
  findPlantsByName,
  filterPlants,
  FrostTolerance,
  exportSchedules
} from '@adametherzlab/seed-planner';

// 1. Select plants for a "salad bed"
const lettuce = findPlantsByName('lettuce');
const radishes = findPlantsByName('radish');
const carrots = findPlantsByName('carrot');

const selectedPlants = [...lettuce, ...radishes, ...carrots];

// 2. Configure for zone 5b with a last frost of May 15th
const config = {
  lastFrostDate: '2025-05-15',
  firstFrostDate: '2025-10-10', // Optional, improves fall scheduling
  includeSuccession: true,
  maxSuccessionPlantings: 3
};

// 3. Generate all schedules
const gardenPlan = createPlannerResult(selectedPlants, config);

// 4. Export to CSV for printing
const csv = exportSchedules(gardenPlan, { format: 'csv' });
console.log(csv);

// 5. Or, just inspect the dates for lettuce
const firstLettuceSchedule = gardenPlan.schedules[0];
console.log('First lettuce sowing:', firstLettuceSchedule.schedule.startIndoors);
if (firstLettuceSchedule.succession) {
  console.log('Additional sowings:', firstLettuceSchedule.succession.sowings.map(s => s.startDate));
}

🥬 Supported Vegetables (60+)

Nightshades

• Tomato (Cherry, Beefsteak, Heirloom)
• Pepper (Bell, Hot)
• Eggplant
• Tomatillo

Brassicas

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage (Green, Red, Savoy)
• Kale
• Brussels Sprouts
• Kohlrabi

Root Vegetables

• Carrot
• Radish
• Beet
• Turnip
• Parsnip
• Rutabaga

Legumes

• Pea (Shelling, Snap, Snow)
• Bean (Bush, Pole)
• Fava Bean

Cucurbits

• Cucumber
• Squash (Summer, Winter)
• Zucchini
• Pumpkin
• Melon (Cantaloupe, Watermelon)

Alliums

• Onion
• Leek
• Garlic
• Shallot

Leafy Greens

• Lettuce (Head, Leaf, Romaine)
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard
• Arugula
• Bok Choy
• Mustard Greens

Herbs

• Basil
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Parsley

Other

• Corn
• Celery
• Asparagus
• Rhubarb
• Okra
• Artichoke

📅 Notes on Frost Dates & Zones

• Last Frost Date: The average date of the last spring frost in your area. This is the primary input for all spring planting calculations.
• First Frost Date: The average date of the first fall frost. Providing this enables accurate fall planting and succession schedules.
• Zone IDs: Use USDA Plant Hardiness Zone format (e.g., "5b"). While the library uses branded types for safety, any string can be passed for labeling.
• Date Format: All dates are ISO 8601 strings (YYYY-MM-DD). Use validateDateString() to check inputs.

🔧 TypeScript Usage

// REMOVED external import: import type { Plant, PlantingSchedule, PlannerConfig } from '@adametherzlab/seed-planner';

// Use branded types for extra safety
const plantId: PlantId = 'tomato-cherry' as PlantId;

// All functions have explicit return types
function planMyGarden(config: PlannerConfig): PlannerResult {
  // ...
}

🤝 Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, coding standards, and pull request guidelines.

📄 License

MIT © AdametherzLab