A harvest basket that is all salad leaves or all potatoes is a basket nobody enjoys, and this free planner balances yours before you pick. Enter the kilograms of salad vegetables, the kilograms of cooking vegetables, and the number of herb bunches you have ripe this week. You get the basket total, the salad share, and a plain verdict on the balance.
To use the tool, weigh or estimate what is ripe this week. Salad vegetables are the ones you eat raw: lettuce, tomatoes for salad, cucumbers, and radishes. Cooking vegetables are the ones you cook: potatoes, beans, squash, carrots, and onions. Herb bunches count small in weight but large in flavour, so the tool counts each bunch as one tenth of a kilogram.
The main result is the basket total in kilograms. A weekly basket of seven or eight kilograms suits a family of four for a week of vegetable side dishes, with some left for soups and salads. A basket under three kilograms is a top-up for shopping, not a replacement for it, and a basket over fifteen kilograms is a preserving week.
The second result is the salad share as a percentage. A balanced basket sits between thirty and fifty percent salad vegetables. Below thirty percent, the basket feels heavy and starchy, and meals need shop-bought salad to feel fresh. Above fifty percent, the basket feels light, and meals need more cooked food to satisfy hungry people.
The verdict turns those numbers into advice. A good weekly basket mixes something fresh for salads, something filling for cooking, and a small bunch of herbs, because herbs lift simple meals the most. If the tool says to add more salad, pick lettuce, cucumbers, or tomatoes that are ripe, or sow a quick salad crop for next week. If it says to add more cooking vegetables, dig potatoes, pick beans, or cut squash that is ready.
Plan the basket around meals, not around what happens to be ripe. A week of pasta needs tomatoes and herbs; a week of roasts needs potatoes and carrots; a week of salads needs lettuce and cucumbers. When you know the meals, you know what to pick, and the basket stops being random.
Pick little and often for the freshest basket. Salad leaves picked the morning you eat them taste far better than leaves picked three days ago and stored in a fridge. Cooking vegetables keep longer, so pick those in larger amounts once a week, and pick salad vegetables every two or three days.
Use the surplus well. If the basket is bigger than the week needs, cook a big pot of soup or ratatouille on picking day and freeze it in portions. A basket that becomes five freezer meals is worth far more than a basket that wilts in the fridge while you decide what to cook.
Herbs deserve a special place in every basket, even though they weigh almost nothing. A bunch of basil, parsley, or mint can lift a plain meal of potatoes and beans into something people look forward to. Never leave herbs out of a basket just because they barely move the total weight.
The most common mistake is picking everything ripe at once and calling it a basket. A basket is a week of meals, planned in advance, not a pile of whatever the garden produced. Pick for the meals you will actually cook, leave the rest on the plant, and pick it fresh when the next meal needs it.
Keep in mind that this planner gives general garden guidance for home growers, not advice for a farm or a commercial crop. Family size, appetite, and cooking habits all change what a balanced basket looks like for you. Use the verdict as a starting point, adjust it to your meals, and let your own weeks teach you the balance that works.