What are you gardening routines and habits?

Up to now, my gardening practice has been pretty adhoc, but i'm looking to build a little more routine so that I have a repeatable process that I can rely on to become more productive and self-sufficient with the small plot of land I have available (about 200 sqm).

I'm interested to hear what habits, workflows or routines you have incorporated into your gardening practice on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis to help you become a more successful grower.

In order to keep, any sort of routine I have to keep lists. Working full time, owning a micro-business, homeschooling two kids and maintaining our small property I would lose anything I don't write down. My planner has six sections each day, one is dedicated to our garden. Anything soil, plant or animal related goes there. Each week I think on or consult my garden journal for what to do next and write down the needed tasks.

Gardening gets planned by season, month and week.
In August I made note of the changes we want to make and start drawing. Once I get a basic plan I write down what varieties/veggies I plan to grow. Then decide where they'll go. In January we make a weekly plan of what it getting started indoors, when and where. Then it's go time. Every sunny day gets some time in the garden. Things we do in Nov-Mar: Prune our fruit trees (there is never a "right" time here between the harvest and rain. This month has worked for us so far.); removed dead berry canes; start cold weather spring crops; create new beds by layering; inoculate mushroom logs; clean up greenhouse; start spring seeds; plant cover crops; mulch all the things; transplant wandering raspberry canes, cleaning pots. I try to have "rainy day" lists. Like making carrot seed strips, organizing what gets planted next, sketching design or seed starting.

April-May is filled with tending and transplanting, weed removal, and lots of vegetation management of side yard, lawns and hedges.

Once everything is in the ground growing I go out first thing in the morning on my three days off, checking for pest damage, thirst or other issues. Usually with coffee in hand. First the greenhouse, make sure all new sprouts are well. Then a bowl or cup of soapy water. The birds get fed next, then walk through main garden and knock beetles off Calendula's into cup. Any weed near where I am already at gets removed. Later in the morning we harvest, after the sun hits the plants, and I do the same with the weeds pulling as I go.

We go out there every day after work and I mess around with anything, getting chickens treats, spot watering, growing sprouts or collecting herbs. Full weeding is done weekly in the evening on one of my days off. My hubs and I use the time to visit, enjoying our space on this planet. The next morning I usually do the main water for the week, allowing the plants to dry before evening. Here powdery mildew and slugs both love moist environments. If I am succession planting anything I try to put the seed in the ground the evening before I water.

As for habits, always have a hori and snips available. Also it helps to carry a bit of string and a rock bucket.

I tend to break everything into baby steps. Small chunks of time so I can devote a little to everything. This works well, as  I can prioritize larger time blocks for whatever is most important at the moment.

I am on the Gulf Coast so my habits may sound odd.  For annuals, I have a box of seed for each month.  I grab it when I go to the garden and use it for direct seeding, or for starting seeds on the porch.  I also carry a bucket for harvest with my hori and clippers plus some alcohol and a wipe.  This way I can take clippings, get rid of diseased parts, and make room for transplants or cut down weeds.  In spring and summer I carry a peanut butter jar full of soapy water and/ or a dust buster to gather and kill squash and leaf footed bugs.  I have a blend of amendments and fertilizer in a five gallon bucket on the porch as I do this more frequently ( but less heavily) due to the sandy soil and 60 inches of rain.  My downtime is actually in July, August, and half of September when it's simply too hot for anything but bugs, cowpeas, peanuts, yams, and sweet potato.  I mulch very thickly in June and use the summer months to grow those staples without input, replenish supplies, and start second "spring " transplants for our long fall inside the house.  I do glance at the fruit trees and will water if they get less than an inch of rain, but that is all I do in summer; I don't even mow the lawn because it is counterproductive. My habits are not very detailed and are made to get the most bang for my buck as I am disabled and also work part time.

Storing seeds by when to plant them is incredibly helpful if you are a maniacal seed collector like me. One box for outdoors early spring (peas, mustard greens, etc.) and one for greenhouse early spring(Peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, etc.) One for mid-spring outdoors (beets carrots etc), one for summer direct-sow (beans squash corn, etc.) One for Fall each place and one for winter-sown herbs flowers etc that need cold-conditioning.

A daily chore is to walk around the garden and note new gopher activity so we can set traps before the damage is too bad. At the same time I note anything that needs attention.

I have drip irrigation giving the minimum water for, say 80 degree weather, then assess the garden daily to see if it needs a manual run as well. It's a good idea to have a few indicator plants that you check. For example, sunflowers need more water than squash or beans. If they look stressed, there is time to water before the beans, which are more fragile, are affected. During the hottest months, when it's over 90 every day, I program in the extra water.

Hoeing out very small weeds with a Coleman hoe or stirrup hoe saves an awful lot of time. It's worth doing weekly in spring until mulch goes on after last frost (in June for me.)

I either plant in containers that can be moved or make provision for shading crops in hot weather. So a monthly task is to assess the level of heat and sun and adjust either place or exposure accordingly.