Two beds can share a round count
You need to choose a Spring calendar, but Tomato and Beans both show five rounds. From Spring 1, Tomato’s ten-day first wait and four-day regrowth give 11, 15, 19, 23 and 27. Beans’ four-day first wait and five-day regrowth give 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25. Equal counts hide an earlier Beans start and shorter Tomato return gaps.
Which calendar is useful depends on what you need. If you want an early harvest date, the first date deserves attention. If you are arranging return visits, the gaps matter. If you are planting late, the last date that still fits may decide the question. A single round count cannot replace all three checks.
Check whether the candidate belongs in the comparison
Check the season field before comparing dates: a crop outside the selected season is not a compatible candidate. The seed-region field identifies the reference region, which can help you narrow the list. It does not check seeds in your save. Keep season compatibility, regional lookup and your own access separate before choosing either calendar.
Keep the units attached
Plant quantity means how many plants you intend to sow. Harvest rounds means how many dates are listed for that planting inside the season. A plan for twelve Tomato plants with five rounds therefore describes a twelve-plant bed visited on five dates. It does not verify sixty items of produce, and the result contains no price or quality calculation.
This separation also explains a useful behavior of the planner: changing quantity changes the stated bed size while preserving the dates. You can settle the timing with a small example, then choose the number of plants. More plants do not compress ten growth days into fewer days, and fewer plants do not remove a scheduled repeat from the calendar.
Compare the commitment you are making
For each candidate, ask when its first harvest arrives, which later visits fit and whether those visits belong to the same planting. A single-harvest crop stops after one round; another sowing requires another plan. A regrowing crop can keep the bed on one schedule, provided the harvests happen on time under the stated growing conditions.
If an early first date matters, prefer the calendar that meets that deadline; if return spacing matters, compare the actual gaps. The calculation assumes daily watering, no fertilizer, buffs or Myco, and harvest on maturity. It stops at day 28 of the selected season, adds no replacement planting and predicts no item yield.