hi all! i want to echo the other ladies who have posted so far this week and say how excited i am to be back for another season here at [tend]. i'm so happy to welcome abby to our crew, and am grateful to heather for her two years of posts, and the amazing new banner she created for us!
like shari in vermont, here in minneapolis, we are just barely thawed out from our snowy winter and nothing is blooming yet! but the days are getting warmer and longer and i've been planning my garden for this year. i'm a little bit behind this year, but i've just taken my annual seed inventory, started a fresh new garden journal for this year, and made my list of what i'll be planting.
last year, we signed up for a csa for the first time to supplement the food we grow in our gardens. it was so amazing to have all of those beautiful veggies delivered each week! at the beginning of the season, i wasn't sure exactly what we'd be getting in our weekly boxes, so i just planted my garden as usual. after one year of the csa, i know now what vegetables we receive a lot of, and what we don't get at all and i'm using that knowledge to plan my garden. for example, i'm not planting any green beans this year! last year, i had more than enough from the csa to eat and can a few batches of dilly green beans. surprisingly, we hardly received any zucchini or summer squash, so i think i'll plant one of each of those this year.
i've never been very good at saving seeds (maybe this year will be the year i start!) so after i take my inventory of old seeds that i am going to plant, i make a list of seeds to buy. i've found that seeds can stay viable for at least four years, so don't discount those old seed packets- you can still use them! i'll be headed to the garden store this weekend to fulfill my list, and i'm sure i'll find a whole bunch of other interesting seeds that i want to try this year. i'm planning to get some of my early seedlings started this weekend to keep under grow lights in my basement for the next six weeks. i'll be sure to report back on what i planted and how they're growing!
i've had the same garden spaces for the past few years, so i mostly have a good idea of what i can fit in. i always end up with many extra seedlings that i pawn off on delighted friends, neighbors, and coworkers. it might be more efficient to draw up an actual plan for my garden each year (i've done this in the past) but somehow, the haphazard approach of planting a bunch of seedlings and fitting them in where i can seems to fit my gardening style best.
so...what are you planning on planting this year? how do you plan your garden each year?
Hi Julia! Nice to hear you are finally beginning to thaw out there. I try to plan my garden a little better each year, but like you, there is also a bit of fitting things in where I can. What helps me in garden planning is to have a simple visual diagram, which I can fill in with plants, creating a sort of map.
ReplyDeleteYour gardening style and ours are very similar. (:
ReplyDeletewe plan in a similar fashion, though i'll admit that we begin to check our seed stash in january! good tip that most seeds last for more than one season. i think folks often forget that.
ReplyDeletewe always want to grow more than we have room for. our biggest problem. well, that and the weeds. ;)