That nursery rhyme has been dancing through my head all week! It is still so dreary and rainy here, but I am itching to get my garden started. The weather and temps have only allowed me to dream and make lists, but I plan to start some seedlings indoors this next week. I found a great frugal tutorial here that I am eager to try.
Last year we just tilled a patch of soil and planted that way, but this year my husband is going to build some garden beds. (In all of his ‘spare’ time!) Both ways work perfectly well, and truthfully for large gardens raised beds might not be feasible, but I like the look and organization of them.
We just started subscribing to the magazine Urban Farm (their website is here), and have been pouring through the book Country Wisdom and Know-How. Both are great resources. We have had a garden every year since we have been married (this is our 15th garden!) and both grew up in families with gardens, but it is always good to get ideas and learn something new. Truthfully, most years our gardens have consisted of tomatoes, carrots, peas, and cucumbers. Some years it has just been a few containers on the back porch. This year we are going to branch out..a lot! We have the space for it, and truthfully, we will need to supplement our grocery budget with our fresh produce as much as possible. Plus I plan to can quite a bit this year.
One thing topping my list to plant are peas. I have the most wonderful memories of picking peas with my grandmother as a child. I even remember the recycled ice cream buckets that we put them in. Nothing better than fresh peas from the garden. One for the bucket, one for me! We also plan to plant tomatoes (beefsteak, romas, and grape), cucumbers, carrots, beans, zucchini, pumpkins, green beans, broccoli, bell peppers, hot peppers, multiple varieties of lettuce, basil, chives, oregano, cilantro, green onions, and dill. Whew! Our yard is overrun with mint, and we still have a rosemary plant from last year. We also have a number of raspberry bushes, two blueberry bushes, and the verdict is still out on whether the strawberries made it through the winter. We also have a huge ancient apple tree! In the fall we will plant garlic and onions so we can have them next year. Missed out on being able to do that this year.
So, have you been planning your garden yet? What are some of your favorite things to grow? Whether it is a few containers of herbs on your windowsill, or a small farm, we all can enjoy fresh produce this summer and fall. Fresh tomatoes from the vine, carrots still clinging to remnants of soil, peas dripping with dew, raspberries just shy of being ripe (ok, I may be alone on that one, but again, another favorite memory of childhood. I was never patient enough to wait for them to ripen!)…I can hardly wait. I plan on keeping track of our progress here, and hopefully you guys can keep me accountable to maintain everything!
Yummm!!! Can we come over for dinner? You are so right about the peas.
I wish so bad that I could grow something. We live in an apartment and the deck is on the north side with huge trees blocking any sun that might try to get through.
I couldn’t even grow shade plants! Hopefully we can move soon….
I would love to see future how-to posts on gardening. I attempted a very tiny vegetable garden last year, but moved away before I could reap the fruits of my labor. This year I have a slightly larger plot and would love to grow some of my own salad veggies, but I’m such a newbie just about any basic advice would be welcome. Thanks for getting me excited about developing a green thumb!
If you are thinking about garden beds try square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew. The boxeshe recomend building are not any bigger than 4ftx4ftx6in and in theory they are suposed to let you plant various things in your garden and stagger your harvest. I was thinking about trying 2 4×4 beds this year since our yard is still under renovation and that’s all I have room for right now.