My mind has been on our planned garden for the past few weeks as I’ve been reading Animal Vegetable Miracle and compiling a list of things I’d like to see in it this year.  Although, I was pretty surprised when I headed over to our local university’s extension website to look at planting times this year.  One of the first ones listed was February 15th!  Holy Smokes!  That’s like, NOW!  (Although THAT date was a recommendation for a couple of plants we’d need to start indoors to be transplanted in about a month.)

Last year, I decided to garden and weeded through information and probably got more confused as I went along – and then I almost missed the planting dates.  Of course, my garden came in a little slower than many other’s but once it came in, it flourished!  (Which could also be explained by the fact I refused to use chemical fertilizers.)

This year, Steven has said he wanted in on the planning – and, I’m ecstatic!  Last year, I got the “Oh gaw” and eye rolls but when I mostly took care of it myself and provided us with a HUGE supply of fresh vegetables, he really saw how it impacted our finances.  It was really awesome to be able to decide you want a salad with supper and just walk out to the yard and pick whatever you wanted on it.  This year, I was hoping we’d be able to buy some of the “heirloom” vegetables, but I think I’ll wait on that until finances will allow.  Instead, I’m going to buy from the farm store and walmart again and see how many seeds I can start indoors, and then transplant those – which will save some cash, too (a few dollars here and a few dollars there…)

But, apparently…I have way less time than I originally thought!  My brain is still not used to thinking in garden rows and time tables, so I’m going to need to re-acquaint myself (and take good notes) on things like:

- The vegetable list.  It’s pretty much required that you know what you want in the garden before you start…

- The time table for things to be planted.  Hopefully this year we can have produce in all 3 seasons if I plan right!

- The number of seeds and sprouts I’ll need to buy for the garden based on what the average person eats.

- The carefully planned diagram of the garden which will show WHERE things go, with appropriate spots for vegetables that will stay for more than one season and those that need to be replaced.  And, attention to spacing since that varies with each vegetable.

I have a lot to do.  And, that’s just the planning!  All of that should put me at actually tilling this garden mid-march or very early April.  Although, I haven’t figured that out yet since only a few things are supposed to be planted mid march – and mostly everything else in April.

But, for now…here’s the list we’ve come up with.  Our wish list, if you will:
-Asparagus
-Brocolli
-Cabbage
-Corn
-Cucumber
-Green Beans
-Green Peppers
-Habanero Peppers
-Lima Beans
-Mushrooms (although we’ll probably just hunt for these while we hike)
-Mustard Greens
-Okra
-Potatoes (to be grown in a couple of clean trash cans outside)
-Pumpkins
-Red Peppers
-Rhubarb (crowns)
-Romaine Lettuce
-Roma Tomatoes (for homemade spaghetti sauces and such)
-Spinach
-Squash
-Sweet Peas
-Tomatoes
-Watermelons
-Winter Squash

And these fruits which will be grown separately: blackberries and strawberries

And, some herbs – which will go in pots this year, making it easier to bring them inside for the winter.  Plus they’ll be pretty on the patio

Welcome back!

Stephanie at Keeper Of The Home is having a great little Organic Gardening Carnival!  I knew I’d be searching the entries for information to help me out next year, but I’m not sure how much I can offer as this past year was my first to truly garden by myself.  But, I’ll tell you what I learned, and heck – it might actually help someone!

First, we tilled the area and then hoed it and threw out the clumps.  I hoed it into rows and even made a diagram of where everything was.  I really really encourage using a diagram, by the way.  Mine was really detailed, and next year, I’ll probably draw what the seedlings will look like for new plants so it’s easier for me to identify them and not mistake them for weeds.  Actually, when most of my produce began growing in, I left weeds and all.  I wasn’t quite sure what would be a weed, and what was something I planted.

All of my seeds were bought from Walmart.  I needed something fast and cheap and while I realize this isn’t the BEST way to go about it, it worked OKAY for us (although next year, I’d like to buy some other things from catalogs).

How and what we planted.  As I said, I planted in rows, taking care to plant the herbs in the last row which was closest to the woods to help discourage rabbits and deer from having a snack.  Next year, I think I will pot my herbs so it’s easier to bring them in during the winter – and I’ll probably throw in some marigolds and other flowers to help keep the animals out.  I didn’t really have an issue with animals this year but figure once they find my garden, they’ll be lunching.  There wasn’t really a huge method to my madness when I planted, I just tried to give the more “bushy/viney” (like tomatoes)  plants more room, as well as ensure enough room for any root vegetables.

Things that didn’t work so well.  I really wanted to try composting this past year, but wanted to try it small scale to see if it was for me.  I had read that you could use wooden pallets and nail those together, but seeing as I’m so tiny, I thougt it’d be hard for me to get to without some major readjusting, so I bought a school crate.  I piled in leaves and food peelings and any veggie/fruit leftovers to no avail.  I was able to turn it and all, but nothing really came of it.  I’m asking my brother to make me this composter for Christmas.  Also, my squash, potatoes, asparagus and a few others didn’t really come in like I’d hoped.  So, I’ll be looking to plant those in different areas and will be picking out different seeds or starters.

Other issues.  Fortunately, I didn’t have much of a problem with pests or mildew or anything.  There were some slugs but I found some organic spray recipes that got rid of them quickly.

Things I plan to change:

- I want to explore composting more, and hopefully with a real composter!
- Order more organic seeds from reputable companies
-Make my drawings/diagrams a bit more complete with seedling drawings
- Pot the herbs
- Make a bed just for the asparagus
- Plant edible flowers, as well as some extra fruits and vegetables

All in all, I was pretty happy with how things turned out and am really excited to try my hand at this again next year!

Here’s the link I used for Organic Pest Control that really helped me!