Gardening

It has been well over 6 years since I've had a garden. Maybe even longer than that. I have missed it tremendously. 

12 years ago was the first year I had a garden. I was so excited. I found a Martha Stewart Gardening book and loved her "French Intensive" garden, with raised square beds. I put my hubby to work in a jiffy!!! Poor guy. But it was great. It's a lot of work, but I loved it. 

Then we moved to a house with no room for a garden. However a friend of mine  who owned a larger lot on the other side of town wanted to garden but didn't know how, so we put our efforts together and for a few years, shared a garden. Boy did we have fun.  Now it has been many years and I'm ready to garden again. I'll admit, I'm a bit nervous because it's been so long. 

I've been browsing the internet for fun looking at pictures of gardens. Aren't some of these great? I think this year, I'm going with simple. I'll stick with rows (unless I get really ambitious), and then maybe next year I'll venture into either raised beds, or something different. There also won't be a fence around it this year so I'm praying I don't lose much to the deer or rabbits. I've been researching that as well. 

Now to decide what seeds to use. What do you all use? I love Territorial Seeds Varieties of seeds, but they are a bit on the spendier side and I'm not sure I can cough up that much this year. Our local stores sell some less expensive brands, but I'm just not sure how they'll do.

The plan is to do the following vegetables with the intention of canning quite a bit of it as well as giving some away, maybe letting the girls sell a bit and of course enjoying our own fresh produce.

Carrots, Beets, Beans (green and wax), peas, potatoes (a few varieties), lettuces (several varieties), tomatoes (slicing, sauce, cherry or grape and I'd like to try an heirloom), broccoli, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, onion, Peppers, spinach and a variety of herbs as well as some  gourds and pumpkins. 

I'll can the beans, beets, tomatoes and make some bread and butter pickles. The rest we'll enjoy fresh. I'd also like to make some salsa and can that!

I'm going to try incorporating "companion Planting" which I did use the first year I gardened. I found that so fascinating.

As the years allow me to, I'd love to add a fence with a  neat gate and just make it a nice refuge.

To my hubby, gardening means a lot of work. Of course, he loves the benefits of a garden, he's just not into doing the work behind it. It's not his thing. That's okay. For me, it's relaxing and a place to gather my thoughts and enjoy something that I created. It may not look as spectacular as these gardens do, but I'd like it to someday. Even if it never did, that's okay, because it's my garden, my space, and my reward. Hopefully as we get things going I'll post pictures. I'd love to hear any tips, your favorite sites, how you deter pests, etc...

Well I'm off to fold some laundry. My mother in law had surgery on her foot and I've been over their house the last two days helping her to stay off her feet!!! 

Joy UNquenchable,