Are you Ready to Garden? I Am

In the past few weeks, the NW has gotten a few days of amazing sunshine, not too many, but enough to make me long for summer, make me long for a time in the not too distant future when my garden will be tilled, my plans made, and my garden planted. (The picture at right is fresh produce from last years garden)

I've been spending some time re-thinking my plan for this year. Do I want to plant the same things as last year? Do I want to plant as many or fewer plants? What do I want to preserve? Are there any new crops or varieties I want to try? Do I want to incorporate more flowers into the garden landscape.

One thing I will try again this year is composting. My compost didn't work too well last year. I think that I didn't add enough "brown" material to it, but I am not going to give up. I'm going to give it another shot. I spent some time today, tearing (by hand) a bunch of newspapers (a friend told me to put that on my compost heap). I'm also going to be doing a lot more research so I know what to do and how to do it.

I have some raspberries in my garden that are doing well. I planted them last year after a friend gave them to me. They will produce this spring. I have some fall bearing ones too but I'm not sure if they're going to survive since I planted them last year.  

What are your garden plans? Your garden dreams? I mean, come on, don't you love looking at gardens in magazines and just drooling over them?

My dream garden would be to have a series of beautiful raised beds with pea gravel paths, maybe a fence around it with a gate and trellises. I would love to have fruit and berries here and there on our property.

I would have to say that my garden last year was a success. There are things I'll do differently this year, but I cannot say that I was disappointed last year. It had been over 5 years since I had planted a garden so I could not complain one bit. 

I think that I will do raised beds again. I just like the look. Last year I did a variety of square raised beds and long raised beds. It was alot of work pulling up the soil (I had blisters to prove it). It helped me keep my paths clear (I didn't want to be traipsing on my plants before they grew). Last year I also did companion planting to help with insect control and space useage. For example, planting lettuce and carrots together, uses space well in the garden. Certain vegetable help repel veggies from each other, but the opposite is also true, so there are some veggies you should not plant by one another.

Do any of you re-use your leftover seeds? I have some leftover and am considering re-using them. I've kept them stored in a cool place and I'm hoping they'll still work. 

I'm looking forward to having fresh from my garden vegetables this summer and fall. I was watching our local TV station today and they were sharing about how even here in the NW you can plant vegetables to enjoy even through the winter months...purple broccoli, celery, spinach, etc. I never thought of that. I may try it this year. To have veggies longer into the seasons would be wonderful!

The Hosta and Astilbe are coming up great. The lilacs I transplanted took well.





 
With Joy UNquenchable,