Monday, February 1, 2016

Planning and Plantng


There are a lot of things I should be doing right now (overseeing the kids afternoon chores, grinding pork for supper (sausage gravy and biscuits), folding laundry, trying to get Mr. Crabby-pants down for a nap, planning a bridal shower for my sister, working on baby shower stuff for my sister in laws shower), but I decided writing a blog post sounded like more fun, so here I am.

It's supposed to be 50 for the next two days, but then back to cold and snow again. Just in time for Sprouts visit to the ortho guy. (Sprout discovered that he cannot fly off the bunk bed ladder and spiral fractured his tibia about a month ago. It's been lots of fun.) The snow has melted and while it doesn't smell like spring, I have spring fever. This has been a very mild winter so far and it's not helping that spring fever one little bit. I've had my pot of seeds (see that yellow pot off to the side? That's what I keep everything in at the moment. I'm so organized...) sitting in the kitchen waiting for a chance to sort through and see what I have and what I "need". Need being a relative term. Garden catalogs suck me and I "need" *everything*. I do not have enough garden space to plant everything I want to, so I guess I'm going to have to get creative. There is a difference of opinions amongst the adults of the house regarding gardens and I'm not pushy enough to argue. But if I had my way, I would have separate gardens devoted entirely to pumpkins, squash, garlic, onions, and different types of beans. And I feel like a perennial garden is going to be a must this year. My herb garden is mostly established, just a few changes need to be made here and there.
I'm starting seeds for my raised bed tomorrow so that once it's warm enough for cold weather crops, I can put in plants instead of seeds. They may have a fighting chance then. The weeds in that bed come up so thick and so fast that everything gets choked out before it has a chance. This is the last year I'm trying it. If I can't keep the weeds down with mulch and paper this year, I'm taking it out. It's not worth my time.

Which brings me to: what have been your most creative and successful garden beds? Has anyone tried hay bale gardening and if so, what gardening zone are you and how did it work? What about potato towers?  Vertical gardening? Hugelkulture and permaculture sound interesting, but I think we have too much other stuff in the way.  Our land slopes and holds water and we have to be careful of where we dig and till because of underground drainage pipes and drain tile. Plus I don't completely understand it. I need layman terms and everything I'm finding is technical. Attractive and raised is probably going to be where I need to go. Oh, and we're zone 5, but I tend to incorporate zone 4 stuff too.
Hit me with your garden wisdom folks, I'm in need!

6 comments:

  1. I've been reading a ton on permaculture this last year here as I've been waiting to plant. I LOVE it all! It pretty much points out all the mistakes we made last time. ;) Not really, it just has such great ways of doing things that I have a lot of new ideas and plans THAT MAKE SENSE instead of just flying by the seat of my pants and going along with whatever someone else (!) wants to try next.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm excited to see how it goes for you! Any sites or books you can suggest? I know Abby Jo (Forgotten Way Farms) implemented a lot of that at their place in town last year with wonderful results. It's one of those things that kind of starts stressing me out reading wise, but I still want to know more about. I just get overwhelmed with where and who to read.

      Delete
  2. Let me go over my notes this week and I'll send you some titles I liked. I've check them out from our library and the Inter-Library Loan System is my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh I love garden planning & spend far too much on seeds.:) WE are at the opposite end of the gardening season & so I am harvesting, canning & saving seeds!
    Blessings
    Renata:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. haha- I keep seeing instagram posts about gardens and then I realize they are out of the country!

      Delete