I’m well into planning for my next vegetable garden. I’ve got a ~500sq ft (~46 sq m) plot at a community garden. Last year was my first year at this location, so it was a lot of learning and starting to work the ground to how I want it. I ended the growing season with a healthy fall ground cover that I’m hoping will help things out this spring!
My plan this year is to grow some “eat right away” vegetables and mostly vegetables that I can preserve and use throughout the year following. I’m looking at growing:
- Roma (paste/sauce) tomatoes
- Sandwich tomatoes
- Cherry tomatoes (in buckets in the back yard)
- Bell peppers
- Beans (bush wax, bush green)
- Spinach, lettuce
- Carrots, parsnips
- Pumpkins,
- Three Sisters – version 2 – amaranth (for the grain), black pole beans-drying, Butternut squash, Spaghetti squash
- Potatoes
- Sunflowers and various flowers to keep critters away (marigold, alyssum, nasturtum)
My calendar and planner are full of dates now! I’ve already gotten my seeds from Johnny’s Seeds and Victory Seeds (for the black drying beans) and used the packets to tell me when to start seeding and/or planting. I’m also using a planting guide from the local extension office; the guide is geared for the state/region I live in.
So from end of March through beginning of June will be very busy! Ground prep, seed starters, transplanting and sowing into the ground, watering and all that… and now throw in two weeks of spring turkey hunting! Busy!
I’ve never grown from seeds before for my own transplants, I’ve went out and bought the plants from the local stores. This past year, I had some bad luck with that, so I figured I’d take matters into my own hand and figure out how this all works. When I get that all set up, I’ll put up a blog post on what I did.
I’m looking forward to getting back into the garden! This wait is … so… SLOW!