2012 Garden Plan

The garden plan for this year is a fairly simple one. Jared and I are splitting the four beds so I will have two and he will two. Since last weekend was beautiful here in NJ and we were without plans it was a great excuse to set up the garden. And no I haven't forgotten about the why we need the cold post it will be coming soon I promise!

So you want to know what I planted? Doesn't matter, I'm going to tell you anyway! Especially since I took notes in the pretty book that Mom H gave me for the holidays.

Here you go:

So what's under the containers are the more tender seeds and the flowers. The greens don't need to be protected. I've also planted a few things for the first time: broccoli, cabbage and celery. These are cool weather crops and can usually be planted in spring when the soil is workable. I'm wondering if it may be too warm for them? I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes up and I'm also looking forward to seeing more hummingbirds this summer - that's always a treat!

Kitty Update: Lola's doing much better, thanks for the well wishes. They think she might have IBD - I have a feeling it might be more FTWT (Fish Tank Water Tummy)

Old JC photo

Time to think about the new garden

Yep it's that time of year. Even though I sit in my office freezing my tukhus off at the kid's desk I use, I have my mind on SPRING!

Last year's garden was quite a bust and I will take full responsibility for that. We had a couple of traumatic events and a mini drought without a hose was the icing on the cake.

Well now we are armed with great books thanks to Mom & Dad H.

A great resource for anything veggie gardening related including: planning; composting; pests and a crop guide to all your favorite veggies.

And of course in this day and age gardening on the cheap is definitely a must! This book includes tons (about 400!) of tips on saving money and more importantly, resources while you garden.








One way I am saving money is by saving seeds. Over the past year I have begun saving the seeds of our favorite store bought organic vegetables. If I see something that looks good I will keep the seeds, clean them and let them dry. I will then store them in containers in the fridge.

Right now we have saved seeds from:

Kentucky Wonder Beans
Collards
Patty Pan Squash
Sweet Peppers: Green, Purple & Yellow
Sunflowers - of course!
Decorative Pumpkins that will go in the front yard - yippee!
Calabaza or Edible Pumpkin
Asian Foot Long Beans
Ugly Tomatoes
Oregano
Butternut Squash

 

BUT we still have seeds left over from last season too:

Black Beauty Eggplants
Sweet Banana Peppers
Peas
Tomatoes: Oxheart. Black Krim and Roma
Radicchio
Lettuces: Romaines, Black Seeded and Green Oak
Celery
Cucumbers
Zucchinis
Turnips
Spinach

Seed Drawer

And my ultra-fabulous friends have gifted us organic Cucumber, Tomato and Squash seeds too! They also gave us really cute garden stakes.

The only thing I am missing is Kale - now we have two Kale plants in the house, I am thinking of letting them go to seed so we can plant those. If it doesn't work no biggie, we can get seeds.

Oh boy! I don't know if it's from the cacao nibs in my morning smoothie or thinking about the garden, I am ready to start right now! How exciting!!