Time to Make Garden Plans

It’s time to remember all the things you said last fall that you were going to grow next year.  That is BEFORE you start ordering seeds and transplants.  Every fall as I’m taking my garden down, I start making mental notes of what went well or didn’t, what I wish I had grown and what I envied in my neighbors’ gardens.  One year I’m going to make actual notes and remember where I put them the next spring.

A couple of seasons ago, I discovered that my kids love roasted beets.  Yep, you read that right.  Beets, my kids loved them.  They loved picking them out of the garden, washing them and wrapping them in foil to put in the oven.  I made a mental note to plant them last year and I, of course, forgot.  So this year, I’m going to plant them.  I’m not going to plant a lot because I’m sure that moment has passed.  I’m sure they’ll hate them especially if I grow a lot of them.

Don’t get distracted by the shiny catalogs and special offers like I did.  You can see from the picture I started tagging pages for seeds.  I did this before I went through my seed collection but thankfully I haven’t ordered anything.  I already had at least four packets of beets.

My gardens usually center around my families’ love for salads. This year I’m going to do a better job of staggering the plantings so we can have a continuous supply throughout the season.  I’m also going to plant more varieties since I learned last year that the butter lettuce seeds I had weren’t my favorite.  

Now is the time to actually make a list of what transplants you’re going to purchase especially if you’re not starting your own indoors.  It’s a good idea to look at your garden space measurements with this list.  I’m going to take my own advice this year.  Really I am.  I’ve left too many plant sales with more plants than I could possibly fit in my garden.  One year I bought five different big tomato plant varieties.  A – My garden was only 4 ft x 8 ft and I had other plants.  B – I actually only wanted to buy cherry tomatoes because the kids eat those off the vine and C – I forgot I already had two of those “As Seen On TV” hanging tomato things going.  I just got too excited.  If I had a list, that might not have happened.  Might.

That brings me back to remembering the amount of garden space you have to work with.  Of course, I’m going to have room for my salad ingredient plants but I need to make sure I have room for the land grabbing plants like pumpkin, squash, cucumbers and watermelon that I must have this year.  Fortunately, I learned some creative trellis skills from my neighbors’ gardens.  I know I can get them in.  I just have to plan for one plant of each and not get overzealous.  That’s not easy when looking at a pack of 50 seeds.  They’re so small.

After this snowy winter, making plans for the garden is exhilarating.  I’m off now to actually write down my plans.  I hope you are too. ;-)

Share this post