garden on the brain

I sketched out and planned our vegetable garden this past weekend. I needed to figure out what seeds we needed to order and get those taken care of. It was so much fun planning for this spring and summer  especially because Sunday the weather took a nose dive down to the teens with a windchill of single digits. brrrrrrrrr. 

I'm excited about the garden because its such a learning experience. We started our garden three years ago not really knowing anything and each year we've found a way to improve and or something to tweak to become more productive.

Here are some tips...

• I wholeheartedly suggest sketching out your garden. There are several tools and charts on the internet that show you what can be grown together (and actually thrives when planted together), how many plants to plant in a square foot if planting in squares rather than rows, etc. By having this all written down- planting simply becomes a matter of following the diagram...which is really helpful when you have children helping!
• On your garden picks- write what you've planted, the date you planted and how many days to maturity. I do this with my seeds so I know when to test pick or start thinning. Or you can skip the days and just write the maturity date on the pick. Also remember to mark your calendar (or set reminders in your phone). The pick is a good reference when your out there working. Other than that you need something handy. 
• Do a little research on keeping and storing your produce! There's canning...but you can freeze and dry several things too! 

I also like working in my flower gardens...transplanting, separating and adding. I like mixing 'working' plants (raspberries, blueberries etc) in with my perennials and annuals.

If you are more into designing your flowers, trees and outside landscape...go here and use the interactive gardening tool! Its pretty neat- you can choose your background and then design away! I've used it - not for a specific project we have planned but because it gets the creative juices flowing! It also gets me excited for spring!