This morning when I woke up it was 5 degrees in the Midwest. So like all crazy mid-westerners I thought today would be a great day to start planning our garden. We moved last summer, so this year we will start from scratch at our new home. As we are planning the new garden space, the very first thing we need to do is call about where all of the underground cables are on the property. Anytime you are starting a new garden space, this needs to happen so you don’t accidently hit a utility line. You can call 811 from anywhere in the United States to get this information. Once this is done, we will plot out where the garden will be.
We will have two distinct garden plots. The first plot will be our vegetable garden. For this plot, we will have an “early” garden. The early garden will consist of lettuce, radishes and onions. We sow the lettuce and radishes directly in the ground. We will buy the onion sets. These are great early vegetables as they prefer the cool nights we have in the spring. I found this great chart online with a calendar for planting in your particular area http://www.burpee.com/gygg/growingCalendarNoZipCode.jsp.
Soon, we will also start some seedlings inside for transplanting later in the Spring when they will be ready. We did this last year for the first time and had some success. I am planning on starting some herbs (basil and cilantro), peppers, broccoli and cauliflower. We did not have great luck with tomatoes so we will likely go to the local greenhouse and buy the plants.
The second garden area will be my herb garden. This will be our fourth year for an herb garden and I finally have the basics. I am starting to do more on a personal level with herbs and natural remedies, so I will expand. In the meantime, I know we will at a minimum have basil, cilantro (lots of cilantro), rosemary, and oregano. I have begun researching other herbs that have historically grown well in our area and will expand. At our previous home, I did the herb garden as a raised bed and thrived. The picture at the top of the post was my very first herb garden right after it was planted. I will probably do the same thing here. We will also need to figure out some squirrel deterrent as there are tons of squirrels in our new neighborhood.
As the days grow longer, I know there won’t be too much more brutal weather like we are having now. I am looking forward to the warm sunshine and getting my hands in the dirt again and seeing my garden grow.
Frugal Princess 