So, the year's just started, but it's time to start thinking ahead and planning this year's garden.
Last year was not as productive as I would have liked. The demands of taking care of a small child didn't leave me a lot of spare time. I'm hopeful that this year will be better for a variety of reasons. A lot of last year was spent learning to be a better housekeeper, grocery shopper, cook and child care provider. This year I'll be a lot more efficient. Also, my parents have moved to the area and are willing to help out by watching my son. Added to that, he's becoming increasingly independent and interactive. It won't be long until he's big enough to help me weed!
I don't want to be too negative about last year's garden. The okra did great. Our little freezer is still almost full. The bok choy was also very productive, and reseeded itself generously. The rosemary is larger than it needs to be and is asking for another drastic pruning this year. We also got a lot of figs. I started the peppers too late to get much from them and the tomatoes and zucchini did not produce as well as in seasons past. There was plenty of basil, parsley, carrots and arugula, though, and the oregano and mints are still doing great.
Pictured above are the two books I got for Christmas. They have me very excited about this coming year. The one on the left is from the folks at
Ecology Action. It is a very detailed description of the process they have been developing for growing more food in smaller areas. It's gotten me excited about providing more food for my family. The other book is about more than gardening. It provides an overview of all sorts of skills needed for sustainable living, such as canning, raising livestock and even making beer! It also has a good list of resources to dig deeper on any of the subjects it covers.
Yesterday, I ordered seeds from
Horizon Herbs. I'm going to be trying roman chamomile, cumin and beans for the first time. I'm also trying different strains of peas, borage, zucchini, tomato, sunflower and chile peppers. Add these to the 30+ types of seed I currently have saved and I should have quite a diverse garden. The roman chamomile is the type used to make a chamomile lawn. My plan is to grow it between and around the two permanent beds I intend to dig in the area I was calling the "cottage garden" last year. If it becomes well established, I'm not sure if I'll keep it short or let it flower. Either way, it should be awesome to walk on. I tried sunflower last year, but never turned the ground I had planned to and they died before I could plant them. This new variety I'm trying is called "fat mama." I'm pretty excited about that. In addition to a different strain of jalapeno than what I've used, I also ordered a type of pepper I've never grown before. They're calling it "mboga pepper." Mboga is Kiswahili for "vegetable." It should be hotter than the jalapeno, but nowhere near a habanero; maybe on par with cayenne. I also got two new kinds of tomato seeds. One is called "Amish paste" and I intend to use it primarily for canning. The other is the "Chadwick cherry" which was developed by Alan Chadwick, upon whose work Ecology Action is founded. I plan on eating them fresh in salads and learning to sun dry them.
So far, I've been doing a lot of thinking and planning, but the real work will be starting soon. I need to set my little greenhouse back up and test it to see how warm it stays on these cold mornings. If it's warm enough to raise seedlings, I'm going to be building some wooden flats that fit on the shelves and use them for starting the seedlings next month. I also need to do a little more cleaning in the garden and I need to set up the compost pile using the information I've gained from
Grow More Vegetables.
