Garden Planning

Yes, I know, it is negative a bijillion degrees outside and the ground is covered in snow. I am spending my days dreaming of fresh veggies right from my yard. I have decided that gardening is something that I will be handing down to my kiddos so I am starting a garden journal.

In the first section I have calendars with planting dates, transplanting dates, harvesting dates and such. I also have a detailed garden layout plan, where I will be planting each item and how many will go into each square.

The second section has info about each type of seed. Latin names, sun requirements, how to know when it is best to harvest, When and where it was purchased and what I spent.

The third section is the section for lists, logs and recording. In no special order

• Purchase Log
• Weather Log
• Catalog Wishlist
• Seed Starting Log
• Planting Log
• Pest Log
• Harvest Records
• Preserving Records

Next will be the diary section where I will record my thoughts and views and gardeny actions, followed by a page for "What I want to do differently next year."

I think this is really going to help me track changes and trends and get better at gardening!

So I am planning an even bigger garden this year. Adan is going to have to build me 7 more boxes. Hopefully he is cool with that! It is going to be tricky to find a place for such a big garden this spring. Our yard is bordered in the back by a tree line. In the morning, our yard will be shaded by the house, and in the afternoon, the trees will be shading the yard. There is a place were the house shadow won't reach, but there is another tree in the yard that will shade the space at this time. I am going to have to offset the garden a bit so that maybe that tree won't shade everything. The rub with all this planning is that I won't know how it's going to work out until the trees have filled in and everything is already planted. I guess I am just going to have to use my guess as to how it will work out!

If you want the garden layout for this season, post in the comments and I will email it to ya!

This year we will be planting:
Early Snowball Cauliflower - 3
Farmer's Extra Early Cauliflower - 3
Red Russian Kale - 3
Cherry Belle Radishes - 32
Lettuce Blend Lettuce - 4
Green Magic Broccoli - 2
Green Sprouting Calabrese Broccoli - 2
Coronando Crown Broccoli - 2
Green Arrow Peas - 144
Purple Pod Beans - 144
Blue Lake Beans - 72
Sultans Beans - 72
Strawberry Popcorn - 24
Yellow Dent Corn - 24
Golden Cross Corn - 24
Boston Pickling Cucumbers - 2
Japanese Climbing Cucumbers - 4
Listada de Gandia Eggplants - 3
Bell Boy Peppers - 2
Sweet Pepper Mix - 4
Chocolate Beauty Bell Peppers - 2
Napoleon Sweet Bell Peppers - 2
Tolli's Sweet Italian Peppers - 2
Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes - 6
Roma Tomatoes - 6
Golden Rave Tomatoes - 6
Gurney Girl Tomatoes - 6
Sweet Baby Girl Tomatoes - 6
Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomatoes - 6
Yellow Pear Tomatoes - 6
Green Tomatillos - 2
Burpee Golden Beets - 16
Danvers Carrots - 64
Nantes Carrots - 64
Envy Carrots - 64
Paris Market Carrots - 64
Yellow Crookneck Squash - 1
Black Magic Zucchini - 2
Anna Swartz Hubbard Squash - 1
Burgess Buttercup Squash - 1
Waltham Butternut Squash - 1
Bibb Lettuce - 8
Iceberg Lettuce - 8
Jack o Lanturn Pumpkins - 2
Lumina Pumpkins - 2
Gurney's Giant Magic Pumpkin - 2
Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce - 8
Buttercrunch Lettuce - 8
Bright Lights Swiss chard - 4
Crimson Sweet Watermelon - 3
Aunt Molly's Ground cherry - 1
America Spinach - 9
Teton Spinach - 9
Gurney's Giant Cantalopes - 3
Bidwell Casaba - 1
Charantais Melon - 1
Boule d' Or Melon - 1
Strawberries - 72

Holy beans, that is a long list!! Can't wait for harvest time!!!