How Does Your Garden Grow?

Today is a day when we really need a little bit of writing about spring.  To imagine I can look through the window onto the backyard and see something more than the snow or the frozen tree branches.  Even better than that is to think about a day when I’ll be able to take my little boy outside to spend some time in the sun instead of into his room to spend some time rocking his sick self to sleep.  February is by far the hardest month of the year for us.  It may be short but it packs a punch.  The temperatures are low, there’s often snow, the sun seems to shine less despite the increasingly longer days, we’re frequently sick, and the prospect of spring being so close but still so far is horribly frustrating.  So, today we’re going to think about spring.

This fall Cody worked away out in our new yard to make space for the coming season’s garden.  He measured, he marked, he jack hammered, he filled a 20 foot dumpster with cement, he pulled out tree stumps, and he tilled until he was hunchbacked.  In short, he toiled.  And all through this long (and not yet gone) winter the fresh garden dirt has been laying there exposed, soaking up the sun and snow, and devouring all the plant matter that he tilled under.  Hopefully, making all his work worth while.

I’d include a picture of those nicely tilled rows but they’re currently under snow.  You’ll have to take my word for it when I say they are satisfyingly fresh looking.

A couple of weekends ago we hoped that spring might just come upon us sooner than expected (is March really just 20 days away?) and decided it is time to start thinking about what to do with that patch of earth.  We made a list of the fruits and veggies we eat most often, and some that we’d just like to try growing.  It’s a long list, but we have a big garden space.  By the end of the afternoon we had a list of plants, categorized into what to plant next to what (yay for companion growing!), and a nice little drawing of our future garden rows.  Our seed catalog is on the way now and, while planting day is still a couple of months away, it won’t be long before ordering day!

I imagine that our plan will change slightly before ordering day arrives (just today I found a couple of books on growing your own grains and dried beans!) but so far this is what our garden will grow:

Peas, Garlic, Tomatoes, Onions, Carrots, Zucchini, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Potatoes, Eggplant, Spinach, Strawberries, Parsnips, Lettuce, Chard, Green Onion, Broccoli, Thyme, Rosemary, Asparagus, Basil, and Rhubarb.

That’s this year.  In the years to come I’m personally hoping to add a couple of things: A little patch of grain for experiment, a small herb garden for goofing around in, raspberry bushes for Cheeks to raid, and maybe a fruiting tree.  The experimental grain might have to wait until I’ve mastered bread making, but I think it would be most fun to have a little patch of herbs to use around the house!

If you could grow anything in your garden what would it be???