January Turns My Thoughts To Gardening

Raised Beds

I know it sounds like I am jumping the gun. It is only January so what is she thinking of writing about gardening? Well, that is when you start planning it. Our mailbox starts bulging with seed catalogs and the path to the mailbox has to be shoveled to reach it because of the snow. But when you get back inside and take a sip of your hot, freshly perked coffee and open that catalog.........your thoughts turn to spring. And planting your garden. But there is a lot more that goes into that garden then buying a pack of seeds and digging in the dirt in spring. I actually, plan the garden, buy the seeds if needed and start the plants in the house. I used to do it April first. But last year I started them in March and plan on doing the same this year. I got a good head start that way.

Starting seeds on a wood stove that is not being used.

When you are planning your garden the first thing you must identify is what vegetables does your family eat the most? In my house I have a husband who does not eat some vegetables that I love. So I will still plant those and that means I can plant less of them. We both love fresh salad with every meal if possible. So I always make sure to get those salad vegetables growing and producing as soon as possible. I told you that I will not be planting tomatoes due to my bouts of Late Blight two years in a row. So I don't have to think about them.

Our List so far:

• Bush Beans - I always plant a lot of these as we love green beans. 
• Wax Beans - Planted them for the first time last year & loved them.
• Green Peppers - My husband does not really care for these but I do.
• Hot Peppers - I like to pickle some & dry some.
• Pumpkins - I only got 2 pumpkins this year, one was really big, bigger crop this year.
• Yellow Squash - We lived on this all summer.
• Zucchini - This too was plentiful last year and we ate it almost daily.
• Butternut Squash - I stored a lot of this in the pantry & we ate it fresh.
• Acorn Squash - I didn't plant any last year.
• Pale Grey Hopi Squash - Heirloom seeds that a friend from Homesteading Today shared with me.
• Cucumbers - None came up last year or the year before! I have never had that type of luck before.
• Mixed Lettuces - We live on this in our salads all summer.
• Mesculin - Gives our salads that extra zing. No, it's not a drug. It is a salad green mix from France.
• Onions - My husband would not a touch an onion with a ten foot pole! I love them and eat them a lot.
• Cabbage - The Polish in me, demands that I eat & love this veggie, even though my husband hates it.
• Potatoes - Not low carb, but many times you can fall back on them if you are out of everything else.
• Kale - This is a green that will grow right under the pile of snow.
• Mushrooms - Buying a kit to keep in the root cellar. That should be fun.
• Blueberries - Buying about 4 bushes to start this year.
• Strawberries - Thinking about this one.
• Corn - I like the look of corn in a garden. So thinking about this too.
• Spinach - I have a hard time getting this to grow and I just don't know why. Maybe.
• Stevia - I have not been able to get it started with seeds. I might buy some plants this year.

This is just my rough list. It may include more stuff or less. Since I will not be planting tomatoes this year, I will have extra space. I have 11 raised beds to fill and I also fill containers and put them around. I may have forgotten something and will try to add to this as I browse my seed catalogs. 

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole