Sunday, January 18, 2015

Garden Dreaming


It's getting to be about that time of year where us Northern gardeners getting that itch to play in the dirt; thankfully we have designing and planning, seed swapping and buying, and plant starting to hold us over until the ground thaws. 

Every year my plans tend to be grander than what I can live up to, especially the last two or so where I have just not had the time I wished to carry out the plans that were swimming through my imagination the previous Winters. This year I am to my gardener's ego from some bruising and keep things a bit more simple. 

There will be some types crop plants that I will be staying away from because they always end up turning out to be disasters {like melons!} and stick to ones that tend to be kinder to me, whether pampered or left to their own devices. I want to focus more on root crops and greens this year,  as well as tomatoes, beans, summer and winter squashes and perhaps have a hand at growing a super big pumpkin {read: anything bigger than a dwarf variety!}.  The old faithful varieties will have space in  the garden and there are a few varieties that I would like to try, I just haven't fully narrowed down all those yet.

Room for perennials is getting quite scarce, although there could be more room next year once some of the biennials are done this coming growing season. I am pretty sure that I have a wee bit of a problem when it comes to collecting perennials and I have a very hard time thinning them out. Not being one to toss them onto the compost heap, I need to find homes for the ones taking over the garden or I just end up leaving them be. That still doesn't stop me from growing or buying more though. I just may have to start growing them in containers and burying them in the veggie patches for overwintering. 

Container gardening is something that I want to expand on this year, for both veggies and flowering annuals, with a focus on drawing in pollinators. Our wild critter garden bed will be getting some more additions too {maybe I do still have room for more perennials!} and intend to add some bee nest boxes to go along with our critter hotel.

I still have to narrow down my wishlist, but the ones that I think are my top contenders:

and some type of super warty pumpkin or winter squash such as Galeux d' Eysines or Red Warty Thing.

What are your garden plans and/or must haves for 2015?


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