Garden Plans

It's time to think about gardening!  (Actually I should have started at least a month ago.)  I received my Seed Savers Exchange catalog months ago, but finally figured out what I need to order out of it today.   Seed Savers Exchange is located in Decorah, Iowa which is only a few hours away from me.  They sell heirloom vegetables, herbs, flowers,  and many of them are also organic.  The cover is stunning with so many shades of purple and splashes of yellow.  After seeing the inspiring cover back in December or January, you would think that I would have tore open the pages and figured out my garden right then and there, but no, the catalog got tucked away on a little shelf.





I feel like I'm a little behind with my garden plans, but I have such a hard time getting excited about gardening in the middle of winter.  This will be my 3rd year for a garden.  I remember the first year going through this catalog and feeling so overwhelmed and excited, with just too many things that I wanted to grow.  I think it took me hours just to figure out what to order.  With a couple years of gardening under my belt, the ordering was actually a snap.  



With the seeds I had leftover from last year, Amelia and I planted a few trays for starts.  These little trays are great and come with a little plastic cover, kind of like a mini greenhouse.  I feel like I'm behind on all of this, but looking back at my notes from last year I didn't start my seeds until April 10th.   Someday I hope to have a small greenhouse for starts, but also to try and extend the season for some cold hardy crops.  Last winter an Amish friend had spinach all winter, what a treat that was.
Next comes trying to figure out where to plant everything, which I'm still trying to figure all that out, what grows best where, and what to plant next to each other, because not all plants like each other and don't grow well when planted together,  I guess it's called companion planting.   I just received our new Mother Earth News yesterday and it's  loaded with gardening info, companion planting (just what I was looking for!), heirloom veggies, food security and more.  On their website they have new this year, the Vegetable Garden Planner which helps you design your garden, where and how much to plant, plant spacing,  crop rotation, and more.  I might have to try the free 30-day trial.  I have a pretty good size garden for living in town and need to learn how to use it to its full potential so we get lots of yummy food for as long as we can. This year I'll even have some little helpers who say they want to garden with me this year!