It’s cold and dreary in Massachusetts and the high gloss seed catalogs are rolling in. It is that time of year. The time of year when I hunker down under blankets by the wood stove and sketch and plan my garden.
Home Town Seeds, a premium online seed retailer for the home gardener, recently sent me a wonderful sampler pack. This increased my gardening urge even more. I’ve been known to start seeds way too far in advance for our zone 5 climate. It takes extreme restraint to resist just planting a few seeds in case we have a warm spring. We rarely have a warm spring. So I hunch over catalogs looking for new and unique items to add to my gardens.
Perennials and annuals are often bought in spring at the local garden center, town plant sales and sometimes online. I throw them where ever I think they’ll look best and often move them several times throughout the season and years to come. I have no patience (or space) for starting flowers by seed. Maybe in time. (Dear husband, if you are reading, I hope to have a mini greenhouse/shed in the near future.)
Vegetables are different.There is something wild about planting a tiny seed that grows into a plant and bears fruit. I love it, my kids love it, my husband even joins in (often complaining that I need to weed) and Finley our Wheaten Terrier enjoys the fresh air.
I have a 20 by 16 potager style garden that was started 2 years ago and finished off last year. (A potager is a country style kitchen garden, absent of obvious rows, where vegetables, herbs and flowers are mixed together.) There is no room on our hill for a large spread, so I’m forced to garden compactly and I wouldn’t do it any other way. It forces me to choose what I really want and to be creative. As it is, I often start hundreds of tomato seeds and have difficulty disposing of any seedlings. (A trait I picked up from my mother.)
Our little veggie plot has 2 gates and is framed by a stained cedar picket fence. The fence posts are topped by finials, and baskets that contain vibrant annuals that spill over and trail down the fence. There are 2 rectangular plots of raised earth in the center of our potager surrounded by a path. Beyond the path, running along the fence, is another area of raised earth. All along the outside of the fence is an additional area of raised earth for items the greedy woodchucks and deer won’t touch.
Outside of the fence I rotate my garlic/onions and herbs. Inside are a mix of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, peas, more herbs and anything else I can squeeze in. Sometimes a volunteer plant from the compost pile makes it in there too.
In addition to the potager, I also put many of my tomatoes in large containers. I use plastic buckets that you can find at your local home improvement store. They have a handle and I drill drainage holes into the bottom. You can also visit restaurants and ask if they have any of these to give away. Most food items are stored in these large plastic containers. They aren’t the most beautiful looking, but they extend my garden and are portable.
I also have a separate asparagus patch I planted two years ago and a raised blueberry bed I planted last year. This year I hope to add a raspberry bush or two and maybe a few new vegetable plants that I’ve never tried before.
It’s only January. I’m still hunched over the seed catalogs, but when I figure it all out I’ll let you know.
What do you plant in your garden?
