Back to Basics

What did you get to on this blustery weekend?  With all the snow, I kept warm inside and made good use of my time dreaming of the outside :)

I'm quite a contrarion when it comes to our yard.  In the dead of winter, I'm really excited about the things we can grow, but once winter is gone, and Jumanji is coming alive... I'm begging for snow again!

But until the panic and frustration take over, I'm getting very excited about some changes to our veggie garden!

I've had a little success in the past with beans and snap peas, although last year was a disaster. The weather didn't cooperate at all, and I gave up.

With all I've been hearing lately about chemicals in food, I thought that it was time to expand our veggie garden and give it another go.  Hopefully this will give us some vegetables to eat instead of getting them from the store... and if so, we can expand again further next year.  The trouble with expanding, is that we really don't have any garden left.  At all.  Jumanji got it's name because when I moved in (after buying the house in a cold April), it was alive.  Everywhere.  It's completely landscaped.  We've talked about tearing apart some of the front yard, which would make some vegetable space, but our front yard isn't very private.  Instead, I'm going to try some container gardens!

There's a spot where we are taking out ornamental grass, and it's quite sunny so would do well for a garden.  I also happened to remember two larger pots that are just sitting in the sunroom holding various things as they didn't have any other place to go.  Well, soon they will!

Here's my plan  :)

That brown grass... is actually over 5ft tall and 3ft wide
during the growing season.  It's too much.

Here's what it'll be instead... Hopefully!

Two pots (they're white w/ a vine pattern)
Put up a light, hanging basket, and hanging herb tins!

I'm hoping to put cherry tomatoes, peppers, celery, carrots and beans in there.  Into the garden part anyways.  I've read up on companion gardening, and have figured out which ones to put into the same containers.  I'm going to try growing cilantro and mint in tins that will hang from the side of the house.

And what else?  Extra effort to get a mega snap pea garden going in our driveway.  I learned somewhere that beans don't like going where peas used to be?  Which makes putting the beans in with the peas these past few years a bad idea.  Oops.

Driveway garden with a few peas planted

What it should look like... if I really amp it up this year

Cross your fingers, folks!  Hopefully Mother Nature cooperates this year and makes a decent growing season.

And if you haven't thought about planting at least one vegetable, do it!  Since I know most of you won't start to keep chickens for their eggs... one little pot of veggies could be your contribution to sustainability this year!

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