Investing in Garden Futures

So the holidays are drawing near and all I can think about is that there are only a few more days until the days start getting longer again.  I'm so excited for spring to get here and soon it will be time to get started on planting seeds for the garden.  This is one of the best times of the year - when the seed catalogs arrive and I can spend hours reading plant descriptions and dreaming of next summer's garden abundance.

I have made a quick inventory of seeds that I already had so I didn't buy seeds that I don't need.  I usually get rid of seeds that are more than 4 years old just because the germination can become spotty and I don't have a lot of room under the lights for empty pots.  Then I look over what types of veggies I want to have in the garden beds.  This is where the seed catalogs make things interesting.  I don't just grow carrots.....there are dozens of types of carrots I can choose from.  I usually try to choose varieties that would grow well in my climate, or have a short growing season to make crop rotation efficient.  Each type of veggie has thier own sets of strengths and weaknesses and I try to choose types of plants that would complement each other well.  For example, I choose to grow a very tall variety of corn that acts as a sturdy support for the tangle of pole bean vines that I plant beside them.

I have a fairly definite plan of what I want to grow and where I want to grow it in my garden, but I always seem to order more seeds than I made room for in the garden.  This is where the rest of my  yard comes in.  I want to try to grow small amounts of grain alternative crops such as quinoa and amaranth in parts of my yard that I don't have dedicated to veggie beds.  I am trying these grains because they are more drought tolerant than others which is important in my semi arid climate.  I don't want to have to use a ton of water to grow these crops, and I'm hoping to use them to supplement my chicken feed eventually.

There is also going to be a gray zone around the garden where I will allow for the overflow growth of my vining plants like squash, melons and cucumbers.  This is an area that I can plant with a low growing cover crop to protect the soil until the vining plants can fill in the area.  This is also an area that I can allow my chickens to roam in when I no longer want them tearing up the garden beds for me.

I plan on adding an herb patch to the yard in the spring, though I will probably get some herbs as starts from the local nursery since I tend to have a hard time getting herb seeds to germinate for me.  I also plan on planting out a small strawberry patch this spring.  This is one of the few perennials that I am willing to plant on a rental property - since they produce fruit fairly quickly, are low maintenance and I can take cuttings with me when I move if I so desire.

I have so much to do this spring to get this garden started that I am impatiently waiting for the season to arrive.  I have so many ideas in my head for what I want to do with the yard, I can't wait to get started implementing them and seeing how they work.