Feeling much, much better this morning! Much more myself, much more optimistic. And much less pain!
I spent yesterday finishing up the shopping for Mara's big 6th birthday party....she turns 6 on February 2 and we're having a blowout at my mom's on the 4th. Should be big fun...more details later.
I also got my garden for the 2012 season plotted out and seed list nearly finished. We had a fairly good season last year, despite the weather-related challenges. Last year, I reduced the varieties of stuff that I planted and concentrated more on the 'meat and taters' of our diet. I plan to do the same thing this year. It's fun to plant 25 different types of tomatoes, but when it comes down to it, we keep going back to the plain jane slicers, cherry and paste varieties. Last year, thanks to the generosity of Farmer D, we had enough tomatoes to can sauce, crushed tomatoes, soup, juice, etc and I've found it so convenient to have those foods in our storage. Definitely got to do that again! So while having purple, speckled and striped tomatoes are fun, this year's garden will be different.
On the planner for 2012:
Greens (kale, spinach and lettuces)
2 plantings each of carrots and beets
Potatoes (late, early and sweet)
Cabbage and eggplant
Cucumbers and zucchini
Lots of peppers (hot, sweet and Tabasco)
Onions, shallots and garlic (which are already in the ground)
Green beans
An early planting of sugar snap peas followed by a shelling bean
And of course, lots of tomatoes.
For our permanent plantings, we're adding an asparagus patch, Egyptian walking onions and gooseberries and whatever else we can squeeze in. Should be a good, good year.
I'm most excited about the potatoes and Tabasco peppers. Last year we harvested 110# of white potatoes and 30# of sweet potatoes and I'd like to at least double that. 250# of potatoes sounds like a lot, but I like the idea of never having to buy potatoes again. And Tabasco peppers....well it's just plain fun making your own fermented Tabasco sauce. My goal is to keep replacing factory food with homemade and every product we can make is a step in the right direction.
What kind of plans are you making for the 2012 garden?
4 comments:
I'm glad you're feeling better, Andrea!
Yeoldfurt reconfigured our raised beds into four smaller 4x4 sections and one 4x12 sections. We watered them heavily and then covered them for the winter in early November. It's a good thing we did. This winter has been so mild temperature-wise that grass and weeds are sprouting everywhere in the yard. I can mow the yard but weeding those raised beds before planting would be a lot more work!
We will prune the fruit trees the first weekend in February. Wow, that's next weekend already! They are just beginning to bud. We have not been able to keep them mulched because they are in the chicken yard and the hens scratch up the mulch. But I might try to make something out of some scrap chicken wire to cover the mulch. It will still let the water through, but deter the hen scratching.
We have never had much luck with potatoes. We don't have a place to store large quantities long term. We can keep sweet potatoes over winter for several months. But white potatoes go bad after a few weeks. I'm open to suggestions but this is central Texas ...hot and humid is the order of the day!
I want lots of onions and peppers this year, green beans, Swiss chard, lettuce and tomatoes. I'm going to try my hand at some DIY upside down tomato planers too. I might do cantaloupe as well. We HOPE to buy our freezer this year. Cold cantaloupe is a treat when it's hot outside, but it's a real treat in the winter!
Hi there. We're having an uncharacteristically mild winter too. We've had a few really cold snaps, but we're running about 15-20 degrees warmer than usual. Maybe 2 inches of total snow accumulation at this point. Lots of rain though, so hopefully the ground is being replenished.
I don't know what to tell you about potatoes...look to your late season varieties as they generally keep better. If you don't have a basement, I'm not sure how you could keep them long term other than canning or freezing them.
I have yet to get my plans in order but do think about it all the time. I've got all my catalogues waiting for me to have a nice day of lounging, planning and looking at all the pretty pictures :)
Same here with the unusual warmer winter weather. I do know one thing I will NOT be planting ever again, red taters. We always have tons of russets and last year I planted sweet taters for the first time with great results. Those two taters kept well in the basement till I could can or dehydrate them. The reds however, did not keep well at all, I had canned all the smaller ones right away and glad I did. Nothing else kept and we are using it in the compost now.
I have been wanting to have an asparagus patch and do want the Egyptian Walking Onions too. They sound so fun, don't they!
Sassy-
My daughter is insisting we start an asparagus patch this year. She loves the stuff dearly.
We planted Kennebec potatoes last year and they kept fairly well. That's to say we ate them all before they had a chance to really sprout :) I've learned more about the different varieties and will be doing better planning this year.
I'm all for perennial onions!
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