Hey friends! It is so great to be back on the blog and sharing our journey with y'all. I started about 10 blog posts last week and couldn't decide what topic I wanted to discuss, perks of being an over-analyzer. So today I decided to just share what I have been working on for the past few weeks. Garden planning.
I must start by saying that I am a newbie gardener. Last year, we had a garden here but it was maintained by our friends. This year I am taking on a new garden, all by myself. Well, I may get some help along the way. So let's dive into how I have been planning and preparing our new garden.
The first thing I did was find a new home for our garden. Last year it was at the very edge of our front yard. It was the only mostly flat area available, so it seemed like a great idea at the time but turned out to be inconvenient, at least for me. I found zero motivation to go down to the garden. So this year, I wanted it close to the house, closer to water, and somewhere I could create a work station. After walking around, scoping out different areas, I finally settled on the side yard. It is close to everything I need and more importantly, I don't have to hike up and down our steep driveway to get to it.
I had already determined that I wanted to use raised beds. I could start with better soil, better weed control, and not have to worry about hitting rock while digging; which happens almost every time we dig around here. It also allowed for some creativity in the garden space. I spent way too long getting the boxes in just the right place to satisfy both my OCD and creative side.
While I was planning the garden placement I was also thinking about what foods we will plant. I wanted foods that we would all enjoy, and actually eat. Jordan and I spent some time going over all the possibilities and created a list of veggies that just made sense for us. So with that list, I started looking for seeds. We purchased most of our seeds from Johnny's Seeds and Eden Brothers. While I awaited the seeds arrival, I started researching companion planting to help determine our plant placement.
It took a few hours but I finally got each plant assigned to a bed and placement figured out. Next I had to determine the sowing dates. I started an excel spreadsheet that included the all the information needed to get started. I took each seed packet and entered the seed name, sow recommendations, planting depth, planting date/timeframe, plant spacing, and more. I even created a breakdown so I could see all the Direct Sow vs Indoor Sow. If you would like a free copy of my garden spreadsheet, click here!
Having this information in an organized format, helped ease a lot of my worry. I had actionable steps with dates attached. I know exactly when and how to plant each of my seeds. My first indoor sow will happen on February 11th and if all goes well, most of my garden will be planted by April 22nd.
Even with all the planning and preparing, I know there will be obstacles. There will be dead plants, pest problems, weed growth, and probably something I won't see coming. No matter what, I will keep my focus on learning and improving. I know that it takes time, patience, and plenty of practice before you really feel comfortable with any skill. Are you learning a new skill this year? If so, I'd love to hear from you. Share in the comments below.
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FREE GARDEN PLANNING SPREADSHEET!
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