Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Summer garden plans

The best thing about February is planning for summer. We get stacks of seed catalogues normally, although some haven't found us at our new address yet. Someone once asked me how you get a seed catalogue. I just can't figure out how to get off of the list. Once they have you on the meta-gardener mailing list you can never get off. It is like moving to a new area to escape from the church. Somehow those hometeachers will just keep finding you.

So I have big plans for summer gardening.

1. Add 50-100 strawberry plants to our front flower beds.
2. Replace the bushes devoured by japanese beetles with berry bushes.
3. Expand tilled garden area behind the garage.
4. Re-lay the brick around the raised beds. - need to put sand down and a border edge.
5. Build a container for compost heap - I never have gotten compost heaps to work well so I am looking at methods that help to rotate the compost. Maybe one of the round barrel types or something.
6. Plant peppers and herbs in any empty space in flower beds
7. More bulbs - we NEED more daffodils. Desperately. I planted 100 tulips this fall.
8. Decide which patches of phlox to encourage this year and which to tear out.
9. Rake out leaves left in the flower beds from last year.
10. Get some more mulch for inner flower beds, again.
11. Trim bushes, again.
12. Decide what to do with the front corner that last year went to weeds - maybe eggplants and geraniums? with lettuce borders?
13. Remember to put iron and phosphorous on the roses along the side of the house
14. Divide some of the hostas?
15. lettuces, spinach, basil, sage, oregano, parsley, peas, carrots, tomatoes, onions, endive, rosemary. Am I forgetting anything?

7 comments:

Mike & Anna said...

beans

BrianG said...

The magical fruit! How could I forget!

Jon said...

musical fruit?

BrianG said...

"beans beans the magical fruit the more you eat the more you toot." Do you mean to say I have been singing this wrong all this time? "Musical fruit" does make more sense, although "magic legume" would be more accurate, since it isn't a fruit at all - no enlarged ovary.

Becca said...

I can't think about summer for another month or two--it's snowing right now, adding inches to our 18-inch bed of already-fallen snow. But I am enjoying it, and looking forward to ordering my own seeds!

I love your home-teaching analogy.

Um, corn? I guess you can get corn for free at work???

BrianG said...

We plant acres of it at work. No need to waste my limited space with corn.

When the snow is the deepest, is when I think of the garden the most. Ice storms, blizzards = laying awake at night thinking about what to do about compost.

word verification: flies - is google trying to tell me that my compost is going to make flies or I should get out of here.

Bonnie said...

Love your ideas and ambition; makes me tired to think about it all. I'd like to have concrete raised beds along the back porch like we did in the front this fall. Wonder if John wants to spend that much more money. Doesn't cost a dime to dream and planting strawberries is mouthwatering.