She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
Proverbs 31:16
We are planning our garden here on the hilltop, and its forethought brings me a lot of joy during bleak winter days. Drawing blueprints, ordering seeds, planting starts indoors, gathering canning supplies…all reminders that spring is soon upon us.
What We Are Planting This Year
We will plant some of the seeds saved from last year’s harvest: tomatoes, pumpkins, watermelons, sunflowers, broccoli, carrots, and cucumbers. We are also adding new crops: cabbage, peppers, butternut squash, goji berries, strawberries, and a variety of herbs. I am still on the lookout for seed potatoes, onions, and garlic. Here’s hoping I can find those before spring!
Seed Preparation
There is still time before starting seeds indoors, but I have marked the planting dates on the calendar. Indoor transplants include tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and a few flowers. I will share more details on starting seeds indoors in a future blog post.
Blueprints
Next on the list is planning out where we want to plant everything. I call these blueprints, but they really aren’t that fancy! We look at the spacing each plant needs, determine how many of each plant we want, draw up a rough sketch, and wait for planting time!
Canning Preparation
I was not prepared for canning season last year. I had a few boxes of Mason Jars, but not nearly enough, and it became almost impossible to find more during the summer months. I am determined prepare this year by grabbing a box of pint jars here and there. Hopefully I will have plenty come time to can.
I also purchased a pressure canner. Last year we canned what we could in a water bath and froze everything else. This was not ideal, but it was what we had to do at the time. I’ll be able to can anything that we harvest with a pressure canner and jars!
This is about as much garden prep as we can currently do. Now to enjoy the cozy winter days and await spring’s arrival.