Garden Itches

This week we had a day that was 58 degrees!!! Now of course were back to the 30's. But it brought about thoughts of our Garden. I can tell you I'm just itching to get in there and get my hands dirty. I have planty of homemade soap with scrubbies in it to take care of the dirt :)

Colton my 4 year old is also feeling the itch. He's been talking non stop about the Garden. What he wants to plant and filling up buckets with woodchips and getting the Gaden Cart back out.

Most people look at me and tell me I'm nuts, it's only January!
But honestly my first crop will go in the last week in March and will continue to plant until the end of May. The thing most people who do not Garden on an at Home large scale don't realize how much work is envolved.

This year we are esablishing raised beds in our garden to try and compete with the overzealouse crab grass and hay. These all need to be screwed together, filled and fertalized.

I have been growing my worm composting over the winter and now we've added cricket compost to the mix. Our outside compost has been reduced by over half and we have tons of Newspapers to add to it. We are trying to get some manure in there also. This all needs to be mixed up and then eventually spread out.

We need to finish spreading wood chips as our walk ways so that the weeds don't grow and the garden cart can get through.

There is debate on putting in 2 to 4 beds in the front yard for Herb Gardens that would be dedecated to herbs and onions. (because of our fencing and Rose beds this area is hard to get a mower into and only Corey can use the push mower...  this would mean less work for Corey and less worry for me if he were to have to go back over the road.

Our list of things to plant has grown again.....
This year we are planting

Luffa (new to us will be used for Christmas gifts)

Eggplant (new to us.. neither of us have ever eaten this but have heard it's great on the grill)

Sweet Corn (still kinda new planting wise.. Thanks to Bob Kliese's advise we hope to plant at the right time this year!)

Pumpkins (new last year .. again Bob Kliese gave us advise about when to plant and how to keep the squash bugs at bay)

Head Lettuce  (New to us. We have shied away from this to do the chance of magor bug damadge giving it a try this year)

Cabbage (New to us. Same as lettuce)

Leaf lettuce (Always does good for us)

Carrots (last year we lost them all to the Jungle)

Garlic (first harvest last year was really tasty!)

Onions (at least 4 diffrent kinds! I have 38 packages of green onion seeds!!!)

Leeks (also new to us but I have been reassured it's just as easy as Onions)

Cucumbers (at leas 6 packages of seeds (We hope to can enough pickles this year to have them around for snacks all winter and give a few to family at Christmas) Estimating 50 Quarts )

Tomatos ( At least 4 types.. Heirloom, BeefSteak and grape and one I want to try called speckled Romans these look almost like Peppers) Total pants will be about 50. (Need at least 130 Quarts of my Salsa/sauce to get us through a winter)

Peppers  (At Leat 40 Plants mainly Green and Red Bell Peppers. 4 Bannana Pepper Plants and 2 Jalepeno Plants) This will give me enough Peppers for the Sauce and at least 10 Jars of Hotter Salsa for Corey and Tommy

Peas (Probably 2 to 4 beds of these. We love to eat these as we work in the Garden and on Fresh Salads as something crunchy)

Pole Beans (Have yet to have a succseful harvest of these. Will try 1 more time.)

Caulaflour (Debating on this one we may try this next year. I hate trying to many new thing sin one year. If they all fail it feels like a lot of wasted space where we could have grown a guarenteed Crop.)

Potatos (looking forward to trying these in the 5 Gal buckets my father inlaw was able to get for us. I belive we have 20 of them. Will probably also plant a small bed of them and see which gives us a better harvest)

Strawberries (We have already started the move last fall into the new beds but will have to finish the move this spring.) Am going to try my hand at either a Strawberry Brandy or Cordial this year and Strawberry Jam. And of course one Strawberry Pie for my Grandmother.

Yellow Squash (only2 plants this produces way more then we and our neighbors can eat)

Zucchini ( Only 2 here also, these just produce like crazy and we can't give them away.. but I can make a ton of Bread :)

Pop Corn (Two diffrent varieties the normal popcorn with the yellow curnels and Strawberry Pop Corn that produces small red curnals that have a really nutty taste when popped)

Asperagus (We had planted a bed but only saw shoots the first year. Am going to plant a raised bed in hopes this will stay weed free and they will grow okay)

Black Berries (We planted a store bought one last year only to have it die. Am hoping to get one or two starts of wild ones from my Aunt and Uncle)

Rasberries (Planting another one this year. The one we planted last year had 1 piece of fruit. Hoping this year it will grow bigger)

Grapes (At Least 2 Vines. We planted 1 last year and it did great... unitl it had to be moved to make room for the new bigger compost bin)

Watermelon (something ate the seeds last year so trying again this year)

Herb Garden.  Chives, Garlic Chives, horseradish, dill, oregano, 3 diffrent types of basil, Mint, Apple Mint, Spearamint and Choclate Mint just to name a few.

Looking into Elderberries, Peach tree, apple tree, pear trees, and a few more. Corey wants me to look into Hops fo making Wheat Beer.

I know I probably forgot a few LOL

So there is much planning to be done and not as much time as one would think to do it. My goal this year is to plant on time unstead of late May. And to get as much as possiable canned and dried instead of it going to waste.

Things still needed.
More wood for frames
Pitch Fork
Manure
Seeds and plants
Dehydrator
Food Processor (mine died while grinding soap for a rebatch)
Blue or White Barrles for water system
Hose's
More Worm's
Good Weather :)

So I'll say Goodnight as I start going through my first seed catolog of 2011 :)