Have you missed me?  Or been wondering where I’ve been?

It has been awhile since my last post. So what happened? Was I tramped by goats? Had my internet cord chewed by a rogue guinea pig? Fell into a snowbank and it took days for me to claw my way back out?

Thankfully none of the above.

The seed catalog came in.

I’ve spent days reading, highlighting, and planning. It was wonderful!

Which revved up my excitement for gardening this year. It feels like it has been forever since I got to play in a vegetable garden.

I didn’t get a garden put in last year. Between moving right in the middle of growing season, building goat pens, fencing, a savage raccoon attacking our chickens, and working full time there just wasn’t enough time. That’s why I am so excited for this year…and somewhat nervous. New area, new soil (very under worked soil), new growing challenges. When we lived on the old farm we had extremely fertile soil. All I had to do was drop the seeds onto the ground and BOOM we had a flourishing garden that needed very little tending to and gave off amazing yields. Now we have rocks and sand and iron. So this is a bit of an experiment this year to see what will grow and what won’t.

My Hubby doesn’t experience the same joy I do reading through descriptions and tolerances of certain breeds of beans, and couldn’t really care any less about what I plant. As long as there is good eating during the warm months he is happy. And since his eyes were starting to glaze over when I babbled on about what I was planting, I’ve written it down here. Because a girl has to tell someone!

2015 Gardening Plans

Beans

Broccoli

Cabbage

Carrots

Melons

Passport Hybrid – “An early “honey-dew” type melon. Fantastic aroma and flavour.”  Hello!

Cauliflower

Celeriac

Cucumber

Lemon Cucumber – “Fruit the size and colour of lemons. The white flesh is crunchy and possess a mild sweet taste. Used for pickling, slicing, or eating off the vine like an apple.”

Eggplant

Kale

Lacinato – “Also known as Tuscan Kale or Black Kale. Sweeter than most kales. A favourite of Thomas Jefferson. Grows up to 3 feet tall!”  My kale obsession has been fanned to new heights.

Lettuce

Onions

Parsnip

Peppers

Peas

Pumpkins

Small Sugar – “Sweet, bright orange flesh is finely grained, meaty and just perfect for pumpkin pies like Gramma used to make!” Gramma ain’t got nothin’ on my Mama’s pumpkin pie….wait what? Who said that?

Spinach

Squash

Zucchini

Tomatoes

Sweetie- “When this variety starts to produce, you had better get the wheelbarrow out – you will need it to haul in the crop!” I’m super excited for that!

Beets

Corn

Turnip

Herbs/ Flowers

We have high hopes for this years harvest. Hopefully it doesn’t fall flat. Our aim is to grow the majority of our own produce, and have enough to store up for the winter.

We also want to add a couple of strawberry bushes or blueberries. (We have wild strawberries that grow all over the place, but they’re pretty small…and we have chickens. They tend to get there first.)

When we moved I was sure to bring my rhubarb plant with me. I let it grow out last year (even though it did so well I probably could have gotten a harvest off of it), so this year we should be swimming in rhubarb as well.

Last fall we planted several blackberry bushes too. I’m really hoping they got enough of a root base established before the ground froze up.

Apple trees, pear trees, peach trees, plum trees, and sugar maples are also on the plant list, but they might not happen this year. Fruit trees are a bit of an investment.  Although I did manage to get a couple seeds to grow from a few organic apples.

I could ramble on and on about the food production we are hoping for this year, but I shall not. Instead:

Here’s to food that has history! As well as my blood, sweat, and tears invested into it.
Cheers!