In My "Spare" Time: Garden Planning

It's February!!! I'm officially sick of winter and ready for spring!!!!

Too bad spring is still 2-4 months away.... Sure I could hang my head sadly, depressed about the ongoing cold, feel sorry for myself and my puppy being stuck indoors only to take hurried walks around the block muttering about how cold it is. But instead I'm going to do some garden planning!!

It can be hard to wait when all you want to do is dig in the garden planting veggies and flowers feeling the warm sun on your face but I think spending some time planning out this years garden will be a great way to ward off the winter blues and it makes spring feel closer than it actually is!

Most years I have a very general idea about what I want to do, vague notions about the type of veggies I'll plant and more often than not I get a little behind and end up overwhelmed. But not this year!! My plan this spring involves constructing two more raised garden beds. These ones will not be permanent, I'd like them to be movable so they can be packed up & put away when the weather turns colder. So they will be smaller but deep!

I have a large garden bed in the back of our yard but it doesn't get nearly enough sun for many veggie crops so it will be for shade loving plants only. I'm thinking some nice leafy greens. Lettuce, spinach, chard, & arugula and surprise! Beans, Peas, Beets, leeks, onions & Cauliflower are all shade happy plants so they'll be in there too!

On & around the patio it is sunny and hot! This is where I'm planning on putting the two new raised beds as well as many potted plants and some hanging baskets. This is where I'll be planting plenty of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash/pumpkin, and watermelon! I've never grown pumpkin or watermelon before so wish me luck! Hopefully I'll get at least one of each!!

These are the seeds I already have, ready to go for another summer (hopefully) full of produce!!