So we have been “planning” this particular garden for years…
We just didn’t know what the property would be like.
- How many acres we would have?
- What the soil would be like – rocky? Mostly clay? Wet?
- Where the trees would be. Will it be sunny? Shady?
- If it would slope to the south a bit. (It does!)
Until we found our beautiful two acres in the Finger Lakes.
Here’s part of our land to the west of our house. This photo shows about a half acre, give or take. It’s also the future home of many garden beds.
Gordon has been “noodling” over where to place our garden beds (and how many), our fruit trees, maybe some grape vines… (Wish list!) I love it when he takes the time to draw his ideas.
As you can see, our home sits toward the front of the property. The little backwards “L” next to our home along the driveway is a line of trees and bushes. We’re thinking about nestling in a chicken coop against this tree line come this spring or the next. We’ll see. The large circle in the drawing in the back of the property and to the left is a pretty sugar maple.
Here is one of Gordon’s visions. Line of fruit trees to the east, many garden beds to the west – remember, the land there slopes south. Perhaps a hoop house, too. Shed in the middle of the beds? (We’re considering implementing the lasagna gardening method.) MAYBE some rows of grapevines in the back of the property. It’s rocky (and uphill) before the “swale,” and might be a good spot to try. I need to learn more about growing grapes and taking care of the vines.
We have a large half-finished basement, and we plan on turning it into a productive seedling nursery. We’ll start what we need to inside in the next couple of months. Of course we will also start slow: While many big garden beds sound wonderful, we most likely will stick to a few in the first year. Because we are starting out without our own compost, we will have to buy it. We are mindful of our budget.
But I dream of gardens lush with tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, carrots…
It’s easy to dream when you get lovely seed packets in the mail from the Hudson Valley Seed Company. I want to also plant a butterfly garden, but I’m not sure where I want to put the Milkweed… Hmm.
Beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, carrots, peas, onions, edible flowers, tomatoes, thyme, zucchini, spinach… This is our first batch of seeds. Mr. Gordon bought me a gardening journal for Christmas, and I’m making notes.
So, where are YOU on your garden planning?
Buying seeds? Did you save seeds from last year? New gardens? Revitalizing older ones? What type of gardening are you going to do? Lasagna? Square foot? No dig? Etc.?
I am so proud of how you both discuss and plan for the future of the gardening. It can’t help but be a success. Yes, things do take time and energy, but when it is something of a heart’s desire, it will come to fruition.
Reading through your dreams for the property! Yes we have some of our garden planted as we were given some growing tomato plants already. Your dad always says the Italian bean pods from the former year and they are planted along with zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, cucumbers, and soon onions. We also bought some tomato plants, Early Girl, DuBois tomatoes (your grandpa originally brought from our farm in DuBois), and one other I think Big Boy so we will enjoy a lot of fresh vegetables. We still need to put in a little lettuce and some onion sets but it’s a big garden right now already! Love your blog.
Dear Tracy, I clicked on your name that popped up in my emails and found a bunch from you. I have been reading through them. Really nice. Memories of 2018 really what was going on back then, etc. I was trying to remember when you had your picnic out back. I hope you are still using the grill. What a nice day that was to see everyone. I have always missed the picnics here. I have been resting a lot and hope to start feeling better soon. It’s nice to read through old memories though. I love you and always enjoyed this site with the updates. Love, Mom