This time of year is always hard because I sit here, looking at the snow, and reading all about folks in the southern most parts of the country who are putting in their first plantings.  Instead of doing, I content myself with planning.  This year I’m thinking about the following things:

• How can I plan our yard better?
• Should I move anything?
• Should we try a different method of weed control and/or gardening (a resounding yes here)
• Are we putting anything new into the garden?
• If so, what? 
• Where will those things be sourced? 

So, yesterday, I bought a big pad of sticky paper, y’know, the type folks use in meetings?   Then, I sat down and drew a mostly to scale picture of the house, barn and yard.  Then, I plugged in things that we’ve already got in the yard.  Next, I went thru my list of “Oh, I REALLY, REALLY want that plant and pruned.  Then, I filled in what I knew I was buying or moving.  

Then, I got a bottle of wine from the basement and got das husband into the act.  This year, I want 2 purchases of plants; one from a place growing natives, called Dawn’s Wild Things, which could be a fun road trip, and one from Johnnys Seeds.  Over all, some $200ish in plantings and seeds.  The wine helped das husband come round to my point of view.  😉  (Ok, he’s kinda easy when it comes to the permaculture stuff…) 

The other big change we’re going to try this year is a lasagne method of gardening.  It’s a no-dig, no-till method once you’ve made the initial investment of work.  I think it’ll work decently for our garden as we had a truckload of cedar chips dropped on the back of our driveway after our neighbor had nearly 1/2 of her yard trimmed away last summer.  I’ll keep you updated on how it works!