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!
