Garden Planning
Jan. 3rd, 2020 01:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenstormSo last year I didn't get so much out of the garden: we had a late frost in early June that knocked the hot plants back, and a cold rainy season all year. I got beans, cabbages, kale, potatoes and some lettuce but the tomatoes, squash, and peppers didn't survive frost well or didn't ripen as much as I wanted. The grains got in the ground late and got heavy rain during harvest-time, so I left them for the geese.
My rhubarb and sorrel were lovely. The raspberries did very well for their first year. The apples rooted in nicely but got height-limited by the geese and muscovies, and need individual enclosures built for each (that's about 20-25 I need to build). The blueberries are happy and I think going to start producing soon. Many of the haskaps did poorly and will need to be replaced (my fault: work took me to camp when they arrived and I didn't get them heeled in well enough somewhere safe), many of the romance cherries got planted in the garden and will need to be planted out.
I need to come up with a long term solution to put the perennials somewhere and the annual ploughable beds somewhere else, just to facilitate early planting and heating up the soil. Right now everything is mixed together in a very nice permaculture arrangement but it's not good or practical. I also need to figure out if I'm adding any garden this year, and if so how will I fence it (maybe the front yard by the house?)
So what am I trying for this year field, main garden, greenhouse:
Squash/squash, with a limit of 90 days to maturity and planted indoors end of April unless I plant them inside something and let them sprawl out when it's warmer.
Corn, I want to try a small patch of the earliest corn I can find to harvest for cornmeal, we'll see.
Grains, I'm going to try a smaller number of types this year and try to get them in earlier. Again wheat, barley, maybe oats.
Potatoes/Potatoes, I always use these to break new ground with straw on top harvest this year so I expect they'll come back in the same place honestly.
Cabbage, I should plant them out like I did last year, that worked.
Beets and carrots, I had trouble two years ago with these being vole-nibbled but need to try them again. They need a good full season here.
Brussels sprouts, plant as early indoors as I can.
Beans, these are great, maybe aim for colourful ones to make picking easier.
Peas, I normally feel like these are a waste of space but let's try a couple snacking snap peas.
Welsh onions: let's see if this works.
Lettuce, v. important
Radish, always in the in-between spaces but I want some black and watermelon ones too.
Chard: I found somewhere that carries perpetual spinach chard, yay! The others are all too stalky for me. This is good for freezing.
Zucchini
Basil: start indoors, direct seeding didn't work last time, maybe it was too cold.
Tomatoes, always, mostly determinate, in pots or greenhouses for the most part.
Peppers, some hot, some pickling, and a couple sweet types just in case.
Melon because why not put one on a trellis in there?
Some other greens: some sort of bok choi or napa cabbage, chrysanthemum greens, endive, parsley, some of that sort of thing for salads. Not too much.
Perennials: I expect I'll get sorrel (so good), rhubarb, raspberries, mint, lovage, and some other herbs back this year. Comfrey will come back. Borage might have self-seeded. Lamb's quarters will hopefully have self-seeded. Do I ever wish chickweed grew in my garden!
Apples, pears, plums, gooseberries, blueberries, currants, cornus mas, haskaps, juneberries, and sour cherries are currently filling out but likely won't provide a harvest yet. I would like to get a couple more haskaps to make up for some of last year's losses.
My rhubarb and sorrel were lovely. The raspberries did very well for their first year. The apples rooted in nicely but got height-limited by the geese and muscovies, and need individual enclosures built for each (that's about 20-25 I need to build). The blueberries are happy and I think going to start producing soon. Many of the haskaps did poorly and will need to be replaced (my fault: work took me to camp when they arrived and I didn't get them heeled in well enough somewhere safe), many of the romance cherries got planted in the garden and will need to be planted out.
I need to come up with a long term solution to put the perennials somewhere and the annual ploughable beds somewhere else, just to facilitate early planting and heating up the soil. Right now everything is mixed together in a very nice permaculture arrangement but it's not good or practical. I also need to figure out if I'm adding any garden this year, and if so how will I fence it (maybe the front yard by the house?)
So what am I trying for this year field, main garden, greenhouse:
Squash/squash, with a limit of 90 days to maturity and planted indoors end of April unless I plant them inside something and let them sprawl out when it's warmer.
Corn, I want to try a small patch of the earliest corn I can find to harvest for cornmeal, we'll see.
Grains, I'm going to try a smaller number of types this year and try to get them in earlier. Again wheat, barley, maybe oats.
Potatoes/Potatoes, I always use these to break new ground with straw on top harvest this year so I expect they'll come back in the same place honestly.
Cabbage, I should plant them out like I did last year, that worked.
Beets and carrots, I had trouble two years ago with these being vole-nibbled but need to try them again. They need a good full season here.
Brussels sprouts, plant as early indoors as I can.
Beans, these are great, maybe aim for colourful ones to make picking easier.
Peas, I normally feel like these are a waste of space but let's try a couple snacking snap peas.
Welsh onions: let's see if this works.
Lettuce, v. important
Radish, always in the in-between spaces but I want some black and watermelon ones too.
Chard: I found somewhere that carries perpetual spinach chard, yay! The others are all too stalky for me. This is good for freezing.
Zucchini
Basil: start indoors, direct seeding didn't work last time, maybe it was too cold.
Tomatoes, always, mostly determinate, in pots or greenhouses for the most part.
Peppers, some hot, some pickling, and a couple sweet types just in case.
Melon because why not put one on a trellis in there?
Some other greens: some sort of bok choi or napa cabbage, chrysanthemum greens, endive, parsley, some of that sort of thing for salads. Not too much.
Perennials: I expect I'll get sorrel (so good), rhubarb, raspberries, mint, lovage, and some other herbs back this year. Comfrey will come back. Borage might have self-seeded. Lamb's quarters will hopefully have self-seeded. Do I ever wish chickweed grew in my garden!
Apples, pears, plums, gooseberries, blueberries, currants, cornus mas, haskaps, juneberries, and sour cherries are currently filling out but likely won't provide a harvest yet. I would like to get a couple more haskaps to make up for some of last year's losses.
