Anxiety is setting in....It's garden season and I can't get in mine!

For the past 2 years, gardening has become a craps shoot. Gardening in the Spring of 2011 was delayed by large amounts of rain. The garden in our rented house spent more time flooded, than not. Gardening in the Spring of 2012, was done in a hurry. It was my first gardening at our new homestead. It was a dry year, fortunately, so we were able to rip up the sod and plant. Ended up with a good year, although early frost killed off a large part of our tomatoes. This Spring, we are at the middle of April and the garden has not yet been worked! I am itching to get this done! I need to get in the gardens, I am ready to have my hands in dirt, and get these seeds going! I believe the kids and I will be getting several started today, and hopefully this rainy/cold weather will break soon! I am seeing a late harvest, and canning being non-stop from June-October.

Since we are doing so much companion planting this year, hopefully it will all work together to avoid the dry times, the wet times and the early frosts. I need to go scavenging! I need to find a bunch of old lumber that no one wants. I need to get my raised beds in so the excess rain, droughts, and early frosts won't play such a pivotal point in our growing seasons. Hubby has the materials to build me a decent green house, but just hasn't had the time. Once he does....I will have an 8 X 11 greenhouse that is about 8 foot tall. Then I will have a place to garden all year!

We have gotten most of our trees that I ordered, but now comes the hard part...planting them! 7 orchard trees, 14 maples, 8 forsythia and 4 butterfly bushes. I need to get these in the ground before the rest of the orders get here and before I get busy with the gardens. There's still 2 silk trees, 6 burning bushes, 2 lilacs, 3 rugosa rose bushes, 3 honeysuckle vines, 4 hummingbird vines, 3 box woods, 25 periwinkle, 2 cat mint, 12 walk-on-me, 2 patriot blueberry, 2 rubel blueberry, 3 grape vines, 12 lavender, 2 fern leaf bleeding hearts, a mint collection, and 3 yucca plants to come in. Then comes the gardens themselves: corn, potatoes, bush beans, pole beans, squash, peas, lettuce(4 varieties), spinach, bell peppers, hot peppers, wax beans, beets, carrots, kidney beans, horticulture beans, onions, radishes, basil, chives, tomatoes, sunflowers, cucumbers, marigolds, zucchini, gourds, pumpkins, watermelon, asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb, and a LOT of clover! None of the above includes my courtyard or chicken run. The courtyard will have a medicine wheel herb garden, lots of lemon grass, and herb beds. The chicken run will have peas, corn, beans, kale, sunflowers, wheat and oats this year. Not to mention I am building a dusting box for them.

The courtyard, for the most part is on hold until we get the deck put in. I hate to do all the work only to have everything trampled on! Once the deck goes on though, we will have a great area to sit, the beautiful(I hope!) courtyard to look at, a ramp so anyone that wants to can visit and not worry about climbing stairs! Since so many of our family & neighbors have health related issues that cause them to have trouble with stairs...we want everyone to be able to come out/over without worries. Eventually this Summer/Fall we will have the back area fenced so the inside dogs can be outside even if I am too busy to take them out.(They can't just run since they love to chase the chickens, horses and pigs!)

Since our Spring/Summer/Fall isn't going to be busy enough, I am also planning to get to several yard sales this year. I have 2 pages of stuff I am wanting/needing for the different projects inside and out. While most people turn to the newer models of stuff, I personally prefer old. I love old dressers, cabinets, furniture, and such. I am also going to be seeking out little items to eventually make some big items. Old outdoor planters, old bird baths, baskets, coffee related items to decorate my kitchen, the gingham style curtains for my kitchen(I will make if I can't find what I am looking for!), and there is so much more! I love the vintage style.

Back to my anxiety....My Gardens! So, deciding on companion planting/3 sisters planting, has been a fun idea to learn. The concept of 3 sisters planting is that the 3 items(corn, beans & squash) are the life preserving vegetables that are needed. While I agree these are critical, they are the only ones. I do a lot of canning/freezing for our family groceries. While I have yet to make enough to get us clear through the Winter/Spring, we do get through a majority of it. You wouldn't believe how much doing this saves the grocery bill! Since the grocery prices continue to climb, this past year, our grocery bill was cut by over $300 per month! It's a lot more work, but the achievement and self-satisfaction of the labor or your work is worth so much more! While I continue to learn more about gardening, I have truly found a "hobby" that is a passion for me.

Gardening is the way my grandparents lived, the way most grandparents had food, and the way they were able to survive generation after generation. While there is no right or wrong way really to garden, I am a firm believer in no chemical gardening. This year, ALL of our garden seed is heirloom/organic. This is our first year completely chemical free. We use epsom salt, DE, baking soda, and occasionally some sugar, and of course...lots of manure. Our animals are feed organic food, and their manure is spread on the gardens. Having chickens, cows, horses and pigs....we have plenty! Every 3-4 weeks the gardens are sprayed with a mix of epsom salt, baking soda and water. The gardens are worked with DE before planting even begins. While the pride I take in our gardens, is mostly knowing that I was not raised on a farm...it is also because I know I am honoring not only my family heritage, but the heritage and way of life of those that came before me. I am honoring Mother Earth by not damaging her soils(at least on our little chunk of it) by putting chemicals on her. I am doing MY part in leaving less of a foot print for later generations. While we still have one more year of chemical run-off from the row crops next to us, I know by next summer, there won't be anymore chemicals running onto our farm come next Summer! We will be making 180 acres of ground chemical free.

So here is the plans for the gardens(including courtyard and chicken run).
Upper Garden: 20'x20' of companion planted potatoes and bush beans, 3 20'x2' rows of peas, 20'x4' row of companion planted radish/gourmet lettuce/leaf lettuce, 4- 56'x2' rows of 3 sister planted corn/pole beans/butternut squash, 56'x2' row of kidney beans, 56'x2' row horticulture beans, 10'x2' row of wax beans, 16'2' row of carrots, 10'x2' row of beets, 20'x2' row of cabbage, 36'x2' row of onions, 24'x2' row of bell peppers, 10'x2' basil, 10'x2' chives, 10'x2' hot peppers, 56'x2' tomatoes, and clover seed will be spread throughout in the paths to replenish the nitrogen in the soil.
Lower Garden: 4-4'x4' boxes with cucumbers and trellis with lettuce planted underneath, 36'x2' sunflowers(also repairs soil and draws the chemicals out!), 4- 36'x2' rows of 3 sister planting(corn/pumpkin only), 52'x2' row of sunflowers and gourds, and 14'x4' zucchini.
Vine Garden: Already has a 2'x50' row of sunflowers and asparagus, 40' of pumpkins, and 24' of watermelons, and the remaining 18' will be a wildflower mix to attract more pollinators.

The courtyard: 2 silk trees, 20 lavender, 4 blueberry, cat mint, chocolate mint, spearmint, peppermint, butterfly bushes, lemon grass, burning bushes, forsythia, box wood, fern leaf bleeding heart, periwinkle, walk-on-me, gladiola, honeysuckle, hummingbird vine, yucca, lilac, hydrangea tree, scarlet red maple, chives, basil, thyme, sage, swiss chard, chamomile, cat nip, rosemary, tarragon, parsley, oregano, dill, cilantro, mustard, red hot poker, moon flower, morning glory, calendula, alyssum, marigold, and forget me not.

The chicken run: beans, peas, wheat, oats, sunflower, corn, nasturtium, comfrey, and tomato this year.

The Orchard: 2 apple, pear, peach, nectarine, cherry, fruit cocktail(nectarine, peach, plum and apricot), grape vines, and strawberries.

As you can see there is a lot of planting to do. Since I never count on 100% of everything growing...there may be some replanting that has to be done even later that now. However, last year we used no chemicals, and being a first year garden...we got a wonderful harvest! Since this will be our second gardening year here on our farm, I will be happy with a 50% growth rate. If we can keep all the chemicals off the gardens, I believe it will be much higher than that!

I believe we are supposed to be in the 70's today with strong winds, so I think I will put in some elbow grease and turn the soils. I may have to get hubby to drag some of the old fallen down trees from the back of our place up so I can raise up some beds and get seeds in the ground. My patience with the weather is wearing thin! I think I need to find some straw and plant anyway! Then I will just have to keep the straw down and use it to help retain some of this crazy moisture! With a chance of rain everyday over the next 7, I am just not seeing my gardens getting in on time...and that aggrevates me! I want them in now!

Well, for my fellow gardeners and those who aren't - "gardening is better than therapy and you get tomatoes!" Happy gardening!