Have you prepped your garden and flower beds yet this spring? I actually got an earlier than normal start this year. With the warm weather we’ve been having, I have to keep reminding myself it’s not time to plant everything yet.

I am by no means a master gardener, though I think it would be fun to complete the master gardener program when I retire. I am, however, branching out a bit with my garden experiments this year. In the past I have always purchased vegetable plants from the nursery. I’ve never started my veggies from seed, other than green beans. This year I’m attempting to start most all the garden from seed. Since we traveled in February, I wasn’t able to start any seeds indoors. Maybe I’ll try that next year. This year I’ll be direct sowing what I can. In addition to the seeds I saved from the garden last year, I ordered way too many seed packets from Pinetree Garden Seeds for both the garden and cut flower beds.

A few weeks ago we built two more raised garden beds to make a total of six this year. We added peat moss and compost in all the beds to replenish the soil. After the first of April, I sowed the early spring seeds like lettuce, spinach, snap peas, broccoli and cauliflower. After the 15th of April I’ll sow things like sweet corn, dill and cilantro. Then after the first of May, the remainder of the seeds and seedlings will be planted. It will be interesting to see how this goes. If it works, it will definitely save a lot of money over buying seedlings from the nursery.

The strawberries are coming along nicely. I dug them up this year to fertilize the bed and divide the plants.

Looking forward to these arches being covered with tomato plants, melons, pumpkins and gourds this summer. My vision for the garden slowly comes together a little more each year. Once I am able to add all the garden beds I want, we’ll add an arbor, fence everything in to keep the pesky deer away and start adding vining flowers and perennials to grow along the fence. Stick with me. It might take us years, but it will be beautiful when we finally get there.

Another new thing I’m implementing this year is drawing up a garden plan. Unlike with seedling plants, I learned when you sow seeds, it’s hard to remember where things have been planted when it’s time to plant the next round. To help, I drew up this basic garden plan on the computer. A simple sketch with a pencil and paper would work, too.

Then I filled in the beds based on the seeds ordered. I really studied companion planting this year and tried to place herbs and flowers which deter pests and disease near certain vegetables as best I could in the space I have. The arches allow climbing plants to grow upward leaving more room in the beds to pack in additional plants. Gardening is all trial and error. By having this garden plan on paper, I can refer to it next year to make changes and improvements.

Last year’s garden was okay before the deer demolished most of it. I do think it was lacking enough nutrients in the soil even with monthly fertilizing. I am ashamed to say, I had never amended the soil before this year. I’m hoping by adding the peat moss and compost and really paying attention to the soil conditions and what plants grow best next to each other, I will have even more luck this year. It’s a learning process and I have a LOT to learn. Luckily gardening is one thing that I don’t mind studying.

The cut flower garden is getting an overhaul this year, too. Last year was the first year for this bed. This is how it started last spring.

By the end of summer, there were plenty of sunflowers which I learned should only be planted behind the fence, not on both sides. The cosmos and zinnia drowned out the shorter daisies, coneflowers and dahlias. This year I’ll be moving the shorter perennials to the front of the bed leaving room for cut flower seeds in front of the fence while not crowding out the honeysuckle and bittersweet vines growing on the fence.. We have also added another fence row for grapevines this year. Hopefully in a few years I’ll be making homemade grape jelly again like at our previous house. Gardening is a lot of work but I like to think it helps keep me young.