Spring is in the Air

This has been an interesting winter.  The skis have been ready for use, but have seen no snow.  I fear for all of our bulbs that we planted last fall....over 100 of them!  Hopefully they are not rotting in the warmer than normal ground right now.

Last week we received part of our shipments of seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, and Burpee.  A few seeds are on backorder.  We also have a some plants, onion bulbs, and potatoes yet to come.

We have a lot of work to do soon to prepare for spring!  Thankfully this year we will have more time to devote to our increasing garden.

Again this year, we'll be taking picture and uploading to Flickr.  The site is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aswegrow2012/

New plants for 2012:

• Hops (for Wes’ new hobby)
• Several new varieties of winter squash (my all-time favorite veggie!)
• Sweet Corn (we only did popping corn last year)
• Artichokes (never seen them grown around here, so we’ll see what happens)
• Blueberries (a smaller variety that isn’t so picky with its soil)
• Nasturtium (edible flowers)
• Soybeans (the edamame type)
• Honeydew (we grew watermelon and cantaloupe last year and are expanding or melon varieties this year)
• Vine Peach (an odd type of vining fruit that tastes like a peach and is in the melon family).
• Okra (not my favorite veggie, but Wes wants some)
• Potatoes (the small, fingerling type.  Great for sautéing or cooking over a fire)
• And, a few random new varieties of plants we've grown before.

Projects for 2012:

• Another section of grass to be ripped out (hopefully our last area)
• Install the electrics in the green house (when the temps get too warm, vents up top will open and a fan will kick on)
• Paint the pillars on our front porch (we bought the paint last year, just never got around to using it)
• Move the prairie plants to make more room for sprawling veggies (if any actually survived...they weren't looking so good at the end of last year)
• Create a natural arbor (we tried unsuccessfully last year…damn rabbits!)

The Growth of our Garden

In February 2010 we moved into our new house. It was 4 years old, but had never been lived in. The subdivision is new and our house was the show home. We loved the inside of the house, but the outside was lacking. Neither of us are grass people, so we set out to remove as much as possible and replace with trees, bushes, flowers, and edible plants.

We interviewed a few landscapers and decided on our local nursery, Forever Green. The plans they made for us were exactly what we were looking for.

The first step was to spray paint the sod removal areas. Below would soon become our garden and orchard.

In the spring of 2010, the retaining wall were installed.

With just a few months left before snowfall, we were able to plant a few items and build a temporary greenhouse. We were really looking forward to 2011!

Our time was limited due to training for Ironman Wisconsin, but we made the best of the time we had. We planted a lot of veggies that we had never grown before.

A lot of learning took place this summer, but we were happy with our harvest.

Planning has already started for 2012!