A Plan

I am starting this year with a plan.  I won’t say I never start the garden without a plan, but I usually don’t start with a well thought out, good plan.  The garden is usually just an idea in my mind.  Of course my vision is lush, beautiful and productive, though I am well aware of what the vision usually turns into. Regardless, I kind of know what I want to accomplish and then I see what happens as the season develops.  I decided this year would be different.  I decided to commit to something, by putting it down in writing and then spending the money.

I am prompted to do this because I have a lot more area this year, and it deserves more than just a haphazard attempt at a garden. After the last couple of years of trying to get the backyard in shape, I finally have an area that could be really productive.  So rather than just grabbing a few plants from the big box store and sprinkling seeds around wherever I could, I sat down with  some seed catalogs and a garden map and made a plan.  Then, I actually ordered the seeds. And today I went and got some new seed starting trays and cells.

I bought a lot of seeds. I have just about used up my stash of old seeds doing random cover crops, but there were still a few old seeds that I worked into the plan, as well.  I am not sure how these older seeds will work out.  I plan on going overboard with the seed starting, anyway, and adjust depending on how it goes.  I also think my rotation plan might be overly optimistic with some of the turn around times. Overall, I reserve the right to make changes as the spring goes along.

This is the plan for now, though. It is a better plan than I have ever had before.  I am not one to press on through when things don’t go right though, so the garden that I end up with may look very different from the one presented here.  It is always an adventure and a surprise, and that is why I enjoy gardening so much.