Looking forward and thinking dirty...

...as in, gardening, silly!

We are so excited to have gardening space! With this house we'll be renting (moving in May 1st), we'll have a bunch of space for gardening. It's somewhat difficult to know, now, what parts of the yard are going to be good for growing (adequate sunlight and so forth). But, we have the freedom to use however much of it we want.

Of course, since we aren't moving in until May, and I've read the ideal planting time is Memorial Day/weekend, I'm going to try starting some seeds indoors. It's difficult, with the cloudy Winter days, and our slight Eastern-but mostly Northern-exposures, to get adequate sunlight, so this will probably involve the use of growing lamps. I've never started anything from seed (well, not since elementary school, anyway), so this should be interesting. If all else fails, we can do what we did last year and purchase some plants from a greenhouse.

I've just started by making a few lists (I LOVE lists!). One list is a "wish list" of things I'd love to have growing right in our back yard, and up on the deck in pots, and in windows inside, etc., etc..

These things are:

Asparagus (apparently, this won't supply anything for 3 years...?)
Beans
Bell Peppers
Carrots (wondering what it would take to keep them in the ground over the Winter)
Cucumbers
Garlic (in pots)
Herbs (in pots and in window sills)
Leek
Onion
Potatoes (like the carrots: keep in the ground??)
Snap peas
Spinach
Summer squash
Tomatoes
Winter Squash

This is a bit overzealous, I realize, and we may not be able to do it all. That's why it's a wish list. And, I'm sure Michael will have somethings to add/subtract.

Given the list above, what we should be starting in pots:

Peppers
Spinach
Squash
Tomato
???

I may want to just start as much as possible inside, just to be sure. Of course, the stuff that will come up later in the summer or early fall can be planted later (I think), so I shouldn't have to worry about those.

This is, of course, going to take some more research, but I'm excited to get started. I think it's crucial to make a trip to the book store. This book sounds like a good place to start.

Along with what to plant when, we'll have to figure out what is involved in creating a rain barrel, and, of course, a compost. These are things we've agreed on being "musts" ever since we started dreaming of having a garden. Composting isn't terribly complicated, but there may some secrets out there to making supreme organic material for our garden.

My friend, Jacqui, is also going to have access to a plot of land this Summer, so she and I are going to exchange some tips and information tomorrow night. We've also thought about sharing the fruits of our labor. I would love it if we knew more folks doing this, so that we could have a sort of "community of growers" right within our own group of "peeps". Until then, it's our intent to share our knowledge and our space with anyone interested...canning parties and outdoor dinners are definite Summer activities we're already planning!!