After the Christmas decorations come down, the New Year tends to incite a frenzy of cleaning and planning. The sparkly new seed catalogs arrive in the mail and dreaming of summer and garden grandeur begins.
Vegetable Garden
This year, I am more excited than ever to plan the garden. Installing our new raised beds has really inspired me to redesign the layout completely. I had so much fun exploring what arbors could do for trellising tomatoes and what could be planted together to create an even better soil environment. I read a book recently by Nicole Burke titled Kitchen Garden Revival. The ideas in her book were extremely impactful in my new vision for the garden. Her Podcast was also very inspiring. She talked about the natural environment of vegetable and fruit plants and how nothing in nature is planted in these perfect little rows. The plants re-seed and naturally disperse themselves between others that help protect and promote healthy growth. When seeds are planted in an irregular patterns throughout the garden, pests cannot find a row and mow down, destroying everything in their path. It makes it much more difficult. In addition to all of her insightful concepts, the arching trellises she uses really makes the garden space whimsical and beautiful.
Inspiration Photos
I’ve also decided to continue using the Square Foot Gardening Method this year. It helps too keep the weeds under control and makes the most use of space. But this year, I’m going to implement Nicole’s theory in addition to the Square Foot Method. I’m a little worried I won’t be able find the scattered vegetables when it’s time to harvest so I decided to create a detailed drawing that can be reused for years to come.
I probably made this more difficult than it needed to be by doing extensive research to see which vegetables and herbs grew best when planted together. Just figured if this drawing was going to be used for a long time, might as well make the space function the best it could.
Most of my knowledge of planting comes from Melissa K Norris’s book – The Family Garden Plan. If you haven’t checked it out, it is DEFINITELY worth a purchase. It has the most helpful charts to help determine when to plant and how much for your family size. She also talks about growing perennials, including fruit trees and berry bushes. I reference this book all the time when I’m not sure about something. I will link this book on the resources page along with Nicole Burke’s book if you are curious of what the covers look like.
Cut Flower Garden
Something else I am ecstatic about is the flowers I will be adding to the homestead. I ordered some dahlia tubers from a local company here in North Carolina called Goldenrod Gardens. The dahlias I ordered were Rip City, Nenekazi, and Honeymoon.
Christina at Thermaland Oaks posted the most beautiful photos of her dahlias in pots (below) on Instagram. I’ve been wanting to grow dahlias for a while but couldn’t figure out where to put them. Her idea of growing them in pots is brilliant and I can just divide them after the first season to keep them from outgrowing the pots. I ordered (6) large, sage green pots and plan to grow the (3) different types of dahlias above with (3) pots of mini, multi-colored zinnias. The zinnia seeds I ordered are the Cupid Mix from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds.
Inspiration Photos
The dahlias and zinnias will be planted right outside of my dining and kitchen window. It’s crazy to think, when I first started gardening, I didn’t want to waste “valuable real estate” in the garden for flowers. But I’ve learned over time that flowers not only bring pollinators into the garden, they also provide beauty to enjoy inside and outside throughout the season.
I hope this post inspires you to design your own dream garden! The last thing I wanted to mention was the planner I am using this year. Jill Winger with the Prairie Homestead recently released a planner designed specifically for homesteaders. This planner has pages for cooking, gardening, animal care, etc etc. I am so excited to use it this year as we plan and grow our homestead here on Walnut Hill Acres.
