Garden Goals for Spring

Today I'm going to switch gears for a little bit. In my head, I had planned to write mostly about books and travel on this blog. I've been able to write about books without any problem, but with the current state of the world, travel isn't happening all that much at the moment.

So, I'd like to spend a little time talking about plants instead. This isn't going to become a gardening blog (most likely), but this year, instead of being excited about a spring break trip, I'm excited about working in the backyard.

Since we made an offer on our house last February, I've been reading all the gardening books, saving a million things on Pinterest, and scrolling through every garden-related hashtag on Instagram. I'm even signed up for an online class in gardening for beginners through our local library that takes place on Saturday. 

I made a small attempt at container gardening last spring because it was difficult to get supplies at first and we were in the process of moving during the beginning of a pandemic. A few things went well - I loved the variety of eggplant that I tried, the rosemary bush is still doing well in its container and will be repotted to a larger one in a few weeks, the catnip was so much fun to have on the front porch. Other things did not go well, but I'm just planning to adjust in those areas this year.

I have very extensive plans for the garden/landscaping around the house. I also know that there's no way that everything will possibly look the way that I want it to when it's only our second year at our home. Especially given that my experience as a gardener is only slightly less limited than my budget. I've narrowed down my long-term plans to the areas that I can realistically try this year. 

My overall goal for the garden is for it to be both beautiful and useful. I want the front porch and backyard to be where we spend all of our time when the weather is good. 

Here are the specific goals that I have for our garden adventure in 2021.

Set up one raised bed and reuse the containers that I used last year for everything else. I already have a kit that my mom gave me to make a raised bed. Now that we know the areas of the backyard that get the best sun, I feel comfortable putting this in place. I might want more raised beds in the future, but I don't want to make my main garden area so big that I can't take care of it since I'm still new to this. Plus, I already have the containers that I used last year so there is no reason not to put them to use again.

Set up a compost bin. I've actually already completed this goal. I thought that I was going to have to buy a fancy contraption because there is no way we could just have an open compost pile in our backyard. We have already had one rat problem. I cannot handle another. Thanks to Pinterest, I realized that I could buy a metal trashcan, poke holes in the bottom, and use that as my compost bin. It will take some time to be able to use the compost in the garden, but I like the idea of being able to improve the soil in my garden while at the same time keeping some waste out of the landfill.

Plant blueberry bushes. We grew up with an abundance of blueberry bushes, so this is not optional because I do not know what to do in the summer without blueberries to put in basically everything. In the future, I'd like to add more bushes and trees that provide edible fruit because even though they take time to establish, the rewards of a tree or bush in comparison to the amount of care it requires are much greater than the time/reward ratio of most vegetables. Blueberries are the ones that I want the most, so that's what we'll start with first.

Grow strawberries. While I will be trying out some new plants in the garden (I already ordered seeds so that I'll be ready), strawberries are the ones that I'm most excited about. This summer I want to try an everbearing variety. Ideally, I'll be able to plant the runners that the plant sends out to replace the original plant. I'm really trying to focus on things that could be part of my garden for a long time this year.

Create a cut flower garden area. I love the idea of having a section of flowers that are planted purely so that I can cut flowers and bring them inside. The first time that I toured the Eudora Welty House in Jackson, we saw the cut flower garden there, and it's been in my mind that I was absolutely going to do that whenever I got my own house. I have a packet of zinnias and half of a packet of "grandmother's cut flower garden mix seeds" leftover from the previous year. I planted those in the front bed last year, but I'm going to put them in the backyard this year so that I can cut as many of them as I want.

Save seeds from at least one plant (probably the zinnias). Our public library has a seed library where you borrow seeds, plant them, and then save some of the seeds to bring back in the fall. I love this idea, but I am too nervous to borrow seeds because what if I mess up? So I'm going to try saving seeds first this year and then potentially using the seed library next year. 

There's so much more that I'd like to do with our outdoor space at our home, and there are some things that I have planned that aren't necessarily one of my "goals." I have a rough diagram of what I want to do this year. All of my plans are modest. I'd like to get carried away, but I want to make sure that I only have as much as I can manage. Part of the excitement of gardening is knowing that I can be creative and experiment with different things. Some things will work this year, and others won't. Which is ok.

With the snow currently falling outside, spring seems far away, but I know it will be here soon. Like I said earlier, I don't intend to turn this into a gardening blog. I do think that it will be fun to share a few bits and pieces of us turning our house into a home as we settle in here, so there will be future updates on how things are going. Hopefully including lots of pretty flower photos if the cut flower garden works for me.