Last year I went to a seed exchange/seed ordering gather at a friend's house. Looking at seed catalogs and planning a garden allows you to look forward to when you can get back outside and not be cooped up for so long. Of course we've been outside, but not for extended periods of time because the cold will get to you. There's no dirt to dig into because the ground it frozen. Everything is resting and I know it's said that we should be too, but I need the anticipation of having the warm sun, and green growth, and getting my hands full of dirt. As with most people around late winter, I think I'm going slightly crazy being inside all the time. I know that I'm being productive and eating well, but I'd rather be eating it straight from the garden because I just can't make it into the house without popping some delicious veggie in my mouth. For now, I am still eating well, but I would even give up the three types of ice cream I just made (banana cream, peanut butter with chocolate bits, and Guinness) for a juicy home grown tomato.
My mouth is watering already.
So this weekend I went to the same aforementioned friend's home and looked through catalogs together, discussing things we want to grow this year. It really does put me in a completely different mindset to have the anticipation of spring, even though it's two weeks away and planting time is even further away. While perusing through the luscious looking fruits, I came across some unexpected finds. Many catalogs are carrying fruit trees generally suited for warmer climates but are rated as far north as zone 4 (where we live). While this is exciting to me, I also want to make certain that we're not ordering Monsanto products. We ordered from three catalogs altogether, and I am excited to have my garden plan. (Well, the plan for what I want to plant, but not yet where I want to plant it all).
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| Seed porn and some food porn in the upper left (and a cat tail) |
My friend has a great set-up to start from seed the things you need to start indoors. I am not so great with that, as my tomatoes are teeny, tiny little sprouts rather than plants at the end of 8 weeks. So, I will leave the indoor planting to the professional. She will provide me with these plants:
Ground cherries (delicious in pies, salsas, or just eaten fresh)
Tomatoes (beefsteak, pear, and sauce types)
Eggplant (mmm... baba ghanoush)
Basil
Thyme and other herbs
Hot peppers
Cantaloupe (yes, even this far north - it's called MN Midget)
Cucumbers
Watermelon
We will also be planting these:
Carrots
Parsnips (they didn't produce last year but I need to try again because the farmer's market doesn't carry them).
Turnips
Beets
Soybeans
Watermelon
onions
pumpkin
squash (zucchini and spaghetti, maybe some other winter squash too).
beans
peas
potatoes (red, blue, and whatever else I find for seed potatoes)
kale
lettuce
cilantro
nasturtiums
For the medicinal garden, we will start with:
Catnip
German chamomile
St John's Wort
Caledula
Sweet woodruff
(Eventually, I'd like to add skullcap, comfrey, mullein, wormwood, and white sage. We already have plantain, yarrow, and chickweed throughout the yard).
We ordered some white and red currant plants, honey berry plants (like blueberries, but earlier and without the acidic soil), a fig tree (yes, for zone 4) and two paw paw trees. I've never had paw paws but Jaimie likes them. Our friend ordered a persimmon tree and I said that we should just trade some fruit when they start producing in a few years. I'm also going to replace the strawberry plants. Mine don't seem to want to make very productive strawberries.
Hopefully everything we've planted so far will come back and grow well. This year we'll be able to harvest more of the asparagus that was planted two summers ago. For herbs, we have mint, oregano, and lemon balm. We also have rhubarb, raspberries, saskatoon berry (also like a blueberry but without acidic soil), grapes (well, a small vine anyway), hops, and the trees: plum, peach, pear, apple, and two cherry trees.
Now I've just got to plan out the layout!
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