New Year - New Garden Plans

This year will bring many changes to my garden. First and foremost, we will be planting more fruit bearing perennials. We already have an apple and a cherry tree, which should start producing in about 3 years. To this, we are going to add:

1. A strawberry patch.
   
2. Two blueberry bushes.
3. Six raspberry plants.
4. Three to six blackberry plants.
5. A Meyer lemon that we will have to move indoors in fall and winter.

I was also thinking of adding a small grape arbor and maybe two dwarf peach, nectarine or plum trees. More specifics on the plant varieties later.

I will also be adding the first of about 8 raised beds to make the work a little less backbreaking. The current idea is to put strawberry plants into this bed as the entire family loves them. The bed will be approximately 4' wide and 10 to 14 feet long. It should hold from 40 to 56 plants.

To save space, I will try planting lettuce and radishes in window boxes on our deck railing. We are also going to expand our selection of fresh herbs by trying to grow mint, parsley, dill, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and chives in containers on our front porch and on our deck.

We are also going to get more into succession planting, so we can get more out of the space we already have. It will be more efficient and economical to plant new crops right after we harvest the old so we can get more veggies during the summer.

My wife plans on canning and freezing a lot of what we grow and intends to buy at least a case of mason jars and a roll of foodsaver freezer bags each payday. That should keep us ahead of the game when harvest time rolls around.


Well, that's all for now. Keep safe and warm until next time, and above all, enjoy life as much as you can.

TroutAngler