This is completely off subject, but I love garden planning. Really, really love it. I like the gardening part too, but it's the planning during the winter that gets me excited. I re-read my gardening books, check out stacks of new books from the library, and circle every other plant in my favorite seed catalog.
This year, I even dedicated a wall of our office to garden planning.
I'm a visual person and, although this isn't gorgeous, it is a better option than my usual messy stacks of papers, pictures, and notes. I printed photos of my garden from last year as a reminder of what the garden looks like in the summer and for sketching in potential shrubs, etc, and even changing the color of our house. I have my ever-expanding garden to-do list. I have a list of plants that will grow under and near black walnuts since our small yard is graced with not one but two of these juglone producing trees. And I've taped up a few seed packets, a list of favorite perennials from a gardening magazine, and a sketch of our yard. I'm a happy planner these days.
I've also started gardening even though it's still cold out. My asian greens (kyoto mizuna and baby pakchoi) and mache are starting to come up. I wasn't sure if they would. I'm still new to gardening and have been doing a lot of it by trial and error. My seed packets for greens and peas, etc, say to plant as soon as the soil can be worked. Well, in North Carolina, and at least in my yard, the soil seems workable all winter long and I still wasn't sure when to plant. So this morning I called our cooperative extension master gardener hotline and found out that it IS okay to plant greens now, including spinach, kale, lettuce, asian greens, arugula, etc, as well as peas and onions.
Woo hoo!
Maia and I spent the day going to Reems Creek Nursery for some onions, seeds, and more advice, then home again to spend the afternoon planting (dressed against the cold in coat, hat, and gloves).
I'm a tired gardener now. I think it's time to curl up with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for my annual re-read.
