Is there anything more fun than planning next year's garden? Sorting through seed catalogues, flipping through gardening books, checking out the gardening tools at Lee Valley?
Never mind that I haven't actually finished putting the current garden to bed for the winter. Never mind the colossal landscaping project from hell which we need to tackle sooner or later but which is so overwhelming that we just keep ignoring it.
Never mind that it's just weeks before Christmas and I have three family dinners to organize and execute between Dec 12 and Dec 25.
Never mind all that. Now is the time to pull out gardening books and graph paper, and start planning.
Square Foot Gardening
Our library has the 3 volume VHS set of Mel Bartholomew's vintage show on Square Foot Gardening. I truly am a shallow person because the entire time I watched the videos of the show, I kept looking in awe at Mel's comb-over and beard combination (that's a youtube sample of the old show). I don't think I paid attention to anything he said about planting. Hugo however was entranced by the actual gardening; I know because he talked for several days about raised beds and how and where we should place them. I have to watch it again and try to actually pay attention to issues of soil and plant, and not sit in anticipation of what the breeze will do to the gardener's hair.
Luckily, I got the book too.
For more inspiration on growing a vegetable garden in small spaces, check out The Ornamental Kitchen Garden.
If you need motivation, watch
We watched this last week and I got a kick observing my kids' reactions to it. Amelia, bless her righteously indignant soul, was ready to protest, march on the seat of government, buy organic, grow our own, and scream obscenities in the impassive face of multinational greedy corporations. I might be projecting a bit. She is, nevertheless, very much MY child. I know I can count on her to be right beside me if I ever decide to chain myself to something on the 6 o'clock news.
Hugo's first instinct is to work out how to make this technology safe. Couldn't some safe guard be implemented? Can't we develop some new invention which will allow us to reap the benefits and minimize the risks? Right away, his brain is running off on some new engineering track, tinkering with the innovations with a refreshing optimism and enthusiasm.
Right there, in my living room, it's a battle between neo-Luddism and progress.
Back to my garden. I'm a bit chagrined to admit that we have this wondrous thing called a greenhouse. So far, it's been nothing more than somewhere to dump tools, and a cool place for the kids to play with soil, seeds and water, esp. when it's raining outside. Next year, I plan to actually use this greenhouse to grow things. Anyone want to recommend a book on how to use a greenhouse on the West Coast? It's south facing, but it's not terribly warm, except in the summer when it becomes stiflingly hot. It would keep the rain off tomatoes so it would be good for avoiding blight, but what else can I use the greenhouse for?
For more inspiration, check out the old and funny British sitcom about a couple who decide to become 'self sufficient' while living in their suburban home:
They had pigs, and a goat called Geraldine, and a rooster named Lenin. If I ever have a rooster, I will call him Lenin.
I actually looked into backyard chickens in our municipality, and I've discovered that the bylaws bafflingly lump all animals together, and put on a limit of three. So, on a residential lot, I can have three pet hamsters. Or three pet dogs. Or three pet chickens. Or one hamster, one dog, and one chicken. Just so long as they're pets, living inside my home, that would be ok.
Is it just me, or is this slightly insane?
Apparently there is a growing movement to promote backyard chickens and to amend municipal bylaws to allow for small coops. If you're interested in backyard chickens, do check out the Backyard Chickens website and subscribe to their newsletter.
So, what about you? Any plans for next year's gardens? What seed catalogues do you like? Are you saving your own seeds? Growing heritage plants? Self sufficient? And do you want to talk me into chickens?
(all photos are from Hugo's 2008 garden)
3 comments:
Back to heirloom veggies after a summer off to volunteer at the local CSA for me. Hugo's garden is splendid. Do you rent him out? We're beginning to think about what to do with our front and back gardens, flower-wise, now that the exterior home renovations are pretty well done. I'm starting to get the planning jitters again.
This year was our first growing veggies and I am really looking forward to using all I learnt in making the plan for the spring. I think we will be trying to go with as many heritage types as possible.
If you have the option, chickens are a great idea and so much fun. We started with Chantecler's (the only Canadian breed) this year, and now I can't imagine being without chickens!
Thank you for the interesting post. When you talk about landscaping and gardening a thing you cannot forget is the garden sheds which helps to store your gardening equipment. Steel Garden Sheds are the newest trend in market. They are easy to set up and long lasting. Furthermore they are a great money saver.
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