Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Good Intentions

Already the soggy community garden plot beckons. Barney, my adorable golden retriever, and I walk by it regularly in the local park. It doesn’t look very appealing at the moment; even the Tibetan prayer flags that flew above my tomato plants last year look sad and appropriately faded and ragged. Yet I just placed a call to see if I could “inherit” the abandoned plot next to mine.

Perusing an article in a recent issue of Urban Farm, it discussed crop rotation recommendations to minimize plant pests. Coincidentally, two of my favorite seed catalogs recently arrived in the mail: Nichols Garden Nursery (YGP booth #537 & 539) and Territorial Seed Company (YGP booth #554 & 556). Both will offer a good selection of seeds at the Yard, Garden & Patio Show.

I have a tendency to give into impulse and buy too many seeds. This year, I have a plan: Review my copy of Seattle Tilth’s "Maritime Northwest Garden Guide," select what I want to plant seasonally, map out my crop rotation, then spend some time selecting varieties from the catalogs before arriving at the Yard Garden & Patio Show. If I get that second garden plot, a trip to One Green World’s booth (YGP booth #336 & 338) will be in order for cane berries.

Good intentions? You bet! Actual probability that I’ll stick to my plan and not give into impulse? Mmmm...probably nil.

What varieties do you plan to plant this year?
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3 comments:

  1. LeighJanuary 27, 2011 at 10:49 AM

    In my head, I plant more than I have physical space for, or time to water. In my head, this is the year that I'll have an automatic watering system.

    In reality, we are hoping to move soon and I will very likely be doing a LOT of renovating, and then planting my kitchen garden favorites: Rosemary, thymes, majoram, parsley, cilantro, sage, basil, and digging up lawn for tomatoes, french filet beans (love those!!), carrots, italian zucchini, lemon cukes, and perhaps I'll have a thornless raspberry this year. And Blueberry bushes.

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  2. SarahFebruary 6, 2011 at 10:20 AM

    The Urban Farm magazine looks great; do you know where I can buy a copy in the Portland area?

    I keep track of my veggie garden on a simple spread sheet. I make a list of everything I want to grow and note seeds left over from the previous year, what seeds I need to buy, what veggies I plan to buy starts for. I keep track of which farmers market vendors I buy starts from so I can ask them questions about the plants as they grow, and so I can thank them when they turn me onto a new favorite. As the season progresses I update the sheet with notes about when I planted each variety. At the end of the season I note what was successful and what was a failure.

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  3. AnnFebruary 7, 2011 at 2:02 PM

    Sarah, I got my copy of Urban Farm at Powells book (Beaverton store). I greatly admire your garden organizational skills!

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