I am so very excited about my kitchen garden this year. So. Very. Excited. All of our seeds have arrived from Johnny’s Seeds and Seed Saver’s Exchange. I probably would have gotten everything from Seed Savers but they didn’t have such a great selection of pumpkins, and we love pumpkins.
Planning the garden is really easy with the tools on Growveg.com. Here’s a map of my garden.
Oops! It’s not lining up properly- I had to take two screen shots to get the whole thing, but imagine those rows of pumpkins and water melons line up, okay? The cool think about the site is you can figure out what you want to plant and then change the size of your garden accordingly if it’s too big or two small. (FYI- I don’t know the people who run Growveg.com from Adam- I just think it’s a great site!)
BTW- that row of corn across the back is actually popcorn- a variety called Tom Thumb that Logan picked out of the catalog. Logan also choose the two kinds of beans and requested we plant cantaloup. Erin choose the two varieties of eggplant and the winter squashes (buttercup, Boston Marrow, Musquee de Provence and Waltham Butternut.) Harry picked out the three cucumbers and Patrick choose the zucchini and summer squash varieties. Everything else was up to me and I went a bit wild.
Not pictured in the garden plan are the six kinds of sunflowers we’ll be planting in the upper pastures in what is now the weight watchers pen. We planted them in the kidding pen a couple of years ago and all the composted manure gave us bionic sunflowers! They were over 12 feet high and had blooms the size of dinner plates.
Soon it will be time to start seedlings indoors. I confess, this is my least favorite garden task. I just don’t have a great track record when it comes to germination and transplanting. I’m hoping that using these soil blocks this year instead of plastic pots will improve my luck.
I know this garden looks enormous but there is a very good reason for that. It is enormous. In addition to feeding our family here in New York and on the Vineyard, (five total including Erin), we will be sharing the bounty one or two live-in apprentices this summer and Patrick’s parents across the street . And anyone looking for a community garden to help out in in the Hudson Valley area. Logan has informed us that he will be selling our excess vegetable to our neighbors door-to-door. Seriously, he even has a cart picked out.
So, when you think about it, this garden might be too small. Maybe I need to order more seeds…
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
It looks so delicious! How do you keep birds from eating your 12′ sunflowers? Or do you?
We just let them. Last year we were too busy to dry them anyway.
I love your garden plan. I was just sitting down with my Johnny’s Seeds catalog to order my seeds, rather late. If only I had more room! I grow tomatoes, chiles, eggplant, and herbs in summer. Winter is 14 kinds of lettuce and broccoli, and the lettuce is starting to bolt.
But, sadly, we have no manure
Is your garden fenced? We live not far from you, and the deer eat anything that is not heavily fortified against them. A local master gardener just told me that they are now starting to eat daffodils, even. And Logan, have you considered a goat cart? That would be so cool …
I love the diagram of your garden, it is really cool. We have started our tomato, basil and all of our herbs in Texas. They are growing but we are suppose to get a cool spell in the next few days in the ’40′s so we may have to cover the tomatoes. We are also hoping for rain.
looks wonderful
ohh to have a garden again…
xo
rona
I know what you mean about the deer, Susan. Last year they ate Patrick’s precious tiger lilies down to the ground. We will be building a deer fence around the new garden. The old garden kept them out pretty effectively, but we’ve turned it into the lamb paddock and kidding and lambing pens.
The cart Logan picked out IS a goat cart! Unfortunately, they are super expensive. We’re considering it with the caveat that he would have to train the goat himself. On the other hand, I don’t know how anyone could not buy vegetables from a kid in a goat cart.
Oh, I’m so jealous of your garden! I live in a condo so I’m confined to pot gardening. This summer I’ll be growing 4 tomatoes plants and 3 green beans (also from Seed Savers Exchange), basil and one solitary zucchini. If I had the land I’d add sweet corn, cantalope, winter squash, garlic, dried beans and potatoes.
I love the link to the garden map I am on my way there next…last year we had a woderful garden so much that I was able to share the wealth with a lot of people and put a lot in the freezer for the winter months….we just ran out…This year we have tapped our maple trees in hopes of a building a good stash on the back shelf…we have 10 taps and yesterday it yeilded 5 gallons of sap…boiling soon…We live in the deep country I am talking moose walking down our driveway deer and wild turkey walking in the road…and have never had a problem with them in the garden not even a crow or gopher…not sure if its because we have a dog and 2 cats?? any way I was told that deer now will eat hosta plants to the ground and to take a spray bottle with an egg and water mixture and spray the leaves…it may work I have never tried it…I know that the Agway sells some stuff that will repel the deer away…Good luck garden growers…
Good luck with the deer! There seem to be more than ever this year.
We will buy vegetables from Logan with or without a goat cart. He’ll definitely need something to get up the hills of Hortontown! (Or was he planning to go the other direction?)
Of course, Nate would be very excited to see a goat pulling a cart!
love it! will have to check out that planer website. Our garden is being raised a bit this year as our growing season has been so short the past few years, maybe it will help warm the soil better!
You definitely need to add more veggies.
What type of tomato’s are you growing. My favorites are Juliet (a grape tomato the size of a really flipping huge grape) and Amish Paste (the best I have found for canning). Gardening is so rewarding, but I agree, the seedling portion isn’t my favorite either.
I’ve visited but haven’t tried growveg.com so forgive me if I’m wrong but doesn’t corn need to grow in a minimum of spacing of 4 x 4 for pollination? Maybe I’m reading the chart wrong.
I love your blog by the way. I am from NYC originally so by looking at your photos I can still enjoy the four seasons until I can make it back to the East coast.
I too have a container garden. I’m growing tomatoes (for my first attempt at canning), asian and lemon cucs, radishes, edamame, zucs, peas, eggplant and peanut potatoes, etc. If I had land, I would definitely have many hills of corn and melons as well.
yummy!
Oh how I long for a place to have a garden! Hopefully when we get a new house. Right now I am limited to small tomatoes and flowers flowers flowers. When I have the space I will be doing tons of vegetables!
So do you have pumpkin recipies?
Oh I’m jealous. I always had a garden when we lived back east. Used to just eat the green beans right off the vine. My kids learned to love veggies that way.
Now – just TRY to grow anything in the damn desert. And when you water like crazy, then you have mosquito infestation.
I’m thinking of getting chickens……
ok…
where do i sign up to participate in the community garden? i am totally psyched to do this!!
If I had land, I too would be organic gardening with heirloom seeds and plants! Meantime, I want to spread the word about an old (6,000 years, Terra Preda Soils in the Amazon), and new product that is carbon-negative for the earth. Bio-Char is a way of sequestering carbon while improving soil quality. Yields increase phenomenally! Soils with bio-char hold water better and are a ‘microbial reef’ for Mycorrhizae, et.al. Thus increasing the calcium and phosphorus. You can learn more at Biochar-International.org. venearth.com.. http://www.carbon-negative.us/roundtable.Dr. Johannes Loehmen of Cornell University,. Wim Sombroek (founding father of Biochar).the book, ’1491′.
I JUST dropped my Johhny’s seed order in the mail. I’m sharing in your enthusiasm!