Plotting

I spent a damp Saturday afternoon going through seed and nursery catalogs and making lists. Long lists. Planning for spring is such a sweet thing. We will continue with the staple things, but are throwing in a few oddities and new things to try. The potatoes did so well last year that they will of course have space in the garden this year. I'm going to try some blue ones for fun. Sweet potatoes are going in. Big Daddy has become addicted to the colored carrots I've found at the market, so we will try some of our own instead of our normal plain orange ones. I'm planning on trying an African variety of cowpea from Burkina Faso along with the highly succesful black-eyed pea I've been planting. I want to add some Jacob's Cattle beans as well. We are cutting out most of the cole crops this year. They never do too well. I think I'll save some room for broccoli though.

I want to cut back on the tomatoes, but realize that probably won't happen as I'm ordering seeds and will pick up some great heirlooms from our local nursery as well. A semi-serious plot of corn will be added (I started ours much too late last year and only ended up with five ears). I'm adding sorrel and jerusalem artichokes. That leaves room for sweet peas, lettuce, arugula, kale, carrots, radishes, green beans, wax beans, sweet peppers, hot peppers, beets, cucumbers, various flowers, and whatever else comes our way.

We are also ordering a couple of cherry trees, a fig and some apples to add to the start of our orchard. It's going to be a busy spring.