HOME TOUR

It’s the doldrums of winter here in New England. There’s a foot of snow outside. And while simultaneously tackling a huge workload, planning Cade’s 7th birthday (what!! cue mom sobs), and a possible anniversary trip (for hubby and I), I’m also dreaming up our spring garden plans for this coming year. We have a short growing season here in the arctic so you start your seeds indoors to get a jump on the growing season. Our plant hardiness zone is 6b and as of Saturday, we are 11 weeks out from our estimated last frost date which I’m declaring is May 8 and PLANTING DAY. Now take my declaration with a grain of salt if you’re local, I am not an expert but I did use two websites to calculate an estimated last frost date and then just picked the Saturday in between, official I know. Now this is not a hard and fast rule. Some years we get a frost well into May but Mother’s Day weekend tends to be a safe bet.

You may have seen us this weekend, on Instagram Stories, getting started planting seeds. We went through all my seed packets and organized them by when they say to start the seeds indoors. Some say 4-6 weeks before the last frost date, some 6-8 weeks, others 10-12 weeks, which is what we tackled this last weekend. We were able to get my sweet peas (5 different varieties), bell peppers, celery, eggplant, and Iceland Poppies started. In early January I bought a fancy, two-tiered grow light stand and all the seed starting do dads so we’d be ready. Annnnnd then we waited and waited for the grow lights to come. I called the company on Saturday only to find out the back order date had been pushed back to the end of March. So Matt went to Home Depot to buy some “make due” ones until they come. We also watched Floret Flower’s video series on starting seeds which was super helpful. On her recommendations, we ordered a seedling heat mat and vermiculite so we could follow all her instructions to a T.

Ruth Eileen Photography 

I got to work a few weeks back planning out our garden in a garden journal I started last year. I have no idea what I’m doing, truth be told, but vague understandings that crop rotation is best and there are certain fruits / vegetables that deplete or replete the soil so it matters where you plant things. You can readily find this information online. I found this site and this site helpful as I compared this year’s garden plans to last and made sure I was rotating my crops thoughtfully. I’m also planning a flower cutting garden which I’ve never done before. So here are my spring garden plans for 2021. Bring on the warmth, the sunshine, and the homegrown garden goodness.

GARDEN LAYOUT

Now last year really felt like a first date. Matt built the two raised beds in the center of the garden before we had the fence installed so we used chicken wire to keep the bunnies away. They are 3 x 8′ and 18″ high (I think). The two raised beds on either edge near the She Shed are from Gardeners Supply and 2 x 8′ and waist-level on legs.  The rest of the beds are in the soil, roughly 2′ wide and spanning the perimeter of the garden which is roughly 18′ x 20′. It was midway through the growing season when we got the vegetable garden fence installed (by Walpole Outdoors). We went with a high quality fence given how often we’d use it and especially liked how they dig down the metal mesh a foot into the ground to protect against burrowing creatures. Just be warned, the 1 x 1″ metal mesh is big enough for chipmunks to weasel their way through to your strawberries. We’ll be putting a thinner mesh along the bottom third and shoring up the gates when the snow melts.

Ruth Eileen Photography

WHAT WE’RE DOING DIFFERENTLY THIS YEAR

Last year, where the peas and beans are in this year’s plan, was 6 tomato plants. We love tomatoes but that was overboard. I thought I gave them enough room but they so entwined themselves that they almost became an impenetrable wall. The boys called it “the land of the tomato.” It was so hard to harvest that the tomatoes were rotting on the vine. This year, we’re taking them out of the garden entirely, planting them in special pots on our deck to free up a significant amount of space in the garden. We also had tremendous success with zucchini and eggplant. So we reduced them down–the eggplant down from 2 to 1 plant and the zucchini from 4 to 1. If you’re interested in our trellis design, here is the link to that post.

Ruth Eileen Photography

We’re planting way more carrots this year and hope to stagger the crop so we can harvest all summer long. The kiddos love them so we wanted a bigger harvest. I also bought a bigger grow sack for potatoes and am planting more bell peppers. Last year I had my herbs in pots down the deck stairs which I loved and am planning to do again. I do have a Rosemary plant in the raised bed and hoping that comes back.

SEEDS

We got all our seeds from either Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds or Floret–organic, non-gmo and interesting heirloom varieties. New on the docket is a leafy green called Tatsoi, a melon called “Minnesota Midget” and a chocolate colored bell pepper. A lot of the varieties we are growing this year are new to us. I love the idea of a growing interesting versions of some of the standard veggies. I highly recommend these seed companies but you have to be ready because they sell out quick. Get on their mailing lists and then you can be prepared for release dates.

CUTTING GARDEN

This year I’m devoting a good 1/3 of the garden to flowers. In order to maximize my planting potential, I’m growing sweet peas on the outside of the garden fence. A full 15 feet of gorgeous blooms. I’ll have to protect them with chicken wire from the obnoxious rabbits but I’m willing to build Fort Knox to do just that. Inside the garden, I’ll have a row of Iceland Poppies, California Poppies, Stock, Queen Anne’s Lace, Cosmos, China Aster and Zinnias. Last year we planted a white peony inside the garden on the edge of the walkway specifically so I can cut blooms. We also planted a white clematis to trail over the arbor. Just typing this all out is making my heart leap! This is the loveliness of a garden–that it simultaneously brings such hope of future days yet immense joy in the present.

So that’s currently where we’re at–our spring garden plans for 2021. What are you hoping to grow this coming year?