My seed packets for my 2021 garden
The seed catalogs are beginning to trickle in and while I thought I already had all the seeds I’d needed for my 2022 garden, it now seems there are a few new varieties I’ve just got to try.
Including these hens and chickens poppies from Baker Creek.
Gardening during the winter months… it’s all so hopefully and cheery, isn’t it? 🙂
Last winter I found myself dreaming too… although it wasn’t so much about what I was going to grow… it was more about how we were going to create a vegetable patch where the former owner’s {somewhat neglected} perennial flower garden was.
All I could do during January, February and March of last year was to wait for the temperatures to rise and the snow to melt and hope that somehow we’d be able to cobble some sort of plan together before it was time to put plants in the ground.
By early April the snow was gone and the ground had thawed just enough to start working outside.
It wasn’t until the HH to a picture of the garden with his drone though that I started to get a sense of which direction to go with the garden.
It was in the photo above that I first noticed a piece of wood attached to the side of the house.
And when I went back outside to investigate…. I discovered it was wooden picket. And that one of the previous owners at some point must of had a picket fence surrounding their garden.
Well, that’s all it took.
Seeing that one old wooden picket still attached to the side of the house is all I needed.
Soon afterwards the HH was installing a picket fence {and gate} and we were off to the races!
Planning the perennial flower border was easy.
But putting the rest of my plan {the vegetable garden layout} into action took a bit more work. 🙂
And at times it seemed like all the tilling, and shoveling and figuring out how I was going to fit everything in was taking forever.
But we muscled through it and in a matter of about 6 weeks we had the fence up and the garden beds and the perennial flowers planted.
Then the HH put in a brick walkway.
He did such a good job and I’m so happy with the way it turned out.
And by early June we were harvesting radishes. 🙂
June
July
Sugar snap peas, Sun Gold tomatoes, green onions, cilantro and chives.
Mid September was probably when the vegetable garden was at it’s best and we were harvesting vegetables left and right.
Here in New England, because of the colder climate we live in, it seems like we always get a bit of a later start than everyone else. But in the end, it all comes together and it always amazes me that I’m able to grow pretty much everything here in Maine that I grew back in my garden in Washington State.
I think the thing I like most about gardening here in Maine though…
Is that there is a definite sense of closure at the end of the gardening season.
The temps drop considerably, the ground freezes and everything is covered in a nice blanket of snow for several months. It’s calming and reassuring to know that it’s okay to take a break.
It is also okay to slow down. And it is definitely okay to do something else other than worry about the yard and the garden for a few months.
And I love it.
Winter is finally here.
And now it’s time to sit by the fire and have a cup of tea and go through those seed catalogs one more time. After all, what would gardening season be without trying something new? Right?
Have you started thinking about what you’ll be growing in 2022 yet? Do you have any new seed varieties you have your eye on?
~Mavis
Linda says
I live in a beautiful area surrounded on all four sides by state forest. Secluded, quiet, very private except for the invasion of voles over the past couple of years. They have made gardening a war. The summer of 2022 may be the summer of no garden for the first time in 25 years as we try to rid the area of these pests.
Brianna says
Good luck with the voles. I battled them for 4 years at our house and spent lots of money on professional services and gadgets and techniques to get rid of them. Nothing really worked. We had to replace our septic tank and it was crazy to see the voles exposed as they caved in the old one and dug for a new one. They were scattering everywhere and we were smashing them with shovels. It was like a horror film. We just sold the house, so I have no idea if they will continue to cause havoc or if we disrupted them so bad they decided to move on. We spent a ridiculous amount of money trying to eradicate them and never could get ahead of them. It is funny how some of my neighbors had them and some had none, I never could figure out why they preferred one yard over another. Good luck!
Tracy says
The only thing I’ve ever seen really work for burrowing pests, be they voles, moles, woodchucks, or rabbits ….is a for-hire pack of Jack Russells. They make shirt work of them. I hired a pack of 11 to rid a 24 acre pasture of woodchucks and oh my goodness, they killed over 50 woodchucks and countless voles in about an hour. It looked like a crime scene. But I didn’t have to worry about broken legs on horses for quite a while!
Maxine says
I think windmills work to scare them off. Something about the vibration the windmills or whirligigs cause in the ground drives them out.
Holley says
Oh Mavis, you make it seem so easy! I wish I could send you a drone picture of my yard and you could work your magic on it! I LOVE your gardening adventures almost as much as your goal setting! You are a true inspirations! Garden on, Mavis!
suzanne says
I love a good garden/progress post. Good luck with the hens and chickens poppies. I planted an entire pack ( B. C. ) and only got the red and a few purple hues. Not a single gnarly seed pod among them. I’ve read that has happened to a few other gardeners as well but not everyone obviously.
Nancy Settel says
oh yes Mavis you do need those poppies so badly. I just love them.
Mel says
I was originally planning to try winter sowing next year, but we’re going to need to scale way back on gardening because it’s looking like we’ll have a very busy summer. One way to do that might be to only start a few plants (only our favorites that can’t be bought as seedlings) under lights instead of the hundred or so we normally do, but I’m considering just skipping all of it to simplify. We would definitely miss having tomatoes for bruschetta, BLTs, and cherry tomatoes, but I do have 60 lbs of tomatoes frozen (oops) from last year, so we could still make sauce at least. I will have to figure out what to tell the bumblebees when they come looking for the cinnamon basil though.
Rebecca in MD says
I am planning to tackle a horrible slope in our backyard where we have tried, unsuccessfully, to get grass to grow for the past four years. The slope is from the side of our house down to a woodland. Half of the slope is covered in shade all day and the rest is part sun and full sun. My goal is to get some groundcovers going this year and try some new plants. I have been doing a lot of research and gotten some good ideas. Luckily I received two generous gift certificates to a fabulous nursery and will be able to buy flats of the groundcover plants to get things going.
I do have some new seeds I will be growing for 2022:
Hollyhock Indian Spring
Roundleaf Groundsel (Packera Obovata)
Zinnia Lilliput
Cosmos Xanthos
Sunflower Lemon Queen
Compact Tithonia (gift from a friend)
Salvia Violet Queen
Petunia Laura Bush
Sweet Pea, Little Sweetheart
I do need to order some onion (seeds or sets) and green beans.
Kirsten says
Yes! Despite our best efforts to save them, we had several ornamental shrubs that didn’t make it after a family of destructive bears damaged them, so my husband wants to try planting a couple of American Chestnuts to add a protein source to our garden, so I’ve been reading up on that and perusing the nursery catalogs. We’re also thinking that this is finally the year that we’re going to build a chicken coop and keep a couple of laying hens. I love planning for spring gardening!
Diana says
Well, it was going to be gardening as usual next year until a couple of weeks ago.
One morning I had just gotten out of bed and was getting things going when I heard equipment noise out in front of the house. I finally went to investigate and saw my 9′ tall crape myrtle bushes pulled up from the ground. I proceeded to go out the front door and ask what the HE double matchsticks they (the city workers) were doing. Seems they were told to “clean up” my front and back areas. We have alleys and I’d asked the city to come with their vacuum machine and get rid of the LEAVES.
Needless to say, the front of my yard from the sidewalk to the street is a bare canvas. And I mean bare. Bare dirt. NOTHING left except the one dwarf crape myrtle they hadn’t pulled out yet. I managed to get them to not pull it out. I guess ‘clean up’ means something different between a gardener and a non gardener…
Anyway – guess I’ve got to plan something for there now. I have a couple of tulip magnolia trees that I hadn’t figured out where to put yet, so I guess they’ll go there. Since it’s the South side, and a lot of the trees were trimmed up and there’s more sun, I’m thinking of putting a few veg out there. Maybe a pumpkin vine or two? LOL!!
Always an adventure in a small town.
Terena says
I love that you’re looking at the positives of the blank slate, rather that focussed on the negative. And yes, sometimes it seems as if the language barrier between gardeners and non needs an interpreter!
Dianne says
Definitely will try the hens and chicks poppies! I’m in zone 6A as well (central Ohio).
We had a retaining wall constructed this past summer/fall and have a 6ft x 50ft area that will need to be planted. Looking for ground cover as we feel this would work best. Happy New Year to you and your family Mavis and to all of your readers as well. I hope everyone has a healthy and safe 2022!
Lisa says
Zone 8b here and very envious of your snow covered ground and months to recollect yourself. The high was 82 today and I pulled weeds in my front and side borders. The dandelions I pulled were actually quite beautiful (leaves the size of romaine) and I thought I should be doing something edible with these, but I had dandelion tea once and wasn’t a fan. Your post made me think that I should plan a winter garden next year and maybe my December harvest will be a bountiful as your September! Thanks for this post and Happy New Years!
Mimi says
Thanks for the tip! Ordered the poppy seeds. Excited to see them bloom
Julie P says
I too put my garden to bed but where we live in Norfolk U.K. it’s unusual for us to get snow, some hard frosts but who knows. I had plans, plans change, we are normally south for 3-6 months this time of year in Spain in our RV. We can’t do that just now so we will probably leave for 3 months just when I should be starting seeds and planting hardier things out. So maybe all change for me, it will give the garden a rest and maybe I’ll grow different things at a different time of year, an autumn/winter garden. I’ll miss my dill pickles though and home canned tomato sauce!
Condyb says
I love your tee shirt of you rotating the garden. Love seeing your plans on garden area to now. Wow. I enjoy reading from what people are doing, where they live, planting gardens and shrubs and what works for then and what doesn’t. Thanks everyone for the great ideas.
Sue D says
We’re slowly terracing a good part of our back garden; I’m hoping it will be completed this year. In the meantime, I’ve been growing veg in fabric grow bags, and plan to use them one more time, for most of what I’ll grow. Need to sit down with a few seed catalogues and place my orders soon.
Jules says
This year it will be an herb garden going in. Hoping for raised beds but can do it without if it comes to that. Basil, chives, cilantro, parsley, oregano, scallops, I’m so excited! Thankfully all the veggies are grown in the extended family garden so I don’t have to plan those out