Good gracious, the days are zipping by! In mid-January I got a break from winter when I went out to southern California to visit my parents for a couple days. I haven’t flown on a plane in years and it was even worse than I remembered. I also considered buying carbon offsets for the trip, but a friend of mine suggested that since I haven’t flown in so long, and since I bike or take public transit to work, etc, etc, she thought I had probably banked enough carbon credits to not feel so very guilty about it. I didn’t end up buying carbon offsets, but I did still feel guilty especially since I left Minnesota in a snowstorm and watched in horror through the plane window as all the orange and then blue de-icing chemicals were sprayed on the plane.
On the day-to-day, I’ve been busy at work, indoor cycling training, shoveling snow, trying not to freeze when it is below zero F outdoors when I am waiting for the bus, and getting lost down some really interesting research rabbit holes on clothing and fiber making (I hope to share some stuff soon!). I received the save-the-date postcard in the mail for the annual plant sale I attend in May, and even though that is still a long time from now, I am deep into garden dreaming.
I’ve got all my seeds for spring and I can’t help but think about where I will plant them even though that won’t happen until at least three months from now. I resisted doing more than imagining for weeks, but I finally gave in on an arctic weekend and pulled out my index cards and garden map and started arranging things.
Lest you think my garden map is elaborate and fancy, it isn’t. My map is not even to scale. My map is poorly sketched on a couple pieces of small paper. The beds are vaguely in the right shape and placed in approximate relationship to each other. It serves only as a visual cue to the map of the garden in my head. It also might be the reason I never correctly estimate how much space I have to grow something or how much seed I need in order to fill a space. I suspect, however, that even if I had everything perfectly drawn to scale that I would always think I have a bigger garden than I really do.I make an attempt to “rotate the crops” every year, but because I do a fair amount of interplanting and the vastness of my land is only in my imagination, rotating amounts to where can I plant the pumpkin this year so the vines won’t overrun the late season veg? And how far away from the pumpkins can I get the zucchini to decrease the cross pollination opportunities? Where do I put the pole beans so they won’t shade out other things? You get the idea. So sometimes rotating means moving something a few feet from where it was the previous year. Sometimes it means putting it on the other side of the garden.
Are you curious what seeds I will be planting? If you aren’t curious, look away. If you are curious, read on!
Saved seeds:
- Lincoln peas
- Kentucky wonder pole beans
- Black beans
- Black-eyed peas
- Lady Godiva pumpkin
- Painted lady runner bean
- Sunflower
- Strike bush bean
- French marigolds
Purchased seeds:
- Garlic (already planted in the fall)
- Potatoes, Irish cobbler
- Black beauty zucchini
- Red Russian kale
- Oxhart carrot
- Red cabbage
- Scarlet runner bean
- Jacob’s cattle bean
- Carminat pole bean (purple)
- Sora radish
- Lettuce mix
- Aunt Molly’s ground cherry (never grown before)
- Black amber broom corn, aka sorghum (never grown before)
- Shirogama sesame (total experiment)
- Arnica (never grown before, plus it’s perennial)
- Burdock (another experiment)
Also, from a new Minnesota seed company, North Circle Seeds (local organic growers!), where I got a few free seed packets for answering a survey and then bought one because I want to support them:
- Early scarlet carrot
- Watermelon radish
- Arikara yellow bean
- Fortex green beans
Typing all that out I had a little panic, because oh my is that a lot! But it’s fine, I’ve got it all planned out and still have space to get some interesting things from the plant sale. Yup, it’s all fine. Just fine.
I’m going to go have a lie down now.
There’s the same pre-planting excitement here too – you’re going to be very busy getting through that list 🙂
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I love the anticipation tinypotager! LOL, yeah, spring at my house when it finally arrives is a crazy mad time! 😀
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I’m looking forward to seeing all the pics of your lovely plants 🌿🌱
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Are there other ways besides the de-icing that flying was worse than you remembered? Just curious. It’s always an ordeal for me, but that’s because I’m so big. Thinking about what to plant is a lovely way to while away the end of winter.
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Jeanne, what else was worse? Let’s see…I had to pay extra for a carry on bag, if I wanted to pick my seat I had to pay for that too–I didn’t and as a result got stuck in a middle seat on the back of the plane each way. I am only 5’3″ and didn’t have enough leg room. On the flight back to MN I wanted to get a snack out of my book bag which was under the seat, I pretty much had to lean sideways and put my head in the lap of the man sleeping next to me in order to reach the bag because I was unable to lean forward since the guy in front of me had reclined his seat. It was awkward to say the least and if the man next to me had woken up during this maneuver it would have been even worse. I felt like no one was enjoying the trip, that the 3-ish hour flight was something we all just had to endure and only on the way to CA did any of the flight attendants understand this and try to make it better. I am seriously considering taking a greyhound bus or trying to figure out all the different train connections next time I go to CA.
Thinking about planting is a lifesaver this time of year when winter starts to grind on 🙂
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I fly often for work and it’s always so uncomfortable. I have developed several tricks to make it better, but it’s just not pleasant!
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Love your fancy schmancy garden map/plan – and love that nice spot for the Chicken Garden.
I love the sound of your plans and hope everything grows in abundance. I look forward to hearing how it all goes as time marches on.
Hope you had a nice time with family.
BTW We have just heard that several winemakers in our region have decided to ditch their whole vintage this year because the smoke from the fires has got into the grapes. I wondered to Mr Gums a couple of weeks ago whether the smoke would permeate the skins, thinking they would, and now I have the answer. The impacts just keep spreading.
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Isn’t that an amazing map whisperinggums? hahahaha! I did have a lovely time with my family and it was the first time I had been outdoors in the sunshine without a coat on since early October!
That is so sad to hear about all those grapes. Can they not be used for anything then? Smokey flavored raisins? Animal feed?
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Yes, I can see you have a second career in the wings as a cartographer – hmm, no, more as a town planner!
I don’t know about the grapes, but surely they’ll find something. Smoked grape jam with cheese (vegan or otherwise!) might be rather nice?
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Okay so smoke-tainted grapes. Here’s what I’ve found to date. Experiments are going on re distilling them to see if that gets rid of the smoke taint and can make a product – brandy, gin – that lasts (ie doesn’t spoil quickly which is a risk). Also, some are looking into making fruit beers, and others verjuice. Others are leaving them on the vine to feed birds for whom food sources have reduced significantly due to fire. Other grapes are being taken to the bush to feed wildlife, and some have gone to the National Zoo here for their animals.
The vineyard which reported they are leaving them on the vines for the birds did say that, having encouraged the birds this year, they’ll have to net their vines carefully next year!!
I have been wondering, and I thought you would bee interested to hear.
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Oh thanks for the update Whisperinggums! Such creativity in so many directions. I am glad they aren’t just going to waste! I’ve heard all the fires are out now? I really hope that is true and that you make it through the rest of the season without any more.
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Thanks Stefanie. I knew you would be interested. Yes, it looks like they are, and with more rain expected in the next week in the southwest, I think this season “looks” over, but you can never tell given what’s happening these days, can you.
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I’m really glad it’s over and I hope nothing else happens the rest of the season. But of course now comes all the work of recovery that will take a very long time. Sending green and healing thoughts!
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Wow, I hadn’t thought of that! Maybe the smoke needs to get into the politicians’ bank accounts so that they’ll actually do something.
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LOL Andrew. I think more than smoke needs to get into the politicians’ bank accounts.
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I always want to start planting now but I have to wait AT LEAST another month, if I want it to actually grow. Dangit! I’m planning an asparagus bed this year, interplanted with strawberries. Less tomatoes (went a little crazy last year and still have lots of bags in the freezer that I need to process into sauce or something), more beans and peas, my favorite cucumbers (lemon cucumbers) and some cucamelons for fun. As well as the usual salad greens and a few squashes, herbs, etc. So much fun! So delicious!
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Good luck with your asparagus and strawberry bed! I have asparagus but it never really took off. It comes back every year but there are only a few stalks on each of my two plants so I’ve never cut them. The strawberries I planted with them are doing well though 🙂 I am looking forward to all of your garden updates!
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It’s an exciting time of the year. I actually managed to do some gardening today, mainly just tidying and weeding. The seeds are bought and raring to go though.
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So envious you have been able to be out in your garden!
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Oooh, I’m always excited to get the garden started! We already have tulips coming up and trees budding as if spring is a month early here. My garden map is hand-drawn too, but I didn’t post a pic, just a list of what I started so far- peas, lettuces, collard greens and chard in trays, this week need to get the tomatoes and some others going. I start mine in and move the seedlings out later, or they never mature in time to face our summer heat. How do you use the kale? I grew red russian kale last year and it’s pretty- but my fam didn’t like eating it much. We prefer collards and leaf beet chard, I’ve found. I have sorghum seed (someone gave it to me) but never tried growing it yet- wonder what I’d do with it, other than make syrup? What are the
jacob cattle beans like? I really need to plant fall garlic again!
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Jeane – wow! Spring has already arrived at your place! It’s looking like spring will be early here, but even so, that means late April for cool season seeds if I am lucky! We use kale in all kinds of ways, raw in salads and on sandwiches like lettuce, cooked in soups and stir fries or on pizza or in pastas sauces. We also make kale chips once in a while. Sorghum grains are allegedly tasty. They can be used whole to make porridge, ground for flour, or popped/puffed like popcorn. I am looking forward to giving them a try! Jacobs cattle beans are an heirloom dry bean that is supposed to be cook in soups and stews. They are a really pretty mottled red and white bean, like a cow 🙂
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You must be super fit with all the cycling and digging!
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LOL Booker Talk, getting there! 🙂
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I like that you’ve shared up the super-fancy-schmancy map. Now we can share in the magic of it all. While you have that lie-down.
What is Ground Cherry? That sounds interesting and potentially ambitious?
I’m curious about how many uses one could have for Arnica in its plant form. And I love that you’re growing Burdock (SO good for you)!
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LOL buriedinprint, I think I missed my calling as a cartographer! A ground cherry is in the same family as a tomato, they are about the size of a big cherry tomato and grow like a tomatillo with a husk around them. They are supposed to have a sweet/tart flavor. The variety I got allegedly has a pineapple sort of flavor. We’ll see how the burdock goes, my soil may not be right for it. As for arnica, the flowers are pretty and the leaves can be crush to treat bug bites/stings, also I think I can make tea.
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I am so behind on garden planning for this year. My goal is to order seeds by the end of the weekend. I’m just gonna plant a few things that I know we love, and some new flowers and things for pollinators. I can’t wait for Spring! I look forward to reading about your garden adventures.
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Did you get your seeds ordered Laila? What sorts of new flowers did you get? 🙂
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I DID order seeds. They should be arriving soon. Let’s see, what did I order? Green beans, peas, cucumber, basil, bee balm, cilantro, echinacea, sunflowers, and zinnias (I might be forgetting something too!) The peas are called Tom Thumb and it says they can be grown in a pot with no staking!
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Oh what fun Laila! Your garden will be tasty and colorful! ❤
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That’s great that you were able to have a mini getaway from the cold. So excited to hear about your adventures in fiber making. Very curious about that. And, I love your gardening plans. I hope you have some great results. I have no doubt you will!
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It was really nice to get out of the cold for at least a little bit Iliana that’s for sure! The fiber making adventure is looking like it will be a long process, but in the meantime I am learning how to spin on a drop spindle! So much fun!
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