Welcome to Bepa's Garden!
This blog is about organic gardening, healthy eating and healthy living.
Each month I will be posting Garden To-Do Lists, Tips & Techniques, Garden Project Plans, Photos from the Garden, Recipes and Book Reviews.
I hope you enjoy reading and I hope I can inspire others to start a backyard garden!
Happy Gardening!
~Rob~

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Showing posts with label Planning the gardens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Planning the gardens. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The New Garden Layout


 What a busy year this is turning out to be! Not too long ago it was the middle of December and I was thinking that I had plenty of time to start planning the garden. Now it's almost the end of February and I am already behind on starting some of my seeds!


I started posting my Garden Journal thinking it would push me to schedule the gardening tasks, making it  easier for me to get things done on time. It seems to be working as I have completed most of what I set out to accomplish in February. 

I did find the time to update my seed database, order the remaining seeds and create my planting schedule, however I am already a few days behind starting seeds as I was hoping to start my kale, eggplant, onions, thyme, oregano, parsley, sage on the 22nd.

The other important task that needed to get completed was to create a new garden layout because I will be planting more vegetables and adding beds for cutting flower this year.

The new Garden Layout
The new layout gives me about 1,200 square feet of vegetable gardens, plus additional beds for herbs and cutting flowers. I also figured in new beds to add a raspberry and blueberry patch. As soon as the snow melts and the ground thaws I will start double digging the new beds, building the new shed and fencing in the gardens. I also need to build the duck house as I am sure the boys are getting tired of going into their portable duck house in the garage at night!

~Rob~


Sunday, January 13, 2013

Is this winter or spring?




It's January, but it sure feels more like April. I keep thinking I need to hurry up and plan the gardens, order seeds and start to get ready to fill the greenhouse with seedlings! I have to keep reminding myself that I still have plenty of time to get all that done. 

During the winter, I usually like to sit in front of the wood stove with my garden plan and seed catalogs, dreaming about what to plant in this year's gardens, or catch up on my winter reading, but with the temps in the 50's I don't seem to be in the mood to do that. Instead I feel like I should be building the new greenhouse or fencing in the garden (in my head I can hear my wife saying, "how about building the kitchen you've been promising me for 5 years?"), but I know as soon as I start (the garden not the kitchen) it will turn colder and probably snow.

This year, as one of my goals, I am going to try and grow as much of our own food as possible. I have several great resources to guide me including:

by Carleen Madigan

by John Jeavons

by John Jeavons, J. Mogador Griffin and Robin Leler

and
by David Duhon

I am excited to see how much I can actually grow on our 1/4 acre lot! I will be keeping a blog journal to track the progress and see what kind of yields we end up with and hopefully we can move closer to our goal of becoming even more self-sufficient.

 ~Rob~