It’s almost that time of year again here in this part of the province. Spring has been teasing us (as she has in other parts of the country) and after some very nice melting typical spring weather, she decided to dump several days worth of light snow on us and the ground is once again covered. Booo! However, despite that, late last night/early this morning after getting off work I sat down on the computer and ordered some seeds (my first time ordering seeds!) from the OSC (Ontario Seed Company) website. I have yet to plan out the placement of things but I will be working with four raised beds that are approx. four feet by four-and-a-half feet on the interior dimensions. I also have a small raised rhubarb bed, a blueberry planter, and, at the front of the house, a flower garden that was created mid-summer last year that may become home to a few herbs such as my dill plants.

The list of vegetables this year includes potatoes, which I plan to grow using this method and which I will grow using store bought potatoes as I’ve had luck with those in the past. The rest of the vegetables, at this point, will consist of:

• pole beans - Blue Lake (green)
• pole beans - Kentucky Wonder (yellow wax)
• golden beets
• cantaloupe - Lil’Loupe (mini melon)
• cucumber - Straight Eight all-purpose
• cucumber - Wisconsin SMR-58′ Hybrid (Northern Adapted)
• onion - Early Yellow Globe
• pepper - Orange Sun (bell pepper)
• pumpkin - Small Sugar
• zucchini - green
• squash - Delicata
• tomato - Sweetie (cherry tomato)
• tomato - Better Boy (indeterminate variety)
• tomato - Roma (paste)
• watermelon - Sugar Baby
• peas - Oregon Sugar Pod II (snow pea)
• peas - Homesteader/Lincoln
• cabbage - bok choy
• carrots - Chantenay Red

I will also plant marigolds randomly throughout the beds to deter pests and plant a few herbs, including the previously-mentioned dill and possibly basil. Now to sit down with a chart of the beds and plan things out. That’s the part that I don’t enjoy. Too much erasing and re-figuring. Another expense this year will be to buy vermiculite, peat moss, and compost (rounded out by my own compost if it’s ready) to top up the beds. I want to put another couple of inches in to bring it closer to the top as it has settled very slightly and some was also lost when I pulled out my tomato and squash plants last year even though I tried to bang the dirt off as best I could.

This is a picture from last spring. The rock bed at the back is no longer there.
The rhubarb bed is to the immediate left of the gate, in line with the last vegetable bed.

Gardening is something that I don’t have extensive experience with but that I do enjoy. I absolutely love the soil-less mixture that I’ve used in the beds - weeds were very few and even further between and it’s very light and well-draining. I don’t think I’ll ever use soil (or a row-based garden) again. I did quite a bit of reading last year in relation to companion planting and had rather good success with the output of the garden so I plan to do that again. I loved being able to look out into the backyard and see my garden growing healthy and strong and being able to go out and pick carrots and onions and tomatoes for supper. There are plans this year for dill pickles, pickled beets, tomato sauce, onions to store, peas to dry, and of course, all the food to pick and eat fresh.

Gardening is frugal, convenient, and with the square foot gardening method, incredibly easy and low maintenance. Gardening works for me. Head on over to We Are That Family to see what works for over (as of this moment) 270 other people.