Gardening Season Is Right Around The Corner

I am getting excited for spring.  Here in Idaho we don't put plants in the ground until about mid to late May.  But that doesn't stop me from planning things out in my head. And buying stuff to get ready. Lucy will be planting very soon. I'm a tad bit jealous, but when summer comes I won't envy the misery of the heat.

For now I just keep planning because this past weekend we had another snow storm. This is what my garden looks like right now.

Last year my husband built me a garden bed along the house and along the back fence and a strawberry box. The garden bed along the house is raised. And the strawberry box is also raised. I like to have my strawberries raised because it helps keep the weeds out. The garden bed along the fence isn't raised.

In last summer's garden, I grew 6 zucchini plants, 2 squash plants, 7 tomato plants, a bell pepper plant, basil, romaine, spinach, a cantaloupe, a watermelon, and strawberries. The watermelon was dug up by a squirrel or cat. And the cantaloupe didn't have a long enough growing season. So both of those were losses.

My garden really got out of control. I had tomato plants laying over in the yard and they were covering the pepper plant and the basil. I had zucchini and squash plants growing so far into the yard, I had to mow around them.

This year I plan to do things a little different. I don't want the out of control mess again. I haven't completely decided, but I know I don't want so many zucchini. I don't know that I want that many tomatoes either, but I do love having the tomatoes canned in the pantry for the winter. I also want more lettuce and I'm sure my husband wants more peppers this year. I bought a planter that sits on the deck rail. I plan to to plant herbs in that.

Any suggestions on what I should plant? Should I have 7 tomato plants again this year? Should I put the basil in the planter to help keep the slugs out? Do you have tips for growing herbs?