Now is the time to start thinking about what we intend to plant this year in our garden. Ben and I were new to gardening last year and we enjoyed it and decided to get a bigger plot to plant on. Last year we took a small portion of our parent’s public garden. This year we’re going to go it alone. We will be better prepared this year than we were last year.

First, we have the necessary tools for the work part.  We accumulated the digging tools that we need to get our seeds sewn.  Second, we will have some compost we have accumulated over the winter from our NatureMill composters.  This will hopefully help our garden be more plentiful.  Third, I harvested seeds from our produce last year so we won’t have to purchase many seeds.  Finally, we have started to purchase second hand canning equipment so we can preserve our tomatoes.  I have a pretty good selection of jars, we just need the larger stuff to complete our needs.  We learned how to can tomatoes last year with help from my parents, and intend to can a larger supply of tomatoes this year.

Another new thing we will try this year is a vertical garden.  Last year we planted some morning glories on the east side of our house, and will use the same twine to plant some vegetables.  I noticed that cantaloupe and cucumbers were good climbers.  Since our back yard has an oak tree canopy this is the only option if we want to have vegetables at our house.  I love the idea of walking outside to pick some veggies for our stew.  I also want to try an indoor herb garden when the weather warms up.  If you have any tips for new gardeners going green please leave us a comment below.