It’s spring and I’ve been enjoying finalizing everything I’ll be growing our garden this year. Today we’re chatting all things “garden” and I’m sharing our vegetable garden plan and sowing early in the greenhouse.
I absolutely love gardening! I actually really enjoy all the planning and work that goes into it. Having fresh produce and cut flowers in the summer months is something I’ll never take for granted.
I should start by saying, I would not consider myself “expert” gardener by any means. However, I grew up helping in my parents garden and have grown a vegetable garden myself for over 20 years. I’ve learned a lot from trial and error and I try not to overthink it. Gardening is such a beautiful way to mentally wind down and get outside all while providing some of the most delicious, fresh food you will ever taste!
The beautiful thing about gardening is that if you try something and it doesn’t work, you can try again! And you’re probably only out a few dollars worth of seeds and a little bit of your time. It’s well worth the knowledge you’ll gain from simply trying.
Lots of people make it more complicated that it has to be and that can feel intimidating to beginners. If you’re a beginner, welcome! Every single year when I plant my garden, I feel like a beginner myself. Funny, I know, but each year feels brand new. I buy the seeds, I sow them, water them and then nature does the rest. It’s really quite a marvelous thing to witness!
The Progression Of Our Vegetable Garden
When we first purchased our land, it was completely vacant. We had a blank slate. We’ve made it a priority each year to add a little more to our garden space.
We first started out by building 12 raised garden beds and the following spring we designed and built our greenhouse to help extend our growing season.
The year after that, we designed and built a garden shed/chicken coop adjoining the garden space and later built a large fence around the entire area to keep wildlife out.
The fence rails have hardware cloth attached and we buried the wire cloth quite deep to detour anything from digging underneath it. Even though I’ve witnessed Peter Rabbit, Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail trying to get in… I’m very happy to report that nothing has ever gotten over or under our fence! So far, it’s doing it’s job.
I’m hoping to grow as much produce as I can in our vegetable garden this year. I have added organic matter, fertilizer and perlite to our beds over the years to keep the soil healthy. A soil testing kit makes it easy to make sure the soils ph is balanced and full of nutrients. I test each bed and make adjustments to the soil where needed.
I love growing a variety of Dahlias. I’ll be planting quite a few Dahlia tubers this year and they prefer a soil pH of 6.5 to 7 roughly. I need to make sure those particular beds are okay for the Dahlias! Herbs prefer slightly acidic to neutral soil and most of the other veggies I’m growing do as well.
The Addition Of A Greenhouse In Our Garden Space
Before I had a greenhouse, I started my seeds indoors and kept them on our radiant heat, tile floor until they sprouted. Then I moved them near a sunny windowsill and that worked wonderfully. I try to sow my seeds indoors or in the greenhouse about 6-8 weeks before moving them outside.
Our greenhouse has a little heater and fan so as long as I keep the soil/seeds warm until they sprout and keep them watered, they’ll do just fine in the greenhouse. This year , I’m going to plant our garden beds the last week of May weather permitting!
Before planting them in the raised beds, I make sure to move them outside the greenhouse for a few hours each day to harden them off. They’re very delicate and with our high winds, it does take a couple of weeks for them to be strong enough to plant outside.
Sowing Early In The Greenhouse & Vegetable Garden Plans
We are in ZONE 5 and our last frost can be as late as middle to end of May. It’s very helpful now that I can start my seeds that need longer to mature in the greenhouse early.
Plants like melons really have a hard time ripening before the first frost here in Northern Michigan. They can take up to 100 days, much like pumpkins that can take up to 120 days to mature. I love melons but, I’m going to skip planting them this year due to needing the space for more important things. If I were to plant them, I would definitely start them in the greenhouse in early spring.
Other seeds I like to sow early are things like tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and any pepper varieties and any herbs that I need like cilantro and basil.
I Split My Garden Into Three Categories When I’m Planning My Layout
I used my garden space for three purposes…cut flowers, fresh veggies/herbs, and for preserving. I use about 1/3 of the beds for cut flowers, 1/3 of the beds for fresh eating and herbs and the remaining 1/3 for growing for canning, freezing and preserving the vegetables.
If you’re brand new to gardening and need ideas for how to layout your garden, be sure to check out the one by Gardener’s Supply . It’s a free tool and it’s very helpful.
1-Growing Cut Flowers
This year I’ll also be growing a range of dahlias and a variety cosmos. Our garden fence is also lined with roses, tulips and daffodils which will all start blooming soon. I can’t wait!
Dahlia’s are hands down my favorite flower to grow! They have very strong stems and can withstand the harsh winds that we get here really well. There’s so many varieties to choose from and every year I add more to my collection of tubers. I’ll be writing a blog post on Dahlias soon so be on the lookout for that!
2-Growing Vegetables For Preserving (Canning & Freezing)
This year I’ll be canning and freezing a lot more than I’ve been able to do in the past years because we lack the storage in the cottage! As you know, we’re building a new house (on the same property as our cottage and garden). The new home has a massive cold storage room that spans the entire length of our wrap around porch (underneath it in the basement). So this year, I made a list of things I’d like to can and freeze so we can get those shelves stocked up for winter.
I’ll be growing tomatoes to make sauces and salsa. I’ll be growing and canning green beans and making dilly beans as well. I’ll be planting sugar snap peas for fresh eating as well as freezing. I’ll be growing pickling cucumbers, onions and dill for canning loads of pickles and growing pumpkins to preserve as well.
3-Growing Vegetables & Herbs For Fresh Eating
I always start by making a list of what we actually love to eat. There is no use in planting veggies that we don’t enjoy eating fresh. I make a mental note of the fresh and herbs that get eaten up and used for cooking regularly and those are the things I like to grow.
I’ll be growing basil, cilantro, chives, dill, butter crunch lettuce, salad bowl lettuce, spinach, kale, onions, cherry tomatoes, beans, peas and cucumbers for fresh eating!
Preserving Fruits and Vegetables From Local Orchards and Farmers Markets
I’m very grateful to live in an area where we can source produce quite easily in the summer months. This means I don’t have to worry about growing as much myself.
We have nearby orchards where I can pick blueberries to freeze and apples to make apple sauce. I’ll be locally sourcing things like corn, potatoes, pears and peaches too.
What Vegetables & Herbs Go Well Together
I do my best to rotate my crops and move what plants are in what raised beds, however, there are some vegetable plants that grow better together than others. Here are some things I tend to group together in my beds.
- Lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, and mustard greens can be planted together.
- Tomatoes, asparagus, basil, and parsley can be planted together.
- Zucchinis and marigolds can be planted together.
- Leeks and carrots can be planted together.
- Peppers and Onions
- rosemary, thyme, sage, lavender, and oregano
- Basil, Cilantro, Parsley also share similar needs.
