Plotting on the Garden

I love fall, what's not to love about leaves on the ground, the smell of smoke fires, and a big pot of soup boiling away on the stove? Toss in a bouquet garni of fresh woody herbs (Rosemary, Sage, and Thyme), and fill your house with a delicious herbal fog.

It's a great time to reflect on the garden. This year's garden was our first veggie garden of our very own. We've had fruits and herbs before, but this was our first year to brave out the vegetable world, and all in all went really well! Our top producers were Tomatoes, Squash, and Onions. Followed by Cucumbers, Sugar Snap and Snow Peas, as well as Tomatillos (finally got the harvest - wow they come late!). Our biggest disappointment was the Lettuce, which was planted in pots and either didn't have enough nutrition or water - it came out a bit too bitter.

Lately, fantasies of next year are taking up a lot of my thoughts. In addition to the raised beds we built this year, we plan on tackling a big garden plot. There used to be a big garden near our cherry trees, but since we weren't so focused on it in the past, the grass moved in. The soil is good, the land is flat, there's water available. Life is good! Initial concept as perhaps a Pennsylvania-Dutch Foursquare design. However after a solid night of searching, a Martha Stewart garden design caught my fancy! I am a systems analyst by trade and I think I was drawn in by the neat rows and columns of plants all lined up like soldiers....

obsessive much?

Stay tuned for updates on fence selection, seed catalog adventures, as well as the possibility of a sod cutter rental...

Amanda