By: twainausten
homestead, , ,

homestead plans for next year

When I start tiring of watering the garden each morning (and praying for rain twice a week), I know I am at the end of August.

I have a kitchen island filled with peaches, tomatoes, oregano and zucchini. I just filled the freezer with bags of raspberries, strawberries, apricots, peaches and rhubarb.

The garden is streaming in, but I’m thinking about next year’s garden plans!

  1. I want to find another bed for the trailing strawberries. And grow more calendula.IMG_0156
  2. I have raspberries falling over the edge of the walkway…and they were only planted last year. I need to find another location for more too.
  3. I have to figure out what these long spirey flowers are…onions? (classic overzealous gardener, I don’t know what I planted last fall).IMG_0189
  4. I need to buy tomato cages already! I don’t like the look of wire cages or paying for overpriced wire hangers. But I also have a lot of tomatoes growing on the ground because twine and bamboo poles aren’t strong enough.
  5. Toddler dogs are very very sweet. And very very much work. (Yes, I did know that before I signed up). Anthropomorphizing my pet led to chicken homicide and learning to axe a chicken’s neck (also human PTSD and overconsumption of gin). More on that next homestead blog. “Say whaaa? You talking about lil ole me?”IMG_0413 (1)
  6. Nasturtiums underplanting squash and green beans are beautiful! I’ll do that again.
  7. I love the Van Gogh Sunflowers. I’ll more heavily plant those in front of the garden (add shade to the lettuce garden, and I just like them).IMG_0427 (2)
  8. I don’t ever need to plant borage again.
  9. I’d like to find sorrel, so I can add it to my grandma’s recipe for summa borscht.IMG_0193
  10. I don’t think my cucumbers grew as robustly alongside the strawberry patch. Next year, they grow alone.
  11. I need to add more soil to my greens patch. There just wasn’t enough soil. (I blasted rock to get my house foundation, my driveway and my garden.)IMG_0192
  12. I will grow broccoli and more Brussel sprouts, but no one actually likes cabbage in this house (except me), so I should not grow anymore. Why grow what no one will eat?
  13. Beans grew robustly from only 2 and a half poles, though I planted and replanted 8 tripods. I have no idea why.IMG_0190

I love love love gardening. And I don’t want the season to end.