Garden Planning

I suppose it's time to start planning our first real garden. At least thinking about it helps ward off the winter blahs.

For the vegetable garden, we're planning on: tomatoes, red/green peppers, hot peppers, onions, pumpkin, garlic, and maybe some herbs. Possibly some asparagus too. I think we'll end up using a space of about 20 x 10 or 15 feet maximum. Searching on the internet has led me to some unusual vegetable varieties that I've never seen in stores, so maybe we'll try a few of those for kicks.

At the edge of the back yard, I'd like to plant a few raspberry bushes.

As for the rest of the yard, we have to cut down a diseased pine before it infects another larger pine close by. There's also a not-too-big persimmon tree threatening our incoming power line that we should probably take care of while we're cutting. Deciding on trees to plant has been difficult. I do know we want an apple tree, but I keep reading that to get apples, two trees are required. I'd like a weeping willow, and a ginkgo, for some variety.

Last fall I hacked away some invasive mulberry bushes (growing inside other bushes). I've got a feeling they'll be coming back from the stumps, so I suppose I should dig them out before they start growing again.

We haven't thought about flowers at all since it's not a priority right now. Although I'd like a lilac bush or two. One side of the house is lines with white hydrangeas, and my neighbor says they've been there for at least 40 years. Maybe white lilacs on the other side would be a nice complement to those. But they probably wouldn't bloom at the same time of year.

Under the huge maple in the backyard, there isn't much grass. OK, no grass. We were thinking about planting some ivy as ground cover for that bare patch.

That's enough for my escape from winter. I have to drill some holes and do some more prep work for the electrician today. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, the living room and dining room will be rewired to completion! More than 2 outlets in the living room sure will be nice.