SPRING planning

Right now we have snow on the ground, and I am SO over it. Honestly, I think I've been over it since November. It's been a LONG winter to say the least. But it's officially spring now and I think it's time to start planning a garden, a vegetable garden.

This will be the second spring and summer in my home. I'm excited to get my hands dirty again and learn from my mistakes. Last year I planted tomatoes, basil, yellow peppers (one yellow pepper!), lavender and mint. The tomatoes took over the bed with the lavender and mint, so those were pretty much lost.

 I didn't harvest these until October. I hope some of my veggies are ready before then this year.

I'm hoping to plant: zucchini, cherry/grape tomatoes, full size tomatoes, peppers, basil, lemon, garlic, string beans, mint, rosemary and I guess that's all. Bay City is in Zone 5B, limiting some of the things I can grow due to a short summer, but I don't feel like my list is lacking. I didn't plant until the first week of June last year, after we went plant shopping on Memorial Day weekend. It's a late start.

I'm looking at different websites for seeds, and I'm kind of overwhelmed. Michigan Bulb doesn't have any of the veggies I'm looking for, except garlic. The Seeds of Change website has all the things I'm looking for, but I'm intimidated by the number of seeds they send you. I could get 25 THOUSAND basil seeds for just eleven dollars! As I started shopping the site more, I found that the zone hardiness was published in the catalog but not online. I also realized/remembered that we have several fantastic nurseries around this area, and it would be best to support local businesses. Now I'm wondering if they are open and selling seeds to plant yet. I think I'll have to do some investigating.

I love the idea of this tomato trellis, one of the things I struggled with last summer/fall was harvesting my tomatoes before they rotted or having them fully ripen because the weren't getting enough sun or were too close to the ground. Maybe this trellis would solve that problem?

Another element of my yard adventure this spring and summer will be getting familiar with my new ecomposter.

It's no longer in the living room, but it's still not outside due to the (stupid) snow. We have started a little compost can in the kitchen. It's going to take a long time to fill up this guy!

I guess I just wanted to get some thoughts in place about all of my yard projects. It's going to be fun to learn how to grow my garden and my green thumb!

Oh, and I'm already making a note to plant bulbs this fall, for early spring beauty in twenty12.