Planning Your Spring Garden

Even though it's still winter and there's a foot of snow on the ground, it's still a good time to plan your Spring garden. Plant what you know you'll use both vegetable and herb wise and then start plotting where each will go. Weigh need with desire in choosing what your cooking and canning needs are.The result is a highly productive garden bursting with ingredients for good summer and even fall eating.

If you haven't already buy yourself the 2015 Farmer's ALmanacIt has the entire year in weather  and more or less  accurate.This guide will aide in picking out when is the best time to start hoeing and seeding. Another must is  ask yourself what plants thrived last year? Did the beets work? Were the green beans dried out?  Stick with vegetables you had success with and replant them. Also plant what you use the most. If last summer was spent making sauces , salsas and catsups then plant plum tomatoes. A family of salad lovers would most  likely plant romaine and Bibb lettuce than they would onions and scallions. For first timers. think of what you bought at the farmer's markets during the summer of 2014 and then buy the seeds for those favorite veggies. Another step in Spring garden planning is laying out where you want the veggies. Using paper and pencil, make a blueprint for where you wish to put each veggie.

The same planning goes for fruits and herbs. Keep in mind that some fruits such as melons and pumpkins (technically squash) require a lot of space.Their vines or tendrils  tend to choke other nearby plants, so they either need isolation or be trained to grow up a lattice. (which is another story if you want them trained). The same applies to grapes which require both trellises and a lot of ground. Another fruit that requires a lot of land sacrificeis the strawberry  . Like grapes they need a distance of eight inches to a foot between each other and a soil build up of five to six inches high. If this is daunting ,then stick to herb growing.The best ones to grow in the Spring are parsley,cilantro (its' seeds are coriander), chervil, dill,and chives. All are easy to plant and are versatile to use in both meat , fish and veggie dishes,Spring is also the time for basil, a kitchen must have no matter what time of year.It's also one of the simplest herbs to grow and yields the biggest harvest.

Yes, there's a foot of snow on the ground yet but Spring will be coming soon upon us. Start thinking about your garden and what you want planted in it.A  well planned one is a successful one,.