Sticking with Tuesday’s “goal” theme, it’s about time to start thinking about what’s going in the garden this year. We’re still eating potatoes, carrots, onions, squash, and garlic from last fall that were stored in the basement all winter. Plus, there’s all the stuff we canned, froze, or dehydrated: pickles, salsa, tomatoes, peas, beans, strawberries, raspberries, peppers, zucchini, cilantro, kale, carrots, green onions, and broccoli. (I think that’s it.) While we love having all of it on hand, this year we’re simply planting less. Now, before you think we’ve seen the light and realized this was all way too much work let me explain why I say we’ll be planting less this year so that you understand we’re still crazy.

First, Peanut no longer requires green beans in her daily shakes. We were growing the equivalent to approximately 125 cans of green beans in the garden every summer. Picking and processing was a daily chore while the beans were in season. Not any more. Second, last year we planted potatoes in our garden for my parents – who where trying to avoid the potato beetle that had set up camp in their garden the last couple years. Wanting to have enough for everyone, we may have over done it. My parents want to try returning potatoes to their own garden this year. Finally, now that we’ve been doing this for a number of years, I finally feel like I have a decent handle on what the garden should produce compared to what we’ll eat so I shouldn’t have to plant as much in some instances. For example, I now have a pretty good idea how long the row of carrots needs to be so that they’re gone without a lot of waste.

Of course, there’s a few things we decided not to plant this year – peas, squash, Swiss chard, and kale. After four years of planting peas, it’s the one thing I can’t justify the taste difference for the work… maybe that’s because I really don’t care for peas. I’m the only one in the house that will eat winter squash (butternut, acorn, etc). Knowing this, I planted 3 seeds last year figuring one wouldn’t germinate, one wouldn’t make it to pollination, and the last one will give me a couple squash – perfect. Instead, all three went all out and I was looking at 20-some squash all to my self. The Swiss chard and kale were a test run last year. We’d never grown them before and thought we’d give it a shot. They grew fine, but just didn’t appeal to anyone – not even the kale chips we made.

So, what is going in the garden this year?

Potatoes – likely Pontiac reds and Kennebec whites
Pumpkins – Connecticut Field to carve and Musquee de Provence for eating
Peppers – a heritage green and a mild Jalapeno
Onions – green onions and table onions
Carrots
Garlic
Cucumbers – the standby – Straight Eights
Tomatoes – Super Sauce and Brandywine
Cilantro
Green Beans – a Blue Lake variety
Zucchini
Broccoli – Waltham
Egg Plant
Decorative Corn
Sweet Corn
Spinach
Beets, Radishes, Sweet Potatoes – all still on the “maybe” list.

There’s also everything that will come back on its own:
Raspberries – red, black, and yellow
Blackberries
Strawberries
Asparagus – we’re crossing our fingers to be able to harvest this year

See… no worries. Even with planting less we’re not expecting any bare spots in the garden.