I hate waking up. Whenever I see a television commercial where some fresh faced woman sits up in bed at 6 a.m. grinning and stretching like the very idea of jumping out of bed to meet the glorious day is the best part of her life, I want to kill her. I understand she'll be rewarded with a) a glass of orange juice b) a cup of Folgers or c) the delight of knowing her tampon didn't leak all night but still .... none of those things warrants a lobotomy grin.
When I used to fight traffic and drive 2 hours into work every morning, waking up meant slumping in the general direction of the floor, angrily putting my feet down and swearing. Often the f word. Out loud. I'd then look back at the warm, dark bed with tears in my eyes and promise I'd jump right back in the very second I got home. No bathing, no eating, just sleeping.
Now that I make my own schedule, nothing has changed. It seems no matter what time I get out of bed or what lies ahead of me ... I'm angry about it. It doesn't last long, but for those first few minutes upon waking ... you don't want to annoy me. And by "annoy" I mean exist.
But yesterday was different. Yesterday I woke up knowing I was going to organize and plant my vegetable garden. And I was a grinning, lobotomized idiot the second I woke up. Truth is, whenever I have a huge project ahead of me I'm like the orange juice commercial girl in the morning. (unless you count months 2 and 3 of building the chicken coop)
Planting my garden was made infinitely easier by using a tool I found online at Mother Earth News.
What I found there was a Vegetable Garden Planner. And it's the most brilliant thing I've ever seen or used. Next to hair conditioner. Or as we said when I was 5, Cream Rinse.
The garden planner allows you to pick where you live in the world and the program does the rest from there. It's basically graph paper that you can configure to be the size of your garden. The top of the program has a huge list of vegetables to drag and drop wherever you want them in your garden. It even automatically shows you how much space that plant will take up and how many you can plant in your specific space, and when to plant them!
The program is free for 30 days, then it's a cost of $25. Worth every penny.
My Front Yard Vegetable Garden Plans
I've chosen to plant using a lesser known planting method called Square Foot Gardening. Instead of planting your crops in rows, you do everything in a variety of one square foot plots. How much you put in each square depends on how big the plant is. The Mother Earth News Garden Planner allows you to choose whether you want to use square foot gardening. All you do is click on the vegetable you want up at the top of the page, drag it down to your space and the program automatically tells you how many of those particular vegetables can be planted into that square foot. The bigger the vegetable the less you can put in the square foot.
For instance you can plant one tomato, 9 beets or 4 turnips in one square foot.
Using the square foot method of gardening lets you harvest a lot more than the standard row planting. You can really smash a lot of plants into a very limited space. So if you want a garden but only have a 4' x 4' area, don't be discouraged. You can get a huge amount out of that little space.
And that's just the first planting! Many of the cool weather plants listed can be succession planted or planted again in mid summer for a fall harvest. If you're in Southern Ontario and you'd like to start planting right now. Well damnit, you can.
People seem to think you can't start planting anything until it's warm out, but there are many things that can be planted out even when frost is still likely.
These cool weather crops include peas, carrots, lettuces, Kale, Beets, Asparagus, Onions, Radishes, Parsnips, Spinach, Kale and Swiss Chard. These are all planted and sprouting in my front yard vegetable garden right now. Many of them will be planted again later in the summer, doubling my crop size for those particular plants.
The more tender plants like tomatoes, squash etc. will wait until a later date to make their garden debut.
Next week I'll reveal my complete front yard vegetable garden makeover. For now. It's back to bed. You know ... the vegetable bed.
Penney
I also wake up most days ready to rip the face off the world. Always thought I could blame it on hormones but they are all gone now. Love your garden plans, keep sharing.
Katrina
HOLEE COW! This is the best thing ever. Now I just need a patch of dirt to call my own.
Amy in StL
I've often wondered if I could use the sfg method planting in containers, as I rent a condo and have an obnoxious number of large planters on my deck. Also, beware the dill. My boyfriend's aunt had dill which spread in the same way that mint does. I'd totally plant some behind the condo in the mulch beds if I wasn't afraid of being poisoned because they spray everything here.
Agnes
"It doesn’t last long, but for those first few minutes upon waking … you don’t want to annoy me. And by ”annoy” I mean exist."
My boyfriend is the exact same way in the morning! lol
Loved today's post :)
Sally
I sent you a photo of my SFG not too long ago. The yield from this garden will be amazing! Your next big project may be how to build a roadside vegetable stand! You are gonna eat like a KING!!!!
Jessica in WI
My husband and I have had a garden every year for the past 7 years or so and this is the first year we have done square foot gardening. He has been busy as a bee for weeks now, preparing the soil, starting seeds, and planting. It is really exciting to have things (other than weeds) actually growing in the garden already and it is only the first of May! Peas, onions, lettuce, and spinach are already up. Excitedly anticipating each installation of your garden, Karen!
claire
A very similar online tool - always free! - is Kitchen Garden Planner from the nice folks at Gardeners Supply Company in Vermont.
http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KGPJS
You can print, save, email your garden plan to yourself and also find other excellent gardening advice pages as well as very good garden supplies to purchase in their extensive website. I have zero affiliation with the company, just happened to find them one day when googling for raised bed kits.
Lita
30 pea plants. Oh dear, you better recruit some help come harvest time!
Lori
I have just recently discovered the joy of vegetable gardening in the last two years. My first year, I planted a few tomato plants and basically left them to do their thing (I didn't know that you were "supposed" to pinch off parts, etc.). Everyone and their brother who had ever grown a tomato plant told me that I should have pinched stuff off (I was just tying the crap out of all the branches/stems). Anyhow, I ended up with the most monster crop of tomatoes - sweet and delicious. My family all had mega cankers from eating so many tomatoes, but they were awesome. So basically, SUCK IT, tomato-pinching haters! :)
jen
this is fantastic! we plan to convert most of our 1/4 acre plot to garden. fortunately i live in a city where that's pretty normal. i will definitely use the square foot gardening method, thanks for the link!
Lisa
My asparagus plants take up way more than 1ft during the summer! They are huge, and flop over everything. They're also heavy.
Now, I see you have a tomato in the middle of the asparagus?? I thought that you shouldn't plant tomatoes near asparagus because the asparagus ferns attracts some kind of beetle.... hmmm.
Karen
Lisa - Tomatoes help repel the Asparagus beetle. ~ karen!
Lisa
Ah - I had it backwards!
Meagan
Saw your money saving quote in the Globe today :-) I hope it brings many new do-it-yourself readers to your blog! They will no doubt be further impressed by your ability to feed yourself from your own city lot. Can't wait to hear about your yield this year!
Karen
Oh really? I haven't even seen it yet, LOL. Preet (who wrote the article) was a contestant on a show I hosted for W Network a few years ago. That's how we know each other. :) ~ karen
Pat
I used the original square foot gardening book years ago when I was gardening to help feed my two growing step-sons. It is a great method that saves space and time. Sounds like this is the new "updated" version of that same method. I am all for getting rid of the lawn as I walk my neighbourhood and see people using all those egocentric "drugs" to make their green grass the best. Front yard or golf green?
Beth
This will be my 3rd year of square foot gardening. I have better and bigger yields from SF gardening than I ever did with traditional row gardening. Which is good, because I am really way too lazy for row gardens.
Sally
Me too, Beth! Once I started SFG I was amazed at the amount of food that I could grow in just 51 square feet. And, since I have a chronic back problem, the amount of labor saved is a God send.
Heather
I LOVE Mother Earth News! I cant wait to see the pics and hear all your stories. My friend and I started a garden club to bring the joys of gardening to the masses and it is becoming a huge success. We are making water barrels from trash cans mid may and then having a potluck lunch to celebrate. We are teaching ourselves and each other all sorts useful (and fun) stuff. Wish you were closer, I would love to add your imagination and energy to the bunch. Keep up the good work!!!
Mary Kay
THANK YOU, thank you, thank you for the link to Mother Earth Garden Planner. I was trying to do this on pen and paper and let's just say THANK YOU. We have been winging the garden thing the last couple of years and this year I told the hubby we needed to get serious and plant a rightous garden. With you as inspiration and this awesome software I think we might achieve that this year. Did I thank you? THANK YOU!
Jennifer
Looks Amazing! But, what?? No Brussel Sprouts??? :-)
(I'm going to try growing peanuts...they are apparently amazing fresh...like peas!...and cotton is also fun to grow...but too late to start this year...)
Sharm's Outlet
Karen I cannot wait to see this... remember I planted the garlic same time you did. This year I also have a raise bed I have planted beets, and some herbs but I also added some flowers cannot wait to add the vegetables... your looks GREAT very inspiring...
Jeanne
I am impressed. I am a flower and herb person so I would plant some Nasturtiums, Marigolds, Chives, amongst the plants; buy a bucket of Lady Bug Larvae
to ward of unwanted bugs. A Praying Mantis for luck.
They will stay year after year and eat any aphids that wander in from the neighbors. No powder dust and chemicals. LOL
Brian
"Veggies by Karen" roadside store? I get royalties from the name!:)
Karen
Brian - I'm fine with that, as long as you don't mind being paid in jalapeno peppers. ~ karen!