Planning for the perfect garden

As a gardener, I am constantly striving for that perfect garden. This year is no exception. In fact one of my resolutions is to make the most of my garden this year. To use up every bit of veggie goodness.

To that end, I've been searching through seed catalogs and dreaming of warm weather. The 2 catalogs I'm really drooling over this year are Baker Creek and Seeds of Change. They are both maintained by companies that are anti Monsanto, which is very important to me. There are so many exotic things to grow out there and I wish I had the space and nerve to try some of the more 'out there' veggies. This year the new thing to try will be baby blue hubbards. I'm actually really excited about these. I've always loved blue hubbards, but they are huge and impractical for my little family. Now I get to grow what I want and can use as well.

I've been driving my family crazy with the planning. I have out my graph paper and seed catalogs. There will probably be dozens of variations on next years garden planned out. There are some empty spaces and I'm not sure what to plant in them. In fact, I've got a whole 4x12 bed with nothing in particular planned. I keep asking my family what they want more of. They roll their eyes and tell me for the 1000th time that they don't care. Nobody gets it. So, I find other gardeners and drive them insane with my planning. The reality is, I'll end up planting more of something boring like green beans and carrots.

In the end the whole point of my garden is to provide my family with food for the year. I love being able to go to the basement and grab some peas from the freezer, or a jar of tomatoes, or even a squash. The knowledge that these vegetables are not only yummy, but organic and more nourishing than anything in the grocery store is wonderful for me. Its just something I need to keep in mind when it is August and my kitchen looks like a war zone with tomatoes and canning jars everywhere. Those days when I just can't look at another green bean and can't be bothered to weed the squash patch again.