Planning Ahead / My First Garden On My Own

Some of the really great things I received for Christmas this year are a couple of planting and gardening books as well as some packets of seeds that I've been trying to get my hands on. I really am quite excited for the spring! Not only is my Dear Son turning three in April (I am so done with the terrible two's!) but I will be planting a garden of my very own this year for the first time. I am excited and apprehensive all at the same time. Thankfully I work with a number of people that know their peas from their beans and a great deal more besides!

Right now I am trying to plan...I am a paper person and while I am thoroughly impressed with online sites like Folia, a free web garden tracking site, I think I'm going to go the old paper route. I'm thinking of investing in a traditional paper garden journal. Moleskine has one that I would like to see up close but have only seen on Amazon.com to date. In the mean time I have been reading up on alternative planting methods. Our lot faces East-West so we have a lot of sun. I've been reading up on vertical gardening, which helps you make more of small space, and companion planting or the art of know what to plant next to what so that it's mutually beneficial.

Thankfully it's still winter and I have a bit to go but not much! I'm looking at starting some seeds indoors this year and transplanting them when it's time. It's the first time I'm going to do it so I'm not super confident about that either. However I have found a few things to help me! I love Gardener's Supply Company. Not only do they have neat gardening tools but they also have some very good articles. There's a great Seed starting FAQ and an article on how to create a seed starting schedule. I'm planning on getting a new planner, two actually, one for gardening and one for life in general.

It's something else that I have just decided. While it's nice to have everything on my phone the truth of the matter is that I simply don't put half the things I should in it because it's a hassle to type. I'm going back to paper and my multicolored pens! I'll take pictures of my step by step to go along with the how-to I mentioned above. For now it's time for me to go to sleep!