I spent the morning planning and drafting out my 2015 garden in Excel, compromising on the amount of ‘This’ on my spreadsheet so I can grow a little more of ‘That’ in my limited space. I can grown an awful lot of food in my 9 4×4 intensive raised beds, but because of the simplicity of the math, I am also keenly aware of just how many square feet of space I have available to me and the limitations of such.
I have learned over the past couple of years that if I already have my garden laid out in advance of looking at seed catalogs, it will help curtail the impulse to try out some of the wonderful, colorful temptations on offer. In order to add anything new to my carefully planned square footage, something else must be eliminated to make room for it.
Before you think I am the most self-disciplined and focused gardener you have ever heard of, know that I also have a habit of saying ‘well, I could make a little 2×2 box separate from the garden proper and try it over there…’. I have done this with morel mushrooms, some perennial herbs, strawberries and asparagus.
In the meantime, the ‘best laid plans’ for 2015:
