Garden dreaming.

So while our garden outside looks like this, I can't help but dream of spring planting and garden plans.  I started to tell you all about our garden back in June and again in June, but we never got past the point in the story where our garden looked like this.

 

I figured this might be a good chance as I am dreaming of this year's garden, to show you how last year's garden actually ended up! 

Here was our final structure before planting.  

We did a strange and unscientific combination of square foot gardening, and well, not square-foot gardening.  We planted some of the seedlings we'd grown as well as some starter plants we bought.

 

And these beams that I expressed some concern about in the build process were exactly as much trouble as I expected.  Let's just say my head and these beams are very well acquainted.

 But we did okay.  The plants grew and grew and by September, the garden looked like this.  We succeeded in some ways but not in others.  We ended up with some mildew on our zucchini plants that causes us to cut them back almost completely mid-season.  We had a good amount of green beans, lots of lettuce, a ridiculous number of white eggplant, and lots and lots of peppers among our harvest.  We were very happy with our first year at this site.

But all season long, the bunnies were found staring longingly but no critters found their way inside!  Success!!!  It's a good thing considering the ridiculous amount of work it took to dig the 12" deep and 12" wide trench surrounding the gardening to sink the fence underground.  Did I mention our ground is really really rocky? 

So now, I sit with my garden under the snow, dreaming of picking the fruits of my labor while feeling both excited and frightened by the labor ahead.  We're hoping to add some pots to the front and back porch while attempting to avoid the many critters. We'll be starting from seed again, although, we haven't started our preparations. Do you garden?  Do you start from seeds?  Where do you buy your seeds from?  What are you planting this year?  

 

I'm off to drool over seed sites and keep dreaming of spring. Oh, and I signed up for our CSA this week. Warm weather is going to bring some good eating at this *that* mom's house!