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| Seed catalogs are here! |
Saturday, December 29, 2017
January is the time of dreaming and planning for your spring garden. All the seed companies begin sending out their catalogs for seeds and plants in December and January. It is an exciting time for browsing the magazines and making the garden plan for the upcoming year!
Grow what you love!
If you have ever wanted to plant an Italian or French kitchen garden, but weren’t sure if you had the space, you may be surprised. You can grow the staples of an Italian kitchen garden in as little as 6’ x 6’ space. Small space French kitchen garden
Here is also a list of what you can find in a Sicilian garden: Heirloom Sicilian kitchen garden
To entice the little ones, an Italian garden can also be called a "Pizza or Spaghetti Garden"! Pizza garden for the kids
It is common for Italians and French to have a small kitchen garden where they grow herbs, greens and vegetables year round. It is amazing the amount of food you can grow in a very small space! How to decide what to plant for small spaces?
If you have only a 6’ x 6’ space, a kitchen garden could include the following:
Herbs (1 each)-thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano, and flat leaf parsley
3 basil plants (for pesto and seasoning)
2 tomatoes-1 small fruiting and 1 slicer type
2 sweet pepper plants
1 zucchini (look for “bush” types as they are more compact)
1 eggplant
8 red bunching onions
8 garlic plants
Arugula, spinach and lettuce scatter sowed
If you also have room for pots on the patio, you could grow the zucchini, eggplant, and cucumber in pots (only 1 plant in each pot) and add 3 bush or 6 pole bean plants in the garden bed. Traditional bush beans would be lentils, Romano, Capitano, Cannellini, fava; pole beans-Roma, Helda, Supermarconi. Personally, I would stick with the beans you eat whole as shelled beans you do not get as much food per plant, and less food per space in the garden.
If you have more room, you can add almonds (yes, they survive Midwest winters), beets, chard, fennel, chickpeas, figs (grows well in a pot), asparagus, cardoon, chicories, radicchio, endives, broccoli, cauliflower, or annual artichokes. Here is my last year's garden plan: My 2017 Edible Garden Plan
If you are just beginning a garden, do start small. You want the garden to be fun and relaxing, not overwhelming. Don't be afraid to begin. The force of life is strong and really doesn't need much from us. Buy a few plants in the early spring and just put them in the ground with a natural fertilizer and you will be amazed at how they just go to town all by themselves!
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