I walk through the garden alone…

I am in possession of a new book (*Note: it is not the book I ordered from Barnes & Noble. That one still has not arrived. The website is too difficult for me to figure out how to turn in the issue to customer service. I’m appalled by B&N. The rest of this gift card will be used after browsing the store). Second Nature is by Michael Pollen, a favorite of mine, and I’m all kinds of excited to be peering into the gardening season. So, in my pre-read, I want to list some of my future garden goals for the year. Now, remember, this kid is due to arrive anywhere between July 2-14. So, though my goals remain high, I believe there should be some grace in any failures I might encounter. I’m not amish, after all.

In the garden:
Tomatoes – roma and a beefysteak. Lots ‘o them, so we can make salsa (by we, I mean husband), pizza sauce and a generic tomato sauce as a base for soups.
Onions – Lots ‘o them. Because we rarely cook a meal without an onion
Green beans – these should be BUSH beans, not POLE beans. Lesson learned last year
Peas.
Squash- perhaps a butternut or spaghetti
Eggplant – 1 plant would suffice
Green peppers – 4 or 5 plants
Hot pepper – last year we had a serrano and a poblano. But that’s really the salsa maker’s department
Garlic – already in the ground! (How proud of me Dan W. will be?!)
Cucumbers – I’d like one plant. That’s all. I don’t love them, but husband loves a good cool cucumber “salad”
Zucchini – one plant. These buggers seem to multiply in their sleep. It used to be that you had to lock your car in the summer or someone would fill the back seat with them, but a friend looked for zuccs this summer past and couldn’t find any! So perhaps I should contribute. For bread and fried goodness.
Sweet potatoes – I know nothing about growing these, but they make the best baby food, so I’d like to stock up.
Lettuce
Spinach

I’m hoping that this book fills me in on some strategy to save space, placement for success and a better understanding of when to put what in the ground and to anticipate some reward. If I can be strategic about what goes in after the lettuce is done for the summer, I’d like to plan.

And we can’t forget the herbs:
Oregano (I think this will come back from last year)
Basil (we were very successful with this last year)
Chives
Parsley
Rosemary
I need to do further research into what makes a good pizza sauce.

Nothing gets you through a January night like thinking about May!