Vegetable Garden 2009

The 10-day forecast on Weather.com shows no sign of spring. It's not supposed to get much warmer than 48º and rain and/or snow dominate the scene.

BUT! At least I have my vegetable garden planned!

Last year I set the goal of gardening as organically as possible - no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. We also had the goal of cultivating all 3 beds using companion planting to help with pests and diseases. Overall, we succeeded. We had a few issues with pests - namely the mexican bean beetle, the cabbage worm, and the worm from The Wrath of Kahn that invaded the acorn squash - but the yield was amazing on everything else. I was pulling squash off of our summer squash plant it SEPTEMBER.

This year one goal is to expand our companion planting to include flowers and herbs. Also, we're rotating the beds. Another goal was to grow garlic and shallots but I just found out you have to plant them in the fall, so there goes that idea (I did, however, find a garlic farmer who sells seed garlic that's just outside of Madison. Yay for buying local!). A third goal was to expand our vegetable selection a bit. And Eric wants to start canning this year. EEEK!

All of the beds are going to be bordered and, in some cases, interplanted with a mix of nasturtium, marigold (french in all beds except the beans, where it'll be mexican), petunias and other beneficial flowers.

New items this year are peas, carrots, cucumbers (tried last year, they all died), a new type of lettuce, new type of eggplant, chinese cabbage, leeks, tomatillos (giving them another shot), chamomile, lavender, sage.

Bed 1: beans, peas, carrots, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce (romaine and spring mix), chard, eggplant and onions.
Bed 2: broccoli, chinese cabbage, kale, collards, leeks, summer squash, chamomile, thyme, sage, rosemary and lavender
Bed 3: peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, tomatillos, winter squash, onions, chamomile, leeks, rosemary, oregano, parsley, basil