Green Dreams

Every February I start having serious "green dreams". I look out at my barren, brown yard and begin imagining all the roots in the ground just waiting for warm sun to tell them to grow. I look out at my vegetable garden patch, which is just a big, ugly bit of ground, and imagine baby plants growing in there and the sun on my face as I tend to them. I begin to get excited about planning my flower gardens and just getting my hands dirty again! Winter is so LONG for me.

In January, I planned my vegetable garden plot. To do this, I take a drawn picture of my old garden from last year, and decide which plants I will do again, which I don't want to do, and which new ones I would like to try. Then I draw out my new garden, make sure everything fits, and rotate the crops so that things are in prime growing locations. (For example, you need to move tomatoes and peppers to different locations each year for four years before they can go back to their original spots). This can take some planning if you don't have a lot of space! Here are the veggies I have decided to grow this year:

-Broccoli: my first attempt! I am SO excited. :)
-Spinach: baby's leaf hybrid, supposedly good for growing them for salads.
-Rocket Arugula: New as well: getting lots of baby arugula in our share made me want to try it!
-Hercules Pumpkins: I grew small pumpkins last year and got three, it was great! This year I'd like to try this larger variety...
-Green bean: bush blue lake... they grow on bushes instead of vines making them more compact... I had okay luck with beans last year, but I am excited to try again!
-Radishes : Crimson giant...you put radish seeds in the ground in early spring, they are one of the first things to sprout, so even though I don't always love eating them, I love growing them, and they are so easy to take care of.. good for salads etc.
-Zucchini:my 4th year growing them, a great garden staple, and you can do a wide
variety of things with them. Just don't have too many plants or you will be overrun by these veggies and they will grow to huge sizes because you didn't notice one... amusing!
-Carrots: the Sweet treat hybrid. Carrots are so easy to grow and home grown ones taste delicious.
-Cucumbers: Orient express II Hybrid. Long cucumbers that don't seem to have a lot of seeds. This will be my 3rd year growing cuc's.
-Sugar Snap Peas: a garden must-have! Great in salads, or in stir fry. I always eat them off the vine as I'm gardening, mmmm....
-Bell Peppers: I LOVE peppers! We got a lot of them last year and I'm hoping to have just as much luck this year!
-Best Boy Hybrid Tomatoes: I grew these last year for the first time (although my 4th year growing tomatoes), and they were great! The right size for sandwiches and sauces alike. Plus they were fairly disease resistant, which is amazing considering blight killed tons of tomatoes last year).

On the flower front:
I'm starting geraniums and snapdragons inside this year. As well as planting "cut and come again" Zinnia's and California poppy's once the weather warms.

What are your spring green dreams?