I did it. I ordered my seeds yesterday.  A commitment has been made.  Now all that’s left is the layout.

My favorite gardens have been potagers.  They are functional and beautiful.  They are interesting enough so I want to weed them and keep them clean (alright, sorta weeded and clean).  One of the real reasons I love potagers so much is the look on Russell’s face when he sees it.  He’s a straight row kind of guy and he always looks at my garden with scepticism.  It makes me laugh. My garden has rows, just not all rows.  I like things to have a certain whimsy about them yet be functional at the same time.  I always plant things for the birds, bees and butterflies.  I like color. Consequently I plant things that other people don’t.  I love Scarlet Runner Beans.  They are beautiful to grow.  Hummingbirds and butterflies love them.  I love picking the beans at the end of the season and marveling at their bright purple and pink spots. I can’t say that I like eating them so I plant them with another pole bean that I will eat and put up.

Each year I look through my past garden plans to see where the potatoes or tomatoes were planted in the past few years so I can rotate them around.  The potatoes are always planted in rows because of the ease in hilling but I plant the tomatoes in all different configurations.  This year I may plant blocks or circles of separate varieties instead of  in rows.  I also will be planting fewer varieties, but maybe more yellows. My new seed for the year will be Tom Thumb popcorn.  I always try something totally different.  Corn isn’t a do or die for me so when I plant it I do it totally out of curiosity.  I figure it’ll probably turn into fodder for raccoons but you don’t know until you try.

Things to remember this year is to add a lot of compost before I till.  Stake the tomatoes early (so they don’t get away from me).  Get more caution tape for fencing – yes, works better than anything I’ve found although it isn’t all that pretty. Sharpen the weeding tools.

Best of all I will be cleaning off the Adirondack chairs in preparation for relaxing and enjoying the view.