Planning a Playful Garden in 2022
The blog might look a bit different to you today, as I spent last week updating this website to better serve you in 20222. I really enjoyed sorting through the thousands of photos I took of gardens last year. It really got me in the mood to start planning my 2022 garden.
This photo of one of our client’s gardens has been keeping me warm all winter!
I know it’s not just me. After New Years, everybody starts looking for something green in their life. Maybe it’s because we’re taking down Christmas trees or just tired of all the gray slushy stuff on the streets. I’ve been experiencing an uptick in inquiries about new gardens for spring and every single nursery I frequent is receiving their spring stock of seeds and supplies. That signals gardeners that it’s time to start planning their gardens for 2022.
Here’s how I’m planning my garden this year. I hope it helps you plan, too, and if you’re frustrated with how your season went last year, I’d love to help you find a solution. You can send me a note here and we can get started.
Write down what You Eat
Start with your typical grocery list or meal plan for the week. In our house, we start each day with some eggs, toast and something green like crispy kale or roasted vegetables. For lunch, we typically have soup or a green salad, and for dinner this time of year, we sauté veggies with rice or pasta and a protein. Click here to download a workbook that walks you through creating a kitchen garden meal plan.
When does it grow?
For some of you, this might be the hardest part of the garden planning process. Knowing what grows in our climate during certain parts of the year can be challenging, but once you get the hang of it, it makes a lot of sense.
In Boise, we have a “cool” season that runs from October through April. This is the time of year we grow our best herbs, greens and root vegetables. Our warm season runs from May through September (with some hot months in there, too), and our fruiting plants (peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers) grow best in those months.
Look at your list of groceries and mark off which ones will grow in the cool season and which will grow in the warm season. Think of when you eat those things the most (e.g. in winter, we eat a lot of onions, garlic, carrots, parsley, kale, etc., while in summer, we eat a lot of tomatoes, peppers, basil, etc.) Download the workbook here that can help you determine what grows when.
Add 2-3 new things
This is the step to stretch what your family eats. Maybe you want to incorporate more braising greens in your diet (kale, mustards, swiss chard) or you just want to try growing different types of radishes (black radish, watermelon radish, French Breakfast all have different colors and flavors). Add those to your list! If you need some ideas, visit a local nursery, pick up a seed catalog or just peruse the produce aisle this week at the market. This is your chance to play in your garden and in your diet! For example, I love fresh ginger, so I’m going to grow some in the warm season this year and see how it goes.
There you have it. You took the first step toward growing your 2022 cool season garden. We start planting in our raised beds around the first week of February, so January is a great month to get your garden planned and all your supplies ready to go. Next week, I’ll show you some sample planting plans and shopping lists so you know how many of each plant you’ll need.
If you have any questions or you want to sit down with me to create your 2022 planting plan, send me a note.