Vegetable gardening

We're having a garden this year and I couldn't be happier. We didn't have one last year due to my surgery. In the past, our gardens have been small with a few tomato plants, onions, and beans, which wasn't nearly big enough to can or freeze any vegetables to use over the winter. But, this year will be different.

Our neighbor was kind enough to plow a spot in the small field across from our house (thank you, Bill) and, oh my, did he ever plow us a garden. My husband showed him how big he wanted it. You'd think we lived on a farm. Well, okay it's not that big, but it does measure about 3000 square feet. What in the world are we going to plant in there?

So, we sat down with the seed catalogs the other night to get some ideas. Obviously, we are going to have a lot of tomato plants so I will be able to can some juice for soups and chili over the winter. We love zucchini and cucumbers and will have lots of those. I'm going to get some onion sets this weekend and peas and lettuce seed. Those are great springs veggies. Cabbage is always good, although my husband doesn't like it, my mom and myself do. We have never had success with planting corn, so we ruled that one out. I love turnips and my husband loves the greens, although we plan on that being a fall crop.

We are also going to plants some herbs. I want oregano for pizza and spaghetti sauce and he wants to plant some medicinal herbs.

Plants that vine, like cucumbers will take a lot of space, eventually we will get it filled up. I read in a magazine that seeds are going to sell out fast in the stores this year because, due to the economy, many more people are going to put a garden out to save money. If you are going to plant a garden this year, make sure you buy your seeds and plants early.

Happy planting,
Carol