The 2014 Garden Plan!

It’s been awhile since I gave an update, so I figured it was time for one.
We quickly learned last year that to plant everything on our own (veggies, herbs, and flowers), that it will take consistent planning for it to be successful.  Last year was our first attempt at planting several types of flowers and veggies from scratch, items we would buy from a nursery year after year.  The big thing with last year is we were about 2-3 months too late in starting the seeds.  To have successful blooming in late spring/early summer for both flowers and tomatoes/peppers requires seed starting in January.  Now we were successful with all of these things, but we didn’t get to enjoy the bounty and beauty until later than normal.
So this year, we started in late January.  We started jalapeno’s, 3 different types of tomatoes, 2 different types of bell peppers, 8 different types of herbs,  a ghost pepper, and a habanero pepper.  We also started 4 different types of geraniums, snap dragons, petunia’s, 2 different types of carnations, coleus, and about 10 other types of flowers/plants (this year’s color theme will be orange, black, and red…yes I know a little Halloweeny, but that was by accident!).  We dug out our little greenhouse system and followed all the same steps we did last year! Only we made one major mistake, we moved the greenhouse into the ONLY room in the house that doesn’t have heating.  We thought the lighting would be enough.  Only about close to half of what we planted was coming up and mold and moss were growing, and for the last 2 weeks we tried everything to figure out why, not thinking about heating being a factor (the room gets cold).  Finally last week, Jacee thought of it…….she goes “The only thing we did differently is have this in a room with a controlled temperature”.  She was onto something…..so Jason and I made room in a different part of the house, and moved our little greenhouse into the room, and everything seems to be doing much better! All the plants are sssoooo much happier, so lesson learned!  Everything that wasn’t successful was replanted, and so now we are hoping we are on the road to success.
This project will be rolled out into 3-4 different phases, over 3-4 different years.
2014- We are on a very limited budget this year, and will not be able to implement as much as we had hoped for.   So we had to prioritize our needs and wants to make this happen.  This year will be a year of determining how much we need to plant to sustain us for 1 year.  I figure this will probably take us a few years to get right.  It will be a year of building our crops.  The first item to work on (and the only BIG item we can fit in the budget), simultaneously from planting the garden will be to build a bigger greenhouse (10X10) in the backyard.  I have done much research to learn what we will need for a successful greenhouse in our climate, and it will be built to withstand winters in Alaska (so I figure it should work for our climate too).  We will need the greenhouse to house our items that aren’t freezable or can’t be canned, such as tomatoes and lettuce.  It will also be where we house our fresh herbs so we can have them at our disposal year round, and also a good place to store all the pretty flowers year over year (so we don’t have to replant them).   On the agenda this year is to finish the herb gardens around our deck, and adding some more grape plants.  I would also like to harvest the seeds from our lilac bush and start plenty of more trees from them.  We will also work on finalizing the yard plans.
2015-Hopefully from 2014, we will know what we need to plant more of or less of for the year.  We will begin implementing the design of the backyard, pathways, grass, sprinkler system (as long as the budget agrees!).  Add to our herbs by start adding items to not just cook with, but also make teas with and use for natural home remedies (I am hoping to have a class completed on how to safely use herbs by 2015). We would like to add more fruit trees (which will come with the landscaping), and our living fence line as well.  This in essence will be the beginnings of creating the ecosystem.
2016-2017- By this point we should have a good idea of what we need to grow for 1 years’ time.  We will be adding to our ecosystem by creating a pond, and adding bee’s and chickens (for eggs).
Not added to the timeframe, because it is yet to be determined where in the order the budget will allow is a few sitting areas (a pergola, and a gazebo), along with a bench or two to sit and enjoy along the way.  But for now we will be concentrating on getting 2014 to be as successful as last year’s garden!
Here is a link to the website that gave us this idea…..
http://ferncreekdesign.org/backyardecosystem.html