feeling inspired...

We have been having a little break from winter this weekend.  It almost feels like spring.  It got to the predicted 40 degrees today and we got some major snow melt.  After last year's disappointing garden season I am so looking forward to the start of a new garden year.  And inspiration is everywhere.  Garden bloggers are publishing their goals and their garden plans, writing about starting seeds and plant choices.  My daughter and I spent long phone conversations debating the merits of our past seed choices and putting together a new garden order.  And then our seeds arrived.

On the first of the year, or maybe it was the second :).  I started a list of goals, kind of a brainstorming session, if you will, and then let it percolate for a bit.  It is time to finalize that list of goals.

Jim and Mary at Old World Garden farms blogged about the system that works for them.  They each separately make a list of 24 goals, two for each month and then around the first of the year they share their lists and make a joint list from their separate lists and put it on the refrigerator where they can see it every day.

Their system would not work for me as I garden alone but I like the idea of having a system.  Here is what I am going to try this year and if it seems to work it might end up being my 'system'.  I am going to try to come up with one or more goals/projects for each of the different gardening spaces at the farm.  At the farm the projects fit into different categories, those that are quick, those that require a lot of effort by me, those that require help from others but also those that are cheap to do and those that require significant financial resources.  I will try to balance all of these categories and come up with a list that is doable but aggressive.

2015 garden goals

Organization, planning and records

Create a master calendar/to-do list/journal

create a four year rotation plan.

weather record?

The potager

Keep the gravel weeded.

Repair the trellis.

The orchard

Enlarge the circles around the two pear and two plum trees to make for easier mowing.

Research other fruit trees that will survive in our zone.  Peaches?

Do something with that pole.

The vineyard

Prune the arbor and start hardwood cuttings from the prunings.

Layout the new vineyard rows.

Purchase wine making kit.

The berry garden

Replant any 2014 new fruits that do not come back.

Add strawberry bed (see below)

The cornfield

Build pallet wood crates to grow potatoes.

 Finish building the south raised rows.

Finish the asparagus rows.

Finish the raspberry rows.

Install the final fence post.

Scarecrow/fence/flowers.

Finish building tomato cages.

The compost pile

Move and use the completed compost.

 Turn the pile from last fall.

Pitch out the barn in the SPRING instead of waiting until fall.  What a novel idea.

The greenhouse

Increase growing space by adding wall shelves, hanging shelving.

Explore options for heat and light.

Keep the weeds from coming up on the cement (flame weeding?)

Cut down the saplings.

The hoop house

Get the plastic on the hoop house.

Landscape around it where the mower won't fit.

The fence garden

Remove the old water feature and fill in the hole.

The flower bed

Evaluate this garden and whether it can be salvaged and rescue plants if needed.

New fruit to the garden

Replant the nut trees that didn't come last year.

Install a strawberry bed.

Farmstand

Frame the chalkboard and install it on the farmstand or make a secure stand for it.

Letter the cash box.

Come up with a way to share printed recipes/business cards with blog address.

So, here it is.  I have to admit that a lot of these goals will need to be done when the weather is cooperating.  I have actually listed a couple of goals that are already in progress.  Is that cheating?