Spring Tidings & More Garden Plans...

Well, today is the first day of Spring for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and I welcome it with open arms! It is also Ostara for Heathens, Wiccans and other Pagans; if you are interested in learning more about folklore and rituals or maybe would like some recipe ideas, you can check out a post I did this time last year.

There is a women's gathering tomorrow that I will try and make it to and the snow has now left the forecast, so I might get out into the garden as well. Otherwise it will be pretty quiet 'round here for the Vernal Equinox this year.

I mentioned yesterday that I would be doing some rearranging and expansion in the garden, and I am quite excited about this. To me these changes are a part of the whole 'nesting' routine and solidifying our lives more in the direction of homesteaders.

I am sure that this will be a process that will take place over a couple of years at least, but if we are going to set roots here, I would love to add things such as fruit trees, a small green house, and of course cluckers!

But first things first...

For the already existing beds that I dug up last year, I am going to expand the garden towards where the pots are in this picture by a few more feet and remove all the sod. It will no longer be a 'grid' but one whole patch with quadrants. The paths will be 'meandering' and will be made of reclaimed materials such as stones, tiles, bricks and glass bottles. {Click here and here to see what I mean}.

I think that this will give us a little more planting space and I will definitely be spending less time plucking out weeds that come from the sod path.

We carved out a circular bed last year and placed a tarp over it in the hopes of making it a little bit easier to start this year. I will probably make it a touch bigger than this, and it will be home to some sun-loving veggies and herbs.

Throughout the rest of the yard I will be planting a few more native and naturalized plants that have some use to us, such as healing properties, helping the compost along, or attracting pollinators. It gets really wild and woolly in the Summer, with lots of beautiful weeds and I want to keep it that way as much as possible. ;)

There is even more growing space at the front and the sides of the house, but I haven't really figured out what to do with those save for scattering wild flower seeds on the front lawn.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I hope you all enjoy the first day of Spring {or Autumn}! :)

Sláinte!

Laurel