Garden Planning Time

 

It's that time of year if you have a garden in the north.  

Graden planning time - the time when you sit down with a cup of hot tea and peruse the seed catalogs.  Get out the seed you saved from last year's garden and make a plan for this year.

We have a small garden patch now.  Years ago, when the boys lived at home, we had a MUCH bigger garden.

These pictures are from an older canning book.  The newer books don't have these charts anymore. 

I don't think people garden as much as they did in the past.  But it seems that home gardening is coming back in favor. So, if you are interested, these may be fun to look at. 

 

We don't grow all our own food.  Our little garden patch supplements our purchases.  It is nice to know how the food was grown and processed. 

And home grown always tastes the very best.

DH has no plans to increase the garden size.

After the boys moved away DH decreased the garden, planted grass, and put up a fence.

He was serious about a smaller patch. 😀

As I plan the garden DH reminds me not to over plan.  I always want to plant more than we actually have room for.  I have even tried to get him to give up some of the flower beds for my vegetables. 

It worked for my pea plant area - maybe it will work again. 😉

I remember my grandmothers working in their gardens.  On hot summer afternoons sitting in the shade, snapping beans or shelling peas. Going out and returning with an apron full of tomatoes, peppers, an onion, chopping it all up for the pot, adding some sugar, spices, and vinegar for a homemade catsup.  It was the very best I've ever had.

This is the closest recipe I've ever found to Grandma's homemade chili sauce.

I don't add the horseradish - Grandma never did.

They made a true impression on me.  I loved watching them as they put together wonderful food for their families.

It was a way of life for them.