Spring Garden Planning

With those warm days we had last week, I got the itch to plant something. Way too early in Missouri to plan anything but I started the conversation with Bob about what we are going to do in our vegetable garden. He's obviously been thinking about it, too. His answers came pretty quickly: we'll try brussels sprouts again, tomatoes, bell peppers, potatoes, and asparagus. The asparagus is in its own bed, the potatoes will go in the potato bags, and the tomatoes and bell peppers will go into our raised bed. We will do the usual herbs as well, and plant a few new ones that we discover when it is time to shop for plants.

I found a fun and easy way to mark our plants: with clothespins! We used corks last year and I was going to have to remark them as they faded. I saw this adorable idea and decided I would do them instead.

To find out how to make these, go to the link provided on the word clothespins above! We will move the herb garden closer to the veggies as we think they got too hot where we had them. The rosemary is going into its own pot as is the basil.

We are going to remove a section of grass on the outside of our fence to make a cutting garden. It is outside the garden for a couple of reasons, one, to distract the bunnies from our veggie garden and two, I think it will look really nice out there.
I worked with an expert to bring butterflies to the garden. Two of our friends, Sue and Andy Leahy are involved with Milkweeds for Monarchs, an organization that works with the Audubon Society to draw monarchs to the Saint Louis area. We will be landscaping with many native plants that monarchs like plus a few non-natives to cut for bouquets.

So far our selections include Rough Blazing Star, Prairie Blazing Star and Eastern Blazing Star, Butterfly Milkweed, Yellow Coneflower, Glade Coneflower, Coreposis, Showy Goldenrod, Aster, Wild Bergamot, Zinnias, Salvia, Yarrow, and Bee Balm. I am also working with a flower farm in Indiana for other cutting type flowers.