- Setting up a small raised garden near where we park the car, and transplanting the roses there (I have two that seem like climbers), with a trellis or arbor for them to grow over. I'm thinking this would also be a good place for lavendar, rosemary, and thyme.
- Removing at least the west 1/3rd of the front yard and planting Sunshine Blueberry plants (only grow to about 2 feet) and strawberries (should be a good groundcover companion plant). If I have time, I'd like to clear out the rest of the grass as well and throw in a rhubarb and maybe some red huckleberries . . . not sure what else would grow there, it doesn't get a lot of sun.
- Clearing out the middle pond, filling it with good garden dirt, and turning it into a lovely new garden patch.
- Getting a grate to cover the smallest pond with, so we can keep it as a holding pond without worrying about kids falling in.
- Removing a number of dead plants that were killed by those strong frosts last winter, so their space can be planted again. I'll possibly also remove a number of ornamental trees that are in the way or blocking light. I don't really like ornamental plants that much. It's probably my engineer nature - I prefer a combination of form and function, with function being slightly more important.
- A bunch of smaller wants, like putting in red huckleberries and weeding the edge of the future garden pond.
- I don't really expect to get to this, but perhaps next summer I want to put in a large French-drain system with flagstones (so it doubles as a path) through the swamp that develops in winter and spring near the picinc table, and extend the raised beds out to the edges of that drain to get more growing space and less flooding space. Hopefully we can engineer the drains to empty into the holding pond.
- Another "probably next year" item is making one giant raised bed back behind the shed.
- Another thing for next year is turning part of the shed into a playhouse for the girls. I was going to do that this summer, but making the ponds safe seemed more important when I actually got to work. Mainly, it needs to be treated for mildew, and I'd like to repaint it.
- Future dreams also include raising chickens to one side of the shed, and putting together a fancy playground for the kids with a slide, swings, and all that stuff. I'm not sure how realistic either of these is, but I'd love to be able to do both.
My garden plans for next spring are really starting to gel. The hardest part is trying to plan for simplicity during what are normally the busiest months for gardeners, when the baby will arrive and I will still be working full-time. I'd be a fool to think I'll be getting more than 30 minutes a week to garden, so my plans have to be streamlined during that phase.
I'm going to put in peas to the east of the patio, in the kitchen garden, and runner beans to the south. The peas were easily the most effortless thing I grew last year, so I should have no trouble planting them. I'm hoping runner beans will be just as easy. In front of the peas, I want to put in peppers and onions, and maybe garlic. Hopefully the pond-garden will be done, and I can put tomatoes there, but if not then I will have to fit them in the kitchen garden with the peppers. It'll be a regular salsa garden!
Finally, I'm going to make a real effort to get in an herb container garden next year. I can do a lot of the prep work this year by getting the pots and soil ready to go, so I just need to start the seedlings and pop them in!
I have dreams of chard, kale, carrots, potatoes, artichokes, asparagus, raspberries, blackberries, and more. I might try one or two of these if I finish the pond garden, but otherwise I think I need to just accept that those things will have to wait until I am a bit more prepared and experienced, and not quite so busy.
