The seed catalogs come in around New Years. We gaze at the pictures of flowers and vegetables. Around mid February or early March we start a battle plan on what we want to do with the garden.
Last year was not a good year. It rained almost every day. Woodchuck, rabbits and deer promptly ate the seeds that did not get washed out. To add insult to injury, Mom caught a doe teaching its' fauns which things to go for in the garden nearest the house.
The year before that was a good year for us. There was a drought. Most of my parents yard is swamp. Even the pumpkins did well that year. The deer and the woodchucks had there fill that year too, but that year there was enough for us too.
So we wonder what the summer will be like this season as we form strategies for this year. We always opt to plan for a bountiful harvest. We review information on what plants prefer as neighbors.
The tomatoes like to rotated every year into a spot where they were not present last year. The peas and the lettuce like to be cooler, so we will try them in the upper garden which is partially shaded by the silver maples.
Mid April or sometime in May the ground is soft enough to start removing the grass that has crept into the perennial gardens. We take the dead stuff off our bushes and prune our fruit trees. Dad roto-tills the vegetable gardens as soon as the ground is dry enough.
By the middle of June, Mom and I are busy hoeing the soil into mounds and covering the seeds. Memorial Day is the traditional day to buy the tomatoes, peppers and marigolds from the local nursery. We plant these along with the ones Mom raised inside the house.
After that we walk out to the garden to see how the plants are doing. We spend a few hours a day removing the weeds, mulching with leaves, grass clippings and wood chips and hope for the best.
