A couple weeks ago I made a post Selecting seeds to grow this year, in which I shared some of the seeds I have, and some of the seeds I wanted to add to my collection. There are so many veggies I have never grown that I would like to try and learn from.

@halcyondaze recently made a post titled 2018 Garden Planning Competition - Let's Grow The Steemit Gardening Community! because he wants more of us in the #gardening community to post our goals and plans on the steemit blockchain. I think that's a great idea. Personally I have no intention of winning, and I would be happy to lend my full $3. 48 upvote to the winner of that competition, because I also love seeing what other people are doing in the garden. If anyone needs some ideas to participate in this challenge, I hope this post inspires.

Warning: This is going to be a long, but thorough post!

Hey, it's my blog. If I want to keep my notes safely on the steemit blockchain for reference, then so be it.

Seed Collection Update

Today I took the next step and found some of those seeds I wanted at a local store. Here's my new seeds.

#cabbage Copenhagen Market Brassica oleracea ver. capitata
#turnip Purple Top White Globe
#peas Lincoln (Homesteader) "High Yielding Bush Pea"
#arugula Rocket Salad, Roquette Eruca sativa
#arugula wild Dragon's Tongue diplotaxis tenuifolia
#jiffystips for small plants with tender roots

Two other varieties seeds I'm looking for on my wish list, and I think I may have to order online...
#radicchio
#tobacco nicotiana scented flowers

Seedling Update

This smiling plant is my #pumpkin vine. Only yesterday it was the size of a pea under the soil, and now it is raising its long neck to say hello.

Wouldn't it be cool if it turned into this? Background singers included

The other seeds I have are #anise, #cumin, #cilantro, #lavender, and #pepper. I think the anise are starting to germinate, because I see some small fibers forming around the seeds, but it isn't quite visible yet on camera. The pepper looks like it is pushing out a small root from the seeds, but I could be imagining. This is great, because last year I was getting very slow germination on those two seeds.

Garden Layout Revisited

In my previous post Planning out the dream garden, I sketch out some of the areas in my yard where I plan to grow certain #vegetables and #herbs.

Here I thought I would do that again, but with more of a landscaper's top-view.

Having a good strategy is important, as I live in a household where we have to all agree on which areas are kept for walkways, and which spots are allowed to grow things in. We also have to be careful because flower bulbs are buried in various locations where the soil should not be disturbed with digging.

Here's what that looks like...

Everything marked with colored ink are things that I planted, or intend to grow for the upcoming season. Plants and trees drawn in black are permanent features.

The backyard area has two large grass lawns. It took a lot of persuading to get my family to agree to let me woodchip the front yard area, because the pile of wood chips dumped last time was humongous. They believed wood chips would introduce diseases and bugs, and look undesirable. Mildew is the most common disease introduced from fresh wood chips, and it did mottle the leaves on some perennials and my bonsai trees, and mint. The next season, all the affected plants recovered. Ants and termites have not been a problem.

Eventually I would like to cover the entire back yard with wood chips too. No more mowing and grass debris is ideal for us, and mulch is even better for healthy garden soil.

Below, here is a review of the various areas where I'll be growing various edible plants.

Grow Bed #1

In this year I am utilizing the shade area. Feedback I received is that many of these plants will perform better under less sun. So we're going to find out together how well this magic spot works for these plants.

Middle Fence Area

Last year I grew the beans between the corn. This year I'm separating them to keep the corn more clustered up to improve pollination of the ears.

Grow Beds #2 and #3

The new strategy this year is to fill the grow beds as thickly as possible with greens to keep the soil covered. This should decrease the watering required in the summer, and also allow the soil better protection from rain erosion. Plus I need more greens in the diet.

Rotating some brassicas into these beds where I grew tomatoes last year may also be a risky plan, but I'm going to see if it works. Hungry sunflowers and tomatoes are going to have to compete with it to get the nutrients they need to grow. I'm hoping a steady supply of compost, coffee grounds, and compost tea will keep them all growing strong.

Front yard, view angle from house window

Super-Duper Upcoming Plans

Turmeric & Ginger

I bought these at the Asian grocery market last week.

Last year I had some ginger growing successfully, and even got a small harvest, but the rhyzome I saved did not sprout.

I'm keeping these wrapped up on the top shelf of my bedroom closet. They should stay warm, dark, and slightly humid. The ginger is starting to show signs of mold on some of the edges. Not good. So far these are not sprouting. I think it might be a good idea to rinse them once, just in case they have some sort of chemical on them that prevents sprouts.

If anyone knows how to grow these two plants well, please give me some tips in the comments.

#Ash tree with seedlings growing around #Tickseed flowers

Every year I get thousands of these Ash tree seedlings that pop up around our yard. That's what you get when you have Ash trees growing in your yard.

This year I thought it might be wise to put my skill with growing bonsai trees to good use, and make a beautiful work of art. So I am going to be on the lookout for suitable rocks so I can build a natural miniature mountain scene. The seeds will fall and grow in between the rocks, and the end result should be a thing of beauty. This style is known as #Saikei, which means living landscape.

One photo every day: Team work (008/365) by @daniellozada

I hope @daniellozada doesn't mind me sharing this photo from their post on the steemit blockchain. Everyone who loves bonsai trees, chocolate, desserts, and coffee should follow @daniellozada for some daily no-brainer quality posts to upvote. Everyone who likes eye candy should follow @daniellozada.

If I can make something that even slightly starts to resemble a saikei this year, I will be a very proud man!

Here is a photo of my apple tree I started growing last April. I had this tree grafted by an expert at a propagation fair I attended. It is growing an apple variety called Sweet 16 on rootstock M9 which is a medium dwarf tree variety suitable for growing in a pot.

This year I want to return to the propagation fair, because I had so much fun. I need to get over my fear of sharp knives, and consider buying a grafting knife of my own. If I buy one more rootstock this year, I can graft one new apple variety onto it, and I can also grow another new apple variety, and graft it to my first tree. I had a second tree last year that did not survive for some reason, but I'm going to try again.

This year I want to add Gravenstein and Northern Spy to my apple collection.

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If you got this far in the post, you deserve a pat on the back. This post had a ton of content I included for the #gardencontest theme this week. I wanted to put as much of my full plan as possible in one place, so I can look back next year and see in what areas of my plan succeeded, and in what areas the plan needed to change.

Everyone should grow even some little plant every year I believe. It is good for the soul to be connected with the nature of life and the seasons of change.

Have a great day!