Early January garden thoughts

As seen from the dining room January 11th

For a gardener, this is the time of year when you alternate staring out the window with flipping through catalogs. 

You spend hours imagining all of the possibilities for the coming garden season. You think about trying some new vegetables, plan the garden layout, and maybe dream up new a project. 

Over coffee and catalogs this weekend, this is what I thought about:

1. I really want to move the potatoes out of the main garden and possibly into some kind of box or container. 

Ugly potato corner

Whatever I do, I want it movable, so I can put it away after I harvest the potatoes. The front runner right now, which was D's idea, is a box made of pallets - probably cut in half so it's only two feet tall - held together with zip ties or hook-and-eye latches. 

2. I also want to move the zinnias out of the main garden. I love zinnias, and I want flowers for bees and butterflies, but they take up way too much space.

Barely staying within their fence

I'm thinking of making a bed along the fence on the east side of the yard:

Probably next to the asparagus bed, which is the one roughly in the middle of the above picture. I think there's enough room between the bed and the fence for both zinnias and a path for the lawnmower.

3. I want to plant sunflowers again, even though the nasty squirrels will probably ruin them again. I might just mix some in with the zinnias.

Cute little jerk lounging in the sun

4. I think I want to try growing cucumbers on a trellis. I've grown a bush cucumber variety, which is fine, but I'd like to see if I can ever grow enough cucumbers to make pickles. With my limited garden space, that means growing up. I've also recently discovered Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers, and I don't think I can pass them up. I'm wondering if I can re-purpose a bean tower or a tomato cage. I have some research to do.

5. I think I want to grow zucchini. It's not something we eat a lot of now, but if I grew it, we could easily find ways to eat it. I saw a bush/container variety somewhere, which might be the perfect way to give it a try, since I don't have a lot of room for viney things.

6. I want to plant sweet potatoes. A friend gave my mom one plant last summer, and she just stuck it in a raised bed. She ended up with 11 pounds of sweet potatoes. I love sweet potatoes. 

Those are my garden thoughts right now. Everything could change before I actually plant anything.

Female downy woodpecker