The 2012 Garden

With this mild (so far) winter we’ve been having, we’ve been thinking a lot about what we’re going to be doing with our garden once the weather actually turns. Those of you that follow Jessica on Twitter (which should be all of you) may have noticed that she’s been talking about living off the land in a bigger way.

Our first step was getting a copy of The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, from Edward C. Smith. Love that hat, man. Besides now having an excuse to buy a completely garish hat to wear in the backyard this summer, now we’ve got some real instruction on how to get the best yield from our garden. This book is fantastic, giving great instruction to all levels of gardeners. Jessica’s all in on this project as well; I know this because she was actually talking about manure in a favorable way the other day.

Last year, we succeeded with tomatoes, cucumbers, jalapenos, romaine and herbs. We failed with scallions, carrots and celery. We’re hoping to add some new heirloom tomato varieties, more lettuce varieties, and an even greater variety of herbs. We’ve already started rosemary, basil and parsley inside, with dill, chives and mint this year.

All of this is just a trial run, really, until we can get more land to hopefully have one of those Martha Stewart-sized gardens.

Maybe not that big.

Point is, there’s nothing quite like cooking with fresh ingredients that you’ve grown or created yourself. Whether vegetables, fruits, or even baked goods, you’ll never want to go back to store-bought. (Although, that’s inevitable, living with the weather we do around here.)

Stay tuned throughout the year for more updates.