Gardening Season for a Newbie.

Even though it is still very much winter here in Canada as we celebrate Valentine's Day here this week, my mind is on other things.

Today in the mail came my very FIRST EVER seed order.  I know, I know, how can I be 34 and so new to the gardening world?  Our last home, with 1/11th of an acre of yard, was covered in shade and thick tree roots.  Great for keeping the kids out of the sun, not so great for growing things.  I tried a bit of container gardening but I wasn't very good at it.

I have read countless times to start out small.  So I tried.  I really did. But it was SO HARD.  One look at that catalogue and I wanted to grow all the things. Some women want to buy all the shoes.  I apparently want to buy all the seeds.

This gardening newbie is a little concerned, however.  My track record for keeping indoor plants alive is bad.  I even bought those ones that are impossible to kill.  I managed to kill them.  This does not look good for my future in horticulture.

In the meantime, I have been reading away on how to be successful with a homestead garden.  Maybe months and months of reading the same subject will pay off.

Or maybe I will discover I've wasted a lot of money.  Only time will tell.

We are attempting the raised bed method.  Our soil isn't so great here so we think no matter what way we will try we will still have to bring in some soil.  Of course, I've got a ton of chicken coop compost for the bottom layer.  Word on the street is to use that stuff for your base.  We'll see if I've listened to the wrong word on the street.  The actual beds will be made out of material we have lying around here.  Somehow we've ended up with a lot of extra free wood in the short six months we've lived here.  This does not bode well for my minimalism mindset, but it definitely helps in the project department.

Aside from mostly vegetables, I have zinnias and lavender on my list of things to attempt to grow this year.  Lavender to use in bar soap I make, and zinnias just because they are so darn pretty.  And what girl doesn't like pretty things?

So there you have it.  My gardening plans for 2018.  I'm really hoping I don't have to write a post in August to explain how I killed all the things....