One "sad" thing by live in New England is that you have to wait until end of May to enjoy frost free weather. We just had 2" snow yesterday, in late March! Well, I guess I should get used to it.
Last year, gardening was not successful, even with very few cherry tomato harvesting, many has sadly dead. Three reasons: lack of water, bad soil, and wild animals. So this season, some changes will be made.
I have two ideal lot for both flower garden and vegetable garden. One garden is located in front of my house (west side), and the other one is located on the south side of my house. So my plan is this: turn my front garden in to a formal/rose garden, and make raised bed to grow vegetables at the south side of my house.
For both areas, the key is to improve soil quality. Front garden has tough clay, and south side is very sandy. Neither are great to grow. So, first step is to improve soil. We will add two things into our garden: cow manure compost as well as mulch. Our town provide free mulch, and we will purchase few yards of manure compost to add more nutrients to our soil.
Second step, draw a layout. Since I want two different style gardens, layout is important. I will use amazing Pinterest, google, and visit local flower show to know what is the best layout as well as variety to grow in Zone 4 area. For the vegetable garden, I want to build a functional, efficient, as well as charming vegetable garden.
Third step, add irrigation system for both gardens. Lack of water supply was another key reason that I failed last year, so a "smart" irrigation system is crucial. I will try not to purchase a ready to go system, rather, I'd like to build one on my own. One thing I need to keep in mind is to how to overwinter my system.
The last step, plant! I have already started seedling indoors, I will write another post on how I did it, what to do when "all" my plants went leggy?!!
This year, maybe too greedy, I would like to plant 20 different plants in my garden. I will record each single one, and share with you how I do and my lesson, whether successful or fail. On top of that, I purchased two types of apple trees. I will also record that.
Snow snow, please melt .... I mean, I love snow, but, I need some green now :)
