Suburban Valkyrie

The chill of winter is on the wane here in Pennsylvania, at least for now. Though we likely are in for another spell or two of cool to cold weather, the temps in the 60s and 70s have launched me into full-on garden planning mode.

Each year that I have gardened here in my little slice of suburbia, my plans and ambitions have, well, grown. From containers,  to one 4x4 raised bed,



to two 4x4 raised beds (for which I tore out an old, dead lavender bush:



to the two beds and a conglomeration of grow bags and containers of all sizes in 2015.


This year, I'm getting serious.

The nearby town of Perkasie created a community garden space on an unused piece of land donated by Kenneth Kratz Real Estate. Would-be green thumbers can rent a 12x12 plot of land for $10 for the summer. That includes water, which is provided by the borough.

So, being a Gemini and all, I decided to go big. I rented two 12x12 plots for Gardenpolooza 2016. Now, 288 square feet of garden may be old hat to many gardeners, but for me, this is a pretty big leap.

In addition to greatly expanding the amount of land I'm going to garden, I also am tackling another project - starting all (or most) of my plants from seed.

I started seedlings for the first time ever last year - and was a bit surprised when it actually worked. In the intervening months, many winter hours have been spent poring over seeds catalogs, such as the one from Baker Creek.

The list of favorites and must-trys is expanding by the day. What will end up on my final order? We will have to wait and see.