It was a gloomy and rainy week here in Minnesota, so the garden planting didn’t happen until Saturday instead of Monday as I had hoped. I guess that’s the thing about nature. It doesn’t really care what your schedule is.

Saturday morning the girls were overtired and I needed a break so I decided to plant the garden myself. I decided to use the square foot gardening method since it seemed easier for a beginner like me and good for a small plot like mine. Here’s how I laid it out. There is a fence on the back of most of my plot, so I put the climbing veggies there. The only small thing I put in the back row was a couple of marigolds and that is because that particular square was a bit irregular in size and I knew marigolds would fit.

There is also a patch of lemon balm growing in the middle of my path. I left it because it isn’t in a spot that will be too in the way and I like lemon balm for tea. The chives, dill and flowers were left from last year’s tenant and they were in almost perfect square foot garden formation, which makes me wonder if that person used this method too.

It took me about two hours to plant it, but that included a lot of time pondering what should go where. I tried to think about what we like to eat when deciding how much of which vegetables to plant. We eat tomatoes like they’re going out of style, and I want some for canning and freezing, so I planted more of those.

The lemon cucumbers were a favorite of both my girls when they were smaller. I am friends with the Dervaes family of Path to Freedom and we would sometimes buy lemon cucumbers from them. They would usually be eaten within 5 minutes of getting them home. We also like regular cucumbers and pickles.

Cheyenne is going to freak over the purple carrots, so I planted more of those than I did of the orange carrots. We all like leeks, so I made sure we had quite a few of those. I may have more Thai basil than I need, but I do like to eat a lot of spring rolls on hot summer days. I limited the summer squash and zucchini as everyone has told me that they are supernaturally prolific here.

The garden as a whole is looking really pretty. The lilacs are in bloom and the perennial garden near the street is blooming. It’s such a nice little oasis in the city.

(image by Lorri37 via flickr)