As I plowed out the homestead today, I had the radio tuned to Stewart McLean, host of The Vinyl Café. Today’s show focused on Daydreaming. (You can listen to Stewart here.) Ann Murray sang “Daydream Believer”, and later, The Loving Spoonful joined in with “What a Day for a Daydream”. Those tunes took me back to the Sixties for a while and then the mind began to wander to warmer days and into the garden. It was more of the “I wonder” kind of daydream. The kind of thoughtful daydream that one can allow the mind to explore the “whys” of why you choose to do things. Like, “Why have a garden?”
When we initially started our garden there was not a lot of thought or planning. We jumped in and created a garden. You may recall how the seed display at Home Depot became our plan. Since then we have put careful thought into what we wanted to achieve. We thought out and wrote down goals for our gardens. The four main goals dealt with production, learning, leisure, and diversity.
- Production – We wanted a garden to meet our defined needs. Fresh, nutritious, organic produced food, for canning, pickling, freezing, and winter storage. And for fresh salads, beet greens, HodgePodge,
Hodge Podge strawberry pie, etc.
- Learning – We wanted to gain knowledge about gardening. Experiment with raised rows, raised beds, square foot gardening, vertical gardening, and straw bale gardening. Learn about composting, mulching, and soil development.
- Leisure – Create a relaxing environment. A garden for reflection, observation, and of course daydreaming. (our lower garden plan includes a hammock under the pergola!)
- Diversity – Our garden will include vegetables, fruit, flowers, and shrubs. We will experiment with different varieties, colours, tastes, and textures.
Having these goals allows us to focus on what is important for us. The goals are like the cornerstones for our garden planning and allow us to establish specific objectives each year.
Looking at the Upper Garden covered in two feet of snow it will be awhile before we will be digging in the soil. Maybe time to relax and daydream about this summer and our gardens.
What are your goals for this year’s garden?
Tom & Di
the Creative Garden Patch 