Garden Planning for 2021?! Yes, I am a planner by nature and I have been planning out our gardens, meat birds, egg layers and a new addition to the farm. (That’ll be a surprise for later.)

But today I am going to go over with you how and why I do this.

GETTING READY

Every February I get out our farm notebook and look back at:

*what the garden produced

*how many meat birds we did

*how many crates of fruit

Then I look back to see how long it lasted. This process helps so much with know what I need to buy and when and how much instead of guessing. Writing all this stuff down also helps me to learn to not make the same mistakes again. Whether it’s where I plant things, when I planted it, what it was next too and what mistakes I did make.

LAST YEAR

Last year we did 5 flats of strawberries, 3 flats of blueberries, 2 flats of peaches and a basket full of grapes. I used the strawberries for jam and froze roughly 3 gallon bags of fresh strawberries. For the blueberries I froze them whole and stored in gallon bags. These were good for coffee cakes, muffins, smoothies, pancakes. But for both we ran out by January. That lasted a pretty long time, roughly 6 months. My goal though is to last a full year. So this year I am going to double what I buy.

As for the grapes, the one basket full that we picked I turned into grape jelly and we have a few jars left, so I think it’s safe to say we should get close to a full year’s worth out of that.

For the peaches 2 flats have lasted me awhile, but we don’t eat them often. It’s a special treat. So again, I’m going to double the amount of peaches I buy. But they turned out AMAZING!

GARDENS

As for my gardens, they take a little more planning. Again, I got back to my notebook and figure out what I planted and how long that harvest has lasted me, then I make adjustments. This year we are cutting back. We will grow the same foods, but just not as much.

Last year we planted 5 rows of corn! That yielded ALOT. So this year we are going to plant 3. I’m going to plant more tomatoes because I am out of spaghetti and pizza sauce already. I do this to all things on my list.

I also rotate our garden. I’ve read that doing this helps the soil. If you continue to plant the same foods in the same spot that spot in the soil becomes depleted of certain nutrients. I’m going to look into using straw in the big garden so I don’t have to weed as much. I am also looking at companion planting.

Companion planting is a true & time tested system that encourages growth & boosts natural pest resistance. I have more reading to do on this before I can really plan anything.

MEAT BIRDS

For meat birds, we did 28. That has lasted the perfect amount of time. We left about 12 chickens whole and then cut up the other birds into pieces and used the wings, drummies and thighs for different meals. This year we are going to do 33 for ourselves since we are not doing turkeys this year.

GOOD LUCK

So there you have it, what my family and I do yearly in Feb to get ready for the next growing season. It’s a fun way to start spring. Keeps you organized and helps you to make sure this year will be a great harvest!

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