The fact that our gut biome greatly benefits from putting our hands in the dirt is probably one of the most meaningfully religious doctrines I know – and I have a graduate degree in religion, so I’m as serious as a heart attack about that.
I mention it here because this is about the time that I start to pare back my expectations for the year. I reserve the right to adjust my hopes back based on the amount of chicken poop and other compost I can gather! But here’s the early plan:
I plan to volunteer as a gleaner and grant writer for Farming Falmouth, too, and there aren’t enough hours in the day for everything, but again, this is a first ambitious draft.
Carrots, spinach, onions, cauliflower and (hidden) garlic in the bottom right, chamomile, beets, arugula, broccoli and radishes stop right corner, tomatoes, basil, swiss chard, beans, and calendula middle top and an assortment of winter squash top left. the middle rectangle is an imaginary patio that currently does not exist but could have our picnic table on it someday.
Not shown is an herb garden (bottom right, out a window to the right of the kitchen table) that will have many of my favorites – lemon balm, fennel, verbena, parsley, more chamomile (because who can have enough?), peppermint, monarch and hyssop for the pollinators (center because they are tall), some more sage, a rhubarb plant (also center), rosemary, lavender, bay leaves, lemongrass, tulsi, purple basil, asclepia for the monarda butterflies. And more flowers elsewhere including my favorite zinna and some marigolds because they just get along with everyone. The space will be big but that’s okay. Flanking this against the fence – a hedge of raspberries. What’s missing? Potatoes. We love them, we eat them, they aren’t here.
That said, we can get them at the local Pariah Farm farmstand. I welcome visitors and will gladly share what we grow.
Backyard Botanics 