Grateful Heart Garden Plans : 2022

My 2021 garden was a complete flop – I didn’t harvest one vegetable or fruit the entire season. I moved my garden from a small flat space with plenty of light into an area that was gently sloped and had too much shade. This was very disappointing since I used the garden seeds from my Mom but it was a good lesson in the basics of gardening – as much sun as possible is essential to success. So, back to the drawing board for 2022 with the goal of a bountiful harvest.

Here is my timeline for a successful garden in 2022:

January 2022 – Start daydreaming about my new garden and peruse seed catalogs for new varieties and crops to try later this year. I absolutely love doing this – my farm girl roots are strong.

February 2022 – Make final seed selections and place an order – it’s important to do this early in the year since many companies are having high demand for product due to the pandemic. Purchase materials for the new garden – this includes new fence paneling, gate, and bird safe mesh (this will keep deer out since the fence is only going to be 4 ft. tall but it won’t entangle birds in the process).

• My 2022 garden selections from Territorial Seed Company based in Oregon (if you click on the name it will take you to the website for more information, I have no affiliation with the company, I just want to make my site easy access if you want to order the same variety)…
• Compass Green Beans – 65 days. Compact bush plants grow to 12″ tall but produce long, straight, thin beans relentlessly.
• Tom Thumb butterhead lettuce – 35-50 days. Mini butterhead lettuce that produces heads the size of a baseball and is ideal for salads or lettuce wraps.
• Simply salad city garden mix – 30-40 days. This is a blend of lettuce varieties that re-grow several times so you can enjoy salads for several months from a single planting. Yes please!
• Dragon’s Fire arugula – 45-55 days. Great for salads and crops are uniform for year round harvest.
• Brightest Brilliant Rainbow Quinoa – 90-120 days. Shades of burgundy, lime green, cream, orange, and yellow that reach maturity at 2-4 ft. I’m not sure if I will actually harvest this for consumption but I want to try it out just for fun – it looks beautiful (and we love quinoa)!
• Mini Love Watermelon – 70 days. This plant creates 7-9 lb. mini watermelons staying within a 36″ space and produces 6 watermelons from each plant. It wouldn’t be summer without watermelon!
• Little Snowpea White – 30 days. This plant grows to 40″ tall and provides bright green tender pods with pretty purple and white flowers.
• Rainbow Treasure Strawberries – this is a flowering ground cover with multi-hued white, pink, and deep rose blooms with plenty of delicious strawberries to enjoy. I love making strawberry jam, stay tuned for my Mom’s recipe in Summer 2022.

March 2022 – Prep the garden ground – remove grass and till the soil, my new garden will be 16×20. The next step is installing the new fence and letting our chickens and duck free range in the soil. The chickens will till the soil, control pests and help remove weeds and leave a little extra fertilizer behind (chicken manure must be aged before use in the garden). A soil test will be done to see if any extra nutrients need to be added – see my post Agronomy 101 if you want more information on this process. We will also be prepping the ground where the 2021 garden was – the plan is to make this into a native Pacific Northwest wildflower garden (see below photo). I am SO excited about this, I am praying for lots of beautiful flowers to make bouquets.

April 2022 – Based on the soil test results this is when I will add any extra nutrients if needed – ideally added nutrients should be in the soil ~ 1 month before planting. Start seeds inside using a heat pad & artificial light for 14-16 hours a day.

May/June 2022 – Based on weather and soil temperature transplant the seeds outside and watch them grow! I like to create a cheat sheet with approximate harvest dates. Maintain garden with watering and weeding. Start second round of seeds inside depending on plant date and weather.

July/August 2022 – Harvest and transplant seedlings as needed.

September 2022 – Usually harvest is over in mid to late September. The chickens and duck will enjoy a post-season visit to the garden.

October through December 2022 – Rest and recoup for 2023!