Things Are Growing In the Garden!

Despite the below-freezing temperatures, there's been some action in my garden. Despite the fact that I got it in the ground appallingly late, my garlic has sprouted! What a joy to see tender green shoots emerging in the middle of winter. In the middle of an ice storm, at that!

And speaking of tender green...My onions seeds are germinating! I started my onion, shallot, and German chamomile seeds this weekend, and some of the onion seeds have already lost their hard seed-coat. Hopefully there will be some green shoots by next week.

I've got an ambitious garden planned this summer, but hopefully it will not be all-consuming. In his book, Square Foot Gardening, Mel Bartholomew promises less work and more harvest. Sounds like a gimmick, I know, but his book has been a best-seller since its publication. Also, before retiring to full-time gardening, Mr. Bartholomew was an--get this!--"efficiency expert".  I love his book. It's full of lots of information. He tells you how to build or get what you need at minimal cost (which is so helpful!), and gives you several options, while telling you which method has given him the most success.

I'm planning a garden of four 4' x 4' squares. This is the minimum we will need to meet our family of six's vegetable needs. I've got lots of things planned, including:

tomatoes (a few varieties)
eggplants (three varieties)
peppers (two varieties)
lots of different greens
radishes
carrots
onions
peas
beans (pole only)
squash (both summer and winter!)
watermelon
and lots of herbs (but mostly in containers)
Nasturtium and marigolds

Mr. Bartholomew promises that you can grow even heavy winter squash and watermelon vertically, so I'm giving it a shot. Both of my varieties, an acorn squash "Table Queen" and an ice-box watermelon, shouldn't be too heavy.

I've also got strawberries that will grow in one of those bags....Off the ground! Hopefully, this will deter pests. And in a new raised bed will be two dwarf blueberry bushes.
I plan on doing lots of succession planting, companion plantings, and inter-planting for the biggest harvest. I've already got an exact planting schedule typed out so I know what to plant each week. We'll see how I do! My biggest fear is just becoming totally over whelmed.