Garden Planning

32*, feels like 26*, 66% humidity, W 7 mph wind, cloudy

My main goals for next years garden is going to be something like this:

1) REALLY try to produce as much food from the garden as possible this year.
2)Eat as much as I grow or put up extra for the winter.
3)Add for future garden productivity (bushes, trees, more garden beds)
4) Rabbits for food and chickens for eggs--they add manure too.

I've estimated how many rows and plants I will need next year for each vegetable we typically eat. Now I've got to decide how I'll fit it all in my small yard. I can do succession plantings for some things like lettuce, beans and corn so I can squeeze more productivity out of the beds if I plan it carefully. And with the corn, I can use the same growing space at the same time for beans and winter squash to help with the space crunch.

Next, before the snow flies, I need to get out the measuring tape and start actually measuring my yard. I've NEVER done that. I really have no idea exactly how much space I have available! I need to measure my beds I have now, and the ones I plan on having next year.

I went through my seed inventory and need to order the following types of seeds: eggplant (I like small ones), watermelon, and giant pumpkin. That's the smallest seed order I think I've ever needed! Of course, I'm also going to be spending $$$ on other things in the garden like those fruit trees I keep talkin' about , a food mill for turning garden goodness into winter garden goodness, a kitchen seed sprouter, sprouting seeds, and garden's alive fertilizers and squash vine borer killer (organic of course) for the giant pumpkin patch. So all in all, I'll STILL be spending too much!

Yesterday, my pumpkin butter came out FABULOUS! Everyone who's tasted it has loved it. So here is the recipe if you have some spare pumpkins around that need to be used up.

10 cups fresh pureed pumpkin
2 cups sugar
2 cups light brown sugar
2/3 cups apple cider (but if I were canning it for storage I'd use lemon juice instead)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Combine all ingredients into a large saucepan on the stove and turn it on low, stir every once in a while for about 4 hours until it's the consistency of a thick apple sauce. It makes 4 1/2 pints and it's worth the time. YUMMY!

Tomorrow, I'll talk about something else you can make with pumpkins that is surprisingly delicious and something I've never even heard of before until today thanks to a co-worker.