As I write this, it’s pouring down rain outside. And it’s WARM. I’m still salty about the fact that it’s January and we have daytime temperatures in the 70s. I really want some winter weather before winter is over.
But it is mid-January. Seed catalogs have been flooding the mailbox since before Thanksgiving, and I’ve finally reached the point where I can’t just admire the pretty pictures anymore. It’s time to actually make a plan. What better time to do it than a rainy, grey Saturday?
Naturally I spread everything out on the breakfast table to sort through my collection. And naturally, Callie decided this was the perfect moment to supervise.
Except Callie doesn’t just supervise. She lies down on the seed packets. Multiple times. I remove her; she comes back. Apparently she’s discovered that seed packets make a delightful rattling noise, which means they’re clearly cat toys, not garden planning materials.
Even with having to cat-wrangle, there’s something deeply satisfying about spreading out all your seed packets and catalogs in the dead of winter. Outside it’s icky and grey and pouring down rain, but here on the table is the promise of tomatoes and zucchini and flowers in every color. It’s hope, cataloged and organized into neat little piles. Until a torbie cat decides otherwise.
What I’m Planting (So Far):
- Tomatoes – paste, slicing, and cherry varieties
- Tomatillos – for green sauce
- Peppers – jalapeños, serranos, and seeds for our favorite peppers from Brazil
- Cucumbers – the mini Persian variety
- Squash and zucchini – because apparently I never learn
- Peas – because fresh garden peas are worth it
- Radishes and carrots – fast crops between slower-growing plants
- Lettuce – lots of mini and little gem varieties
- Herbs – Dill, catmint, regular mint, basil, borage – to start
I haven’t even started picking out all the flowers, but I’ve already got packets of gomphrena, nasturtium, sweet william, black-eyed susan, calendula, daisies, yarrow, and a whole 1/4 lb bag of Texas bluebonnet seeds that I’m planning to scatter somewhat indiscriminately across the sunny area behind the beds and under the hammock to see if I can create my own little Texas spring field.
Reality Check
I know I’m being wildly ambitious. I know that by July I’ll be drowning in zucchini and wondering why I planted three varieties. I know that some seeds will fail, some plants will bolt, and Callie will probably lie down on multiple plants while she’s supervising.
I’ve got plans to convert the back wall of the Barn into a complete seed starting station—multiple levels of wire shelving, LED grow lights, heat mats, the works. I’ll be doing a detailed post in mid-February about the full setup and the updates to the Barn, including all the Epic Gardening supplies I’m using (their seed starting equipment is genuinely great), but for now, I’m just planning and dreaming.
I also know I need to rebuild the deer fence before any of this happens, or the deer will eat everything before I even get a harvest. (That’s another post.)
But that’s the magic of January garden planning. Right now, everything is possible. The tomatoes are all perfect, the flowers bloom continuously, and the watering system never breaks or fails. The reality will be messier, sweatier, and involve way more bugs than I’m currently imagining. But it will also be beautiful. A garden full of flowers and vegetables growing together, with bees and butterflies visiting constantly? That sounds worth the effort.
In the meantime, I’ll keep dreaming over seed packets and planning a garden that’s both productive and beautiful.
And trying to keep Callie from treating my organized piles like her personal toy collection.
She’s not very good at helping.
Are you planning a garden this year? What are you growing? Have you tried intensive planting or companion planting? Drop a comment—I’d love to hear what works (and what doesn’t) in your garden!