Our Plan For The Garden in 2021

In 2021, We’re Changing Some Things In The Garden

We don’t need to talk about how crazy the world has felt lately, everybody knows.  We’re living in it.  But living in it has changed some of our priorities and helped to show us what actually matters and what we actually care about.  In 2021 we’re changing how we approach the garden based on these things that we’ve learned about ourselves and our goals so that we can have a more successful, productive garden going forward.

In the past, I’ve dabbled in lots of things.  I’ve grown every different plant you can imagine, dabbling in flowers, vegetables, and herbs, growing anything that looked interesting at the moment.  We planted a few seeds each of dozens of varieties, and often had limited success, but found joy in the process.  An abundant harvest was a bonus but not a necessity.

Learning From The Past

In ways, I’m burned out on gardening.  Our garden is bigger than ever before, and for the last two or three years, we’ve been testing the waters with various crops grown for profit.  Last year, we sold some of our flowers at a small farmers market nearby and trialed growing CBD hemp, along with catnip. 

Last year's garden left us a bit deflated for a variety of reasons.  We were in the middle of a drought (and never did get any irrigation installed), deer ate an entire patch of sunflowers (literally, thousands of sunflowers). Twice. And we live in a small community that has a lack of interest in local cut flowers.  At least at a price that would make them profitable.  We sold some CBD to friends and neighbors, but we were unable to make any connections to wholesale the product as the green rush flooded the market here in Vermont making this a dead-end endeavor as well.  That, however, wasn’t a huge disappointment- the CBD was merely an experiment and we had a feeling the bubble was going to burst quickly.  We were able to experiment without risking a whole lot more than our time.  Many people lost thousands of dollars on this trend.  

This year, we’re no longer selling flowers; it just wasn’t important to us, and we couldn’t make it work.  We weren’t putting in the necessary effort we needed to in order for it to work, and honestly, it didn’t align with our goals or the needs of our lifestyle.   

Instead, we’re focusing on food production.  We want to be able to grow more of our own food. We value eating locally grown, sustainable food, but that can get expensive (and rightly so).  So we’re going to grow as much of it as we can ourselves; we also want to be able to give some away to our close friends and family.  We’ll still experiment with a select one or two crops that we think have the potential to be profitable on a larger scale.    

Our Plan for Simplifying

This year we are simplifying the garden.   Growing fewer varieties, but more of each thing.  If we only eat something once or twice a year, I’m not going to grow it.  As much as I would love to grow brussels sprouts, it’s really not worth it for us right now; they’re never particularly successful, and they’re not a favorite food of ours.  Green beans, on the other hand, we eat all the time.  Canned green beans may be cheap, but they can’t compare to green beans that you picked and froze yourself straight out of the garden.  So we’ll grow an entire row of beans, and we’ll make them pole beans to get the maximum productivity and ease of picking.

Tomatoes are another thing we’re simplifying.  I love eating tomatoes fresh, and we can a bunch for the winter.  But the reality is one or two plants will suffice for fresh eating.  So I will only plant a couple of cherry tomatoes and slicers, one or two of each (two is good insurance) and then the rest will be paste tomatoes for canning.  

In the past, we’ve been spread too thin on too many things.  This year, we’re focusing our efforts on those things that we know we love, and can be successful.  We’re not going to waste our precious time and energy on crops that will likely fail, or at best be a disappointment.  

Planning For The Future

This year a major focus of ours is taking the time and spending the money to invest in perennials.  Annuals (tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, etc) are great, but perennials are even better.  Planting an apple tree might mean more work and money invested upfront, but in a few years, it will give so much more than an annual. This year we’re spending the money to plant some perennial trees and bushes that we’ve been putting off (mostly due to the upfront cost); fruit trees, a raspberry patch, grapes, and several other things.  

We’re also investing in goats for meat and to keep some areas of our land clear.  These are significant investments, but the perennials will provide us with ‘easier’ food down the road, from an annual labor perspective, which is also easier on the land than traditional gardening (tilling and replanting annuals every year).

Make The Garden Better Every Year

Every year, we try to make the garden a little bit better.  A little more tailored to “us”, a little easier to take care of, and a little more productive.  It might not feel like you’re making much progress each year.  But over the course of 5 years or a decade, the progress can be amazing. 

The garden will be different this year.  By dropping production for the market and focusing on personal food for the freezer, we’re making massive changes in what we’re growing and why.   And that's ok. Nobody is holding us to gardening a certain way, a certain size, or to growing certain crops. It’s a hobby that gives us the freedom to do whatever we want to do, so we’re planning to do just that.   What are you going to do this year to improve your garden?