Gardening is so much fun and so therapeutic. I’ve had several gardens in the past. Some very large gardens, some very small. Last year was a container herb garden only; that really thrived. My husband was the main keeper of the garden, and I cooked with the herbs. This year, I want to garden, and cook with the bounty.

The idea is to start small, to not overwhelm myself with so much work, like I did a few years ago. I threw my back out a few summers ago from working in the garden (we had a full garden in the ground). So I want to do container gardening again with herbs and a few vegetables, and some flowers.

I love starting plants from seed, so that is what I am going to try. Starting plants from seed is pretty hard, because they can get spindley, but it can be done. I want to invest in a little green house I have eyed for about 15 years now, and put the plants I start from seed in there. I think it will also help hold the water in better so they don’t dry out so easy. When you start plants from seed, you have to really keep watering them. Well , I spritz them, often, because you could drown the seeds if you just dump water in there. I usually keep a spray bottle for when I first plant the seeds until they start to really grow. Even when they sprout, spritz them with a spray bottle so you drown them. They are very fragile when they first come up. But getting them direct sunlight helps to make their stems stronger and less spindley.

When you are planning your spring garden, you want to write down the categories of items you want to grow, and then build from there. So here is mine:

Herbs:

parsley
cilantro
chives
oregano
thyme
lavendar
rosemary

Vegetables:

peppers
onions

Flowers:

hydrangeas(these are my favorite)
marigolds(to keep bugs away)
cosmos
zinnias
mother of millions
forget me not
wildflowers