Looks like it may be a good one!

Sitting here looking out the window I can see that it looks like it is going to be a good day.  If the weather is good I am going to do some gardening.  I still have quite a bit to do to get some bits of the garden ready for planting.  As well as this, I still have quite a few seeds that I need to sow indoors so that I have some plants to plant out in a month or two.  So, I have plenty to do in the garden to keep me busy.

How do I decide what to plant?
I thought it might be a good idea to explain how I have decided which vegetables to grow.  Although I have a big garden and plenty of space to grow all sorts of vegetables, I want to make sure I get the most out of my growing space.  For that reason I made a list of the vegetables that we eat the most in our house.  I then put a star beside the items that are the most expensive, put a star beside those that are easy to grow and put a star beside those that take up the least space in the garden.  Any vegetables with two or three stars beside them I will definitely grow.  Those with one or no stars I'll think a bit more about whether or not to grow them - mostly this will boil down to space.

For example, I will definitely be growing green beans because we eat a lot of green beans in our house, they are expensive and easy to grow.  They do take up more space than some other items, but one plant will give a lot of beans.  Green beans are also good as they are relatively easy to freeze and store for use later in the year.  Also, beans are nitrogen fixing plants which means that they put nitrogen back into the soil when they are growing.  For this reason it is good to grow them in beds that I will be putting kale, spinach etc into the following year as these vegetables require a lot of nitrogen to grow.  So growing green beans has additional benefits as well as saving money!

This year I am planning on growing - kale, green beans, sugar snap peas, lettuce (various types), broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber, onions - red and white, green beans, beetroot, parsnip, spinach, strawberries, blueberries, scallions (spring onions), radishes and one courgette plant.