Garden Planning

I have the faintest tan line from the watch on my wrist… and it’s only mid-April. I can’t believe we’ve been so fortunate with this sunny weather. It still gets chilly, and it will still get cold, but it won’t last long. I think it’s officially time to go from garden daydreaming to planning mode… this post is full of pretty mood boards, vegetable garden plans and a few of my favorite tools that contribute to a very lovely time spent in your garden… letting your hands and feet and body get sun kissed and covered in soil.

One of our raised beds is already filled with growing edible flowers. I’m absolutely in love with beautiful cakes, loaves and salads topped flowers... Cucina Melissa creates the most beautiful, organic and whimsical things. I imagine serving these cakes on bright colored plates outside, on top of a gingham tablecloth from Heather Taylor Home, just as we begin to enjoy another glass of wine.

I placed my plant and seed order with Good Stead Farm the moment Sarah released the form. We’re waiting for the first sprouts of Mesclun Greens and Arugula to come up. Soon we’ll plant the rest: Mexican Sunflowers, yellow Carrots, Curly Green Kale, Romain, Spinach, Green and Red Lettuces, so many tomatoes and peppers, Cauliflower, and Calendula. I’ll also be planting Dahlias for the first time. Three different assortments will arrive within the next month or so - Old Rose, Fuschia and Dinnerplate. 😍😍😍

I’m looking forward to this summer and fall… I’ll be able to harvest from our own private little garden when baby girl is here. It’ll be easy, effortless, healthy… warm tomatoes and carrots and crunchy peppers. What a relief it will be to have these nourishing things right here.

Beyond our raised garden beds, I’m most excited to plant and pot little Santa Barbara Daisies on the back patio… my mom told me they were her mother’s favorite flower and I found seeds online. The Vanessa Bell yellow roses I ordered from David Austin should be here soon, and I transplanted some of my white roses into pots already. I can’t wait to pick up Gaura and I still think every garden/front porch/yard needs Agapanthus.

I’ve found beautiful shears that have stayed sharp so far, and a garden trug (or this trug) to collect flowers and my daily harvest. Any pot from Thompson + Hanson will make your front porch. A collection of these little scalloped pots from Home Depot would be so perfect indoors or out. Slate plant labels, plant tunnels and bean pole crooks from Detroit Garden Works remind me of an idyllically aged English garden.

I never get tired of looking at different landscapes and gardens and scenes of the outdoors. Miranda Brooks’ landscapes ooze with organic, yet sophisticated restraint. I imagine myself walking down one of the freshly manicured grass paths flanked by unrelenting grasses. A few of her landscapes below…

Scott Shrader is my favorite exterior/landscape designer from the west coast. I’m not sure there’s anything more perfect than these scenes…

Nick will sometimes say that I’m going to run away to California, and I think if this post tells you anything about me, it’s that. With an easy dress and sandals on every day, where you can grow your own luscious citrus. Insurmountable shades of grassy greens tinted by the orange shades of the warm sun. Twisted old vineyard trees…. I guess I’m daydreaming again. But like I’ve always thought, your most vivid dreams are your best inspiration and motivation… Why shouldn’t your life be exactly that? 😉