Springing into the New Year

As this year draws to a close a new year is coming and that also means a new year of growing plants!

If you don't end up doing any planting over the winter, then it's a good idea to plan what you want to do for the upcoming spring! Some plants like peas do well in the cold so it's good to start early on plants like peas.

This is a "sketched-out" plan for this spring and summer! Thanks to Adam Simkins, we have new beds to plant in. I'm looking forward to working with these new beds!

Another interesting thing I came across researching what plants to plant is companion planting. This simply is growing two plants that benefit(pest prevention, providing shade, providing support and nutrients) one or both plants. It can be an efficient way to use space as well!

As certain plants share the same needs such as nutrients, water, and sun which makes them more efficient! Companion planting isn't necessarily scientific but it can help you utilize the space more efficiently. You can also flowers to attract pollinators and fruit trees to provide shade. It just comes down to planning!

On the note of flowers and pollinators, lavender is a great plant for gardens. It is low maintenance, comes back every year, and keeps the pests away while attracting beneficial pollinators. The school garden unfortunately has lost its lavender(we assume someone pulled it out TT). I plan to plant some new lavender and also reuse the wheelbarrow passed down from the founding gardeners as a flower planter!

Many online forums can be found based on companion planting guides and Permaculture has one of the most in-depth charts I've seen: https://www.permaculturenews.org/2010/07/30/companion-planting-guide/