I am so happy that we here in California are finally getting a little bit of rain! We are so behind on our water right now it is crazy. I feel so bad for the farmers out here. I live here in Central California where a lot of the area is covered in fruit trees. It is so normal for us to watch the trees and know what time of year it is by the blooms. Our weather has been so strange that here in January, the fruit trees have the first signs of Spring and the blooms are coming out. Kinda scary. If we get some bad weather now, the farmers could lose a lot of there fruit (blooms) before Spring even gets going.

Well this is one of my favorite times of year. Getting ready and planning for my Spring and Summer garden! I have a couple friends at my Church group that have decided to do a seed exchange this year. I wrote up a whole list of all my seeds so we can decide what we want to swamp. That is so exciting for me. I’m thinking because of the lack of rain the prices of veggies this year is going to go through the roof. So, I am planning on planting anything we eat on a regular basis.  My hubby and I are changing our garden cover this year. trying to keep the chickens (and the mice) out is priority this year. I will blog on our new design as soon as it’s finished.

My hubby built me this beautiful garden a couple years ago.  It is beautiful but, not as functional as a rectangle bed, so I really have to do some planning to get things to fit. We also built a rectangle box last summer and it helped with the some of the extra space we needed to grow. We are going to change the cover on it too. The chickens have figured out that if the all get on the top of the chicken wire cage at the same time, that it dips down and then they can eat the tops off all the veggies. You’d be surprised how smart these chickens actually are.

Well I have a lot of work ahead of me. But, I guess you really can’t call it work if you do it for fun, right? I know so many people that hate doing yard work. It is the one thing that I actually LOVE to do. Even pulling weeds. It is so relaxing and gives you so much time to just work and think in peace. My hubby does yard work with his head phones on blasting Pantera and other horribly loud and crazy bands, lol. That would make me want to pull my hair out. Thank goodness I can’t hear it! Plus, being out in the warm sun and listening to nature at its best. Doesn’t get much better!

So, this year I am going to put my seeds in my little green house out in the garage. I have always bought seedlings along with growing my own seeds, but this year, I want to do all seeds. Cross your fingers for me! I don’t have the best green thumb but it is getting better.

Tomatoes, cilantro, onions, green beans, bell peppers (I never have good luck with), snap peas, grape tomatoes, jalapenos, serranos, lettuce, spinach, asparagus, zucchini (my fav), cucumbers, strawberries, corn (non GMO for sure) carrots….what else? I think I need more room! Come on Texas land! Hurry up!!!!!!

Do you have plans for your gardens? Ugh…. and what do you do for those nasty aphids? Last year I tried soapy water but that didn’t work. Then I tried Neem oil and that didn’t help much either. This year I think I will try to plant some Marigolds in between the veggies to see if that helps. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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