What to Plant in Early Spring

Be the envy of all your neighbors and learn what vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers to plant now so your spring garden will thrive.

It's no secret that Covid and social distancing has forced all of us to be a little more introspective and as a result spending more time at home--specifically in our backyards, weather permitting. So when spring hit last year, we really found comfort in getting our hands dirty and reconnecting with mother nature. There's something about getting lost in the simplicity and privilege of growing your own food. It became our form of therapy and a way to cope with the "uncontrollables" around us. We learned a lot last spring of what to do (planting tomatoes closely together does yield a higher crop) and what not to do (make sure to put up a garden fence before your chickens help themselves to your veggies!).

So as we began to plot out our spring 2021 garden, we're going into it with a sense of joy that we've never had before. We're not as afraid to take some risks (hello new fresh cut flower garden) and make mistakes along the way because we have so much fun playing in the backyard.

First, we kept it simple and put a pen to paper to make our garden list.

Spring Garden Planning

This year we're going to do:

• 2 Large Raised Garden Beds

• 1 Small Herb Raised Garden Bed

• 1 Pole Bean Trellis with t-posts (like we did last year)

• 1 Cucumber Bean Trellis with t-posts

We've learned that we really want to do a fresh cut flower garden. The idea of walking into the backyard and snipping our favorite blooms to admire indoors sounds so lovely. We'll be growing these all from seeds so if it's it a total flop, it won't be too much invested. In fact, most of our veggies will be from seeds that we'll start indoors soon. Check out our blog post about starting your seeds indoors and when you need to transplant outdoors.

You'll notice on our list we have three different types of tomatoes we'll be growing. Being in the deep south, the tomatoes thrive throughout the hot summer days and soak up all of the full sun without completely withering like some plants. Last summer, our tomatoes went crazy and we shared our favorite tomato pie recipe.

Plant List:

• Vine Tomatoes

• Bush Variety Tomatoes

• Grape Tomatoes

• Banana Peppers

• Green Bell Peppers

• Crook Neck Squash

• Basil/Lima Beans

• Pole Beans

• Cucumbers

• Okra

• Assorted Greens

Herb List:

• Rosemary

• Mint

• Thai Basil

• Parsley

• Oregano

Below are a few snaps from our garden last year. Stay tuned to see how this year goes!