Garden Plant List for 2023

I'm trying SOOO hard not to be too ambitious in my garden planning!

So instead of immediately buying a bunch of plants, and starting a ton of seeds, let's begin with an inventory of the existing edible plants in my yard.

FOOD in My Garden / Yard:

Asparagus - came back from last year

Broccoli
started from seed Jan 9

Hazelnut (tree)

Lemon balm - came back from last year

Marshmallow - came back from last year

Mints - chocolate, lemon, sweet berry cream
delivered Apr 13

Mulberry (bush)

Pecan (tree)

Persimmon (tree)

Sage - came back from last year

Strawberries - came back from last year

Sunchokes - came back from last year

Tomatoes - white, black, red
delivered Apr 13, planted Apr 16

Baby Trees and Shrubs:

We also just received a large donation of native trees and bushes, some of which are food-bearing!

Elderberry (bush)

Plum (tree)

Sumac (bush)

The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen
by Sean Sherman
"Sumac Lemonade," p.163

Things I Want to Plant:

Borage (edible flowers)
delivered Apr 27

Dill
delivered Apr 27

Fennel

Onions

Parsley

Potatoes
planted Apr 26

Pumpkins

Radishes

Rutabaga

Sunflowers

Notes on Companion Plants:

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening
by Louise Riotte

Section One

Tomatoes dislike potatoes and fennel, so those plants need to go in section 1 of the garden.

Fennel will go where it went last year in section 1, and hopefully it will reseed this time.

Broccoli grows well with onions and potatoes but should be kept away from tomatoes and strawberries. It also needs to go in section 1.

Rutabaga grows well by onions. I can put the broccoli and rutabaga down the lefthand side of section 1, with the onions in between. Sage is also protective to brassicas, so I will leave it in section 1.

Section Two

Tomatoes are compatible with parsley. "Parsley planted with asparagus gives added vigor to both," says Louise Riotte. So I will put the parsley in section 2, between the asparagus and the tomatoes!

I also want to plant paper money plant (also called honesty or lunaria... and the only plant on this list that is not edible) along the shed wall. It will like the partial shade.

And I'm going to move the marshmallow into the low wet part of the pollinator garden, where it'll be happier (our most marshy spot) and put rhubarb in that corner of section 2 instead. The rhubarb will be planted in the fall.

Containers

Radishes will go in a large pot, so they are easier to find and harvest. They should be sowed with squash "to repel the striped cucumber beetle" so I can put them beside the pumpkin plant, which I will put in the center aisle of section 1 where it has lots of room to spread. For the past two years, we've tried to have our pumpkins on the Mulch Mountain (where they would also have room to spread), but it has been too easy for animals to nibble them there. The only pumpkin we ever successfully grew was in the fenced garden!
Note: Lamb's ear aids pumpkin, so planting it in section 1 will work perfectly!

The three mints need to be in pots as well, to prevent them from spreading. I like the idea of a Sensory Garden for the children, and pots would be easiest to arrange in a nice design. I can dig up the lemon balm and pot it.

Note: Louise Riotte also says that mints are strengthened in the vicinity of stinging nettles, so the best place for a Sensory Garden would be the righthand side of the old Rose Garden, which we were going to make a Peace Garden. This could be a lovely place for children to go when they need to calm down, and they can pick the mint leaves and crush and smell them.

Pollinator Garden

Let's try dill again there!

Borage and sunflowers are pollinator plants too.

Pallet Compost Bins

Sunchokes spread so they get one of the pallet compost bins (which the girls helped me build back in 2015). We do not use all three of them, so one can be compost and the other two can be for planting.

Potatoes are easier to dig out of straw so they get the other pallet compost bin, filled with straw.

Thank you, Natalie and Leah, for your hard work!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!