It’s been a cold, snowy, wet start to spring around here. But it’s officially spring now and as the weather slowly warms up (and then inevitably turns hot) I’ve got big plans for our garden this year. Audacious plans, even. In fact, there’s a very real chance I’m going way overboard and setting myself up for epic failure. But if it works? It’s going to be completely magical. And I can’t wait to get started. So, for anyone interested, here are our plans for our zone 7b garden this season.
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Interplanting Herbs, Flowers, And Vegetables
I remember my mom always planted marigolds around her garden to deter pests. But the more I’ve learned about the benefits of interplanting in the garden, the more I realized that marigolds are just the beginning.
This year, I’m planning to add loads of different herbs and flowers throughout my garden to increase biodiversity. By increasing the biodiversity, I’m hoping to attract both pollinators and predatory insects into my garden to help pollinate my plants and keep any pest problems in check. In theory, this should help my garden maintain a healthy balance of insects, pollinators, and nutrients so that it requires less coddling from me.
I’ll be adding dill to attract parasitic wasps. More chamomile to attract ladybugs. Nasturtium, which are supposed to work as trap crops for aphids and squash bugs. And plenty of bee balm and yarrow to attract more pollinators.
The best part is all of these beneficial plants are also edible. So I’ll be able to benefit the garden while also adding to my harvest.
Planting More Herbs
We had raspberry plants around the perimeter of our backyard that, I admit, I never properly maintained and had grown to the point of becoming more weed than anything else. So last summer, I ripped all of the old raspberry bushes out and plan to plant even more herbs in these beds.
We have espalier apple and cherry trees on these fences and I think pulling out the raspberries will help them get more of the sunlight they need to thrive. And with this change, my “herb garden” will grow exponentially. I’m so excited to start growing some of the herbs I use the most myself. It doesn’t get any fresher than harvesting from your own yard.
A few of the new herbs I’m most excited about adding this year are mugwort, California poppy, calendula, feverfew, horehound, comfrey, valerian, elecampane, and anise hyssop.
Expanding Our Front Flower Bed
To be honest, we’re pretty sick of grass. It’s a water-sucking monoculture that, for the most part, doesn’t give much back to the environment. So, much like in our backyard, we’re planning to remove most of the grass in phases and start planting a combination of native flowers for the pollinators, herbs because I can’t get enough space, and ornamental flowers for the sheer beauty of them.
This is the biggest of our yard projects and will likely take a couple seasons (at least) to complete. But it will be a great way to add more biodiversity and beauty to our yard.
I’m well aware that this is going to be so much more work than I’m anticipating. And I’m already anticipating a LOT of work. But I’m hoping it’s not insurmountable. Many of the plants we’ve chosen are perennials, so it should be an investment that pays us back for years to come.
So fingers crossed we’ll make some progress toward creating the magical garden of my dreams. Only time will tell!
