The Salem Garden is a Year Old? Really? Your Kidding Me!

WordPress sent me a message the other day to tell me that I’ve been blogging for a year. Seriously… one year? They must be kidding!

Lots of great things have happened since I started The Salem Garden and I didn’t really plan on any of them. You know that I turn everything into a list, so here’s what happened:

1.  I found out that blogging is fun, interesting and maybe a little bit addictive.

2. I also learned that blogging takes a lot of time and energy.

3. However, the time commitment decreased as I kept blogging.

4.  But, the time commitment then increased because I loved reading other blogs and learning about the craft.

5. I connected with friends, interesting people and gardeners from all over the world.

6. I also connected with friends, interesting people and gardeners from right here, in fun, new ways.

7. I learned a lot about gardening. This happens when you read gardening blogs, so keep reading!

8. I found my blogging voice.

9.  I got a wonderful paid position as an adaptive gardening specialist (I had never even heard of an adaptive gardening specialist). My first job in seventeen years has given me the gift of vision about what I’d like to do professionally in the future.

10.  My family did well with all of the above, almost all the time.

A year ago I had no idea or expectation about where this would go.  I knew that I had something to say or do but I didn’t know what it was or that it would be life-changing. I had spent many years raising my young children and enjoying every minute so I couldn’t  imagine doing anything else.  Thank you so much for reading, following, encouraging and sharing your thoughts with me.  You have all made the last year into an amazing journey!

I love sharing photos, so here are some of my favorites from the past year. Click on any image to view them as a slide show.

With lots of love and gratitude,

Michele at The Salem Garden

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Here Comes the Garden Plan!

One of my very favorite things about winter is thinking about the garden plan.  Yesterday I spent some time poking around the internet looking at planning websites and found this great service at Motherearthnews.com. For a thirty day free trial ($25/year after the thirty days),  you can design your space using lots of cool features.  The site uploads a plant list for your climate, then you can determine your square footage and add all of the beds, structures and plants that you’d like. Whenever your ready you can share it, publish it, view it on your phone and/or print it.  The tutorials that are available helped me to get started and before I knew it I had created this complete map of my kitchen garden.

Here is the link to the vegetable garden planner which I happened upon by simply googling “garden plan.”  Somehow it’s a little tricky to get there from the main Mother Earth News website.  Just a side note about the Mother Earth News web site;  that’s a wonderful resource too! There’s lots of great information about gardening, sustainable living and health. I could spend days just reading and gathering ideas there.   Here’s the link  to the plan above that Mother Earth News publishes on-line. You’ll see the plant list that comes with it just below the plan. I believe that Mother Earth even sends you e-mails telling when to plant things.

As I finish typing I can hear the ducks down in the pond for the first time this year.  Spring really is right around the corner!

If you create a garden plan, let me know, and I’ll share here on The Salem Garden!

Enjoy everything!

Michele

***Just so you know, this is not a paid endorsement, I have no connection to Mother Earth News, I just liked it  😉  ***