Planning for Sucessful Gardening/Canning Year
Its a cold and rainy day today in the PNW. Its a perfect time to think of your garden and start figuring out your canning/preservering for the year. What are some items on my to do list?
Go thru my seeds. Seems like a simple thing, but I will forget this part and then get duplicates of a bunch I already have. Check out your libraries and see if there is a seed bank or check if there will be a seed exchange in your community. As we are all trying to stretch our coins as far as they go, this is a great way to get new seeds and not break the bank. Having an idea of what you need beforehand makes it easier to stay focused.
Plan my garden. What do I have room for? What worked and what didn’t work from last year? What ways can I make my garden easier for me? Are there new beds to make? Do I need to do some maintenence on my current garden beds? Having a plan helps for a successful garden. I get tempted at garden centers and can easily overwhelm myself. Having a plan helps me to stay the course and be realistic. I am always working to make things easier for myself. Figuring out how much room I have or if there is a way to expand also helps. It keeps me from getting all the plants… when I don’t have an idea where they will go.
Check your garden. Take a look at what plants survived the winter. This can be hard to do until the weather gets better. There are plants you can check and see if they have new growth or they look like they will be coming back. We had a very mild winter in the PNW so some of my herbs are looking like they will pop back, my geraniums look like they are ready for spring and my blueberry bushes look like they had a good winter. This also helps remind you of what you already have before adding more.
Make a canning list. What is running low? What did you regret not making? I know I used more pie fillilng than I expected, so I definitely want to make more. There are a bunch of tomato recipes I want to make…. Ketchup, BBQ sauce, Pasta Sauce. Having a plan also helps if you run across a great deal on produce. Just because its not produce season doesn’t mean you won’t run across deals. Maybe discounted carrots and you need more canned carrots. Having a list will help you not to make more of something you have a bunch of and also will help to not miss out on deals.
Dry Mixes. Maybe your cantry is full with canning, but how about dry mixes? Pancake mix, Muffin Mix, Cornbread mix and even pasta mixes. There are some great Hamburger Helper dupes and Rice a roni dupes that you can make that are healthier. I have a very specific diet I need to adhere to, so making my own mixes helps me to keep them in check for myself. Salt is something especially I need to be careful of and its in EVERYTHING.
Do a check of your canning jars. Seems silly to take a tally, but this way you can find deals. Sometimes you can find a steal on marketplace, buy nothing or estate sales of old jars. Jars and lids have definitely increased in price. Being able to order them or find them when its not canning season helps to save some money. Lids can be discounted before they get the next batch or maybe you are interested in a new brand. Having the time to wait for shipping can save quite a bit.
Organizing and making lists can really help to have a successful gardening and preserving year. I hope these tips help. Happy Planning!