For the first time in over 20 years I’m not raising a garden this year.  Over the last three years Julie and I have been remodeling our house. A huge part of the remodel has focused on our kitchen.  Over the last few years we’ve had a temporary setup in the kitchen, but this year we totally have no kitchen. It just wouldn’t make sense to grow a garden with no way to cook our harvest.  So what am I doing instead?

First, and most obviously, I’m focusing on finishing the kitchen.  It has come a long way over the last few years as we went from the 1960s green, black, and yellow (why?) color scheme to a clean and bright white.  After multiple designs from various local companies we decided to go the DIY route with IKEA Sektion cabinets. We also had the wall between the living room and kitchen opened up and a door from the kitchen to a bedroom removed (again, why?).

Secondly, Julie and I have a busy summer planned.  Along with finishing up the kitchen, we’re also working on a number of other remodeling projects.  Another big project is the fireplace in the living room. The previous own covered up the existing fireplace with ugly brick veneer after a fire was caused by the old fireplace.  We plan on opening up the old fireplace to not only repair their undoubtedly shoddy cover up, but also use the opening to house a new gas log fireplace and create a field stone surround to match the exterior of the house.  Once we get that done we can finally finish the main living areas and make a huge step forward by buying furniture. We’ve been married five years and never owned a couch!

The third thing I plan on tackling is something that gets more to the geeky side of me.  I’m planning on running ethernet and coax cable throughout the house. As part of the kitchen remodel, I already installed the coax for a small TV in the kitchen.  You might be wondering why I’m installing something as outdated as coax, but we plan on using an outdoor antenna for TV. We both don’t watch that much TV other than the local news so OTA is perfect for us.  Plus, we get around 30 local channels with an antenna! Also, internet access in our area sadly isn’t fast enough to support streaming services reliably. The ethernet is a forward-looking installation that I’m also gearing toward home automation and security.  Getting the infrastructure in place now is a good plan. Look for blog posts on both of these topics in the future.

The fourth thing that I’m working on is replanning the overall layout of the garden.  For the last 20 some years I have grown the classic, victory-style garden. While that is good for some crops that I grow in larger quantities like corn and beans, it’s pretty inconvenient for smaller crops.  My goal is to eventually reduce the size of the victory garden and move many of the kitchen crops to raised beds and probably some straw bales closer to the house. I essentially want to create an easily accessible kitchen garden.  This summer gives me a good chance to step back and reconsider how we’re using the outdoor space.

Along those same lines, I’m also experimenting with the creation of a meadow garden on the western end of our property.  While it admittedly looks like a giant, overgrown hay field at the moment, I’m envisioning a place with trees, wildflowers, and winding paths.  I have no doubt that this is going to be a long-term project, but I had to start somewhere.

Finally, there’s some travelling that Julie and I need to do this summer.  In July, look forward to blog posts here and on Bob’s website as I travel to Cultivate.  I’ve been attending Short Course for over a decade now, and it is always interesting to see the latest developments in the horticultural industry.  A decade ago, as the nation slipped into the great recession, the future of our industry seemed uncertain. Our customer base was aging, and young people didn’t have the same interest in gardening as their parents.  It turns out that they were just late bloomers, partially stunted by the bear market. Now the outlook seems bright as a new generation learns to grow their own food and enjoy the beauty of nature around us. There’s also the added caveat of “going green” which I’m hoping solidifies the value and values of gardening to a whole new generation.