Winter finally arrived this week. Today we woke up to a brisk five degrees, a stark difference to last Monday’s record high of 67 degrees with high winds. Grassland fires burned structures and acreage throughout Northcentral Montana, which is unheard of in December. I’m so over it. After a year of drought and fire, this is the time for addressing problems and making plans for the New Year.

Identifying struggles

The first step in figuring out how to create a more productive year is to name the challenges. Then it’s a matter of determining a way to correct them. For years our biggest problem was the deer. It was an ongoing battle erecting seasonal barriers or utilizing repellents to save flowers and garden crops. 

That became a non-issue when we bit the bullet and built a fence around the garden, but being confined in this particular space created other challenges. 

Too much shade

I absolutely love lilacs, but the ones at the fence are far too tall. The problem is they are our neighbor’s bushes. While I can cut whatever spills over, I can’t lop off five feet. This means that my space in the garden that receives enough light is reduced. I think the best way to make the most of it is to plant sun-loving veggies in the sunlight. 

I already planted garlic in a sunny row close to the patio. That should have plenty of sunlight and will be easy to harvest. In the space behind it, my plan is to plant pumpkins. With the fence protecting everything, we can finally grow them and know that we’ll harvest them. (The deer used to wait until they were perfect to stomp and eat them.) The main plant will be in the sunshine, allowing it to spread where needed. Even with the garlic in the front, when I harvest it in July, the pumpkin will grow into that space.

Grasshopper invasion

Last year was our second year of grasshoppers at biblical portions. While l I did spread Nosema locustae once in the spring, I don’t think I put down enough. Fingers crossed that we don’t have the supply chain issues this year.  I plan on purchasing at least 5 pounds to cover more area, as well as stagger the applications. Every time I see an half-inch long grasshopper, I’ll be out there will my spreader. 

Watering issues

Keeping enough water on the garden is always an issue in our arid climate. It was definitely a little tougher this year because of our hot and hazy conditions with little to no rain throughout the summer. Particularly because pumpkins need a fair amount of water, we will re-install the drip system. Plus, the nice thing is I can put it on a timer if we need to go anywhere. And going with my renewed optimism, I’m planning on that being a thing this year. 

Drip Tape for Vegetable Garden Watering

Addressing weed woes

Every gardener deals with weeds on a certain level. But for this year, I would really like to concentrate on growing more in raised beds. I’ll let the pumpkins cover a good hunk of the main garden, using bark chips as a deep mulch to reduce the weed pressure and help retain that precious moisture. But for our daily veggies, I really want to add more raised beds along the perimeter of the patio. This includes growing potatoes in some of the gardening bags. They work very well and are super easy to harvest. 

Revamping raspberries

Our beloved ‘Polana’ raspberries have decreased in production over the past couple years, and I think they just need to be moved. While I hope to tackle that project this fall, it didn’t happen. So that will be one of the first things that I do in the spring. My plan is to move them to a completely different area with a lot more sunshine. I will have to contend with deer, but we will figure it out to give them a chance to produce more raspberries for us.

The garden will look very different next year, but I’m excited about the possibilities. Now I just need to decide what kind of pumpkins we will grow. Should it be the ‘Big Mac’ in an attempt to raise a bohemoth? Or should I stick with a more reasonable jack-o-lantern type? We’ll see what my mood is as more seed catalogs arrive!