First

Welcome to this journal; a virtual garden calendar with details, instructions, photos, comments, and reflections to keep me on track as well as others, that will hopefully serve to motivate and inspire.

I am starting this in July--an unreasonable date to start a calendar, when my first tomatoes are nearing maturity on plants that stand three feet tall in their cheap metal cages; a day after I picked my first yellow squash; and as sugar snap pea plants are slowing down fruit production while the whole stand is starting to desiccate from the ground up...

This is the second year of our garden--our backyard farmstead--and while I've learned a lot from Year One's attempt, this season is still riddled with mistakes and small misfortunes as well as modest successes, notable harvests, and huge potential.

I'll spend the rest of this year following the life of our garden as well as offering links to pertinent resources about specific plants, methods, tools, philosophies, etc. as we continue to refine our techniques and expand our gardens as much as our knowledge and imagination.
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Organization.
I am keen on organization. In the garden, in the garage, and on my blogs. For that reason I will try to be meticulous about how this journal is structured. Where a plant is mentioned, I intend on giving that post a label that identifies the plant(s) in question. At the same time, an archive will be arranged by year, then month, so we can follow the calendar's linear path across the seasons, when that is appropriate. Word?
Word.
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Participation.
Please, please, please! feel free to get involved in this. I welcome all advice, questions, constructive criticism, and thoughts regarding the topics at hand.
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Amendments, editing, and other house-keeping.
While I appreciate the integrity in abstaining from post-publishing edits, especially those without notice, I anticipate that I will be amending many posts over time. In fact, I've edited this post numerous times. In most cases, I'll try to include a note if I amend something or make an update painfully clear. For the most part, in this journal, I am keeping away from politics, current events, controversial opinions, and my obsession over bikes--those will be banished to my other blog.
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Anyways, I am excited about embarking on this journey through the garden and discovering where it leads. - David