Garden Time

Well, my favorite time of year is here. Tomorrow is a day off of work for me and my plan is to garden! All day long. I have a significant amount of clean up to do: a winters worth of dog debris, blown around garbage, dead plant matter. Then I have two large planters and a compost bin to get D to make for me. And then comes the fun stuff! I've just been reading NatureScape Alberta again, and can't wait to get out there and design and plant food gardens for me and for the critters that live nearby.
This winter, inspired by advice on dgrin, I've been eating a diet much higher in vegetables (especially raw) than ever before. I've had mixed results in terms of weight loss, but in general I have felt much better, especially wrt joint pain.I read Michael Pollan The Omnivores Dilema, and quite enjoyed it. He describes things about industrial farming that I 'knew' about, but really didn't think hard about. He makes a very strong case for growing ones own veggies. I've read other stats that claim that eliminating meat from your diet would reduce your carbon footprint by 25% and that growing your own veg reduces it by 20%. Don't know if those things are cumulative, but I think its worth doing. And gardening is fun!
Garden seasoon is very short here. I usually get stuck waiting for the May long to plant, and then encounter delays. And have had pretty mediocre results gardening here, without the ability to water at will. This year, I am going to risk planting before the magic frost free date and hopefully will get good results. We intend to buy a couple rain barrels so that should help with the water problem (maybe we will have services next summer!)
This summer I have big plans for garden design: veg gardens, flower gardens, the beginnings of an outdoor portrait studio, and features to attract birds, bugs, butterflies and bigger species in to the yard. Photo subject matter! I'll try to diarize the progress here, through words and photos! Fun, fun, fun.