Ready, set, wait!

It's always a great time to plan for future garden areas. The more time you give yourself to prepare, the less work you will do. The most expensive/most labor intensive way to proceed is to get really excited in the spring and decide you must put a garden in. Facebook gardening groups are full of people asking for advice on how to do just this. Don't be those people.

Be the person who designs at least a year ahead of time, and starts preparing by gathering materials to build soil, suppress weeds, hold soil in place, provide support for vines, and make fences. Find out what waste products are available in your area. Nature has no waste products while humans have lots, often highly valuable to someone who knows how to use them.

I use cardboard from the recycling center, wood chips from my neighbor who runs a tree service, and scrap lumber from a friend who has a sawmill. What's available will vary in different areas. Leaves or grass clippings are often there for the taking. Salvage bricks or pavers many times go begging. Craig's List and Facebook marketplace can be gold mines. So start hording. You know you want to.

Gardening books will try to tell you the best way to do something. What they are really telling you is the author's favorite way, or the quickest way, which usually means an expensive trip to the garden center. What's best for you will depend in large part on what free stuff you can find.

Taking your time means that you will spend much less money to get your growing project up and producing. It has the added benefit of allowing time for observation and reflection. While you're searching out valuable salvage items, spend time in your future garden area, even if it's only grass or dirt. Watch sun and weather patterns, and think deeply about your goals. Read about low input growing. The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka describing his do-nothing approach is a great book to start with.

Be careful. Once you start learning about different methods and why you don't have to follow all the rules and conventions, new ways of thinking can seep into other areas of your life. Anything could happen.