It seems like years since anything exciting has happened out in the dirt. Winter was harsh and killed off the weaker species, now only the strong survive.

Before the never ending battle between rain and frost began, I took some time to plan out how I was going to grow my veggies and herbs this year. How did I plan? By planting my spring bulbs of course! I know, it sounds funny but it’s true.

In late October, just when I was thinking about putting my garden to bed for the winter, I had an epifany about my spring bulbs. I was going to plant them in nice border rows at thje front of my garden, making a think border of color, but then realized what a pain it is to dig up bulbs each spring to prevent them from rotting…and wouldn’t it be brilliant to plant them in a way that I could water around them through the summer, but still have summer vegetation above them…

And that’s when I thought garden Tic Tac Toe. I planted my tulips, daffodils and some random hycinths like a tic tac toe board with plenty of space to plant herbs or leafy greens in each square. I covered the bulbs with soil, let it settle over the winter and now they’ve sprung up, creating perfect beds to plant useful things.

What has been planted: Rainbow chard, chives, Thai basil, mamouth basil, curry and Provence lavender. I’m still waiting to for my seedlings to show their little heads, but if half make it, I’ll consider this a success in kitchen gardening!