With the holidays a fading memory {or, in my case, something of a blur}, and winter’s chill starting to settle in, there’s only one thing to do: Start plotting and planning for spring!

Our fall/winter garden attempts were thriving, lush and green, and thoroughly enjoyed … by the deer. For the first time since we’ve been here {almost 2 1/2 years!}, the deer ransacked the garden. And they ate their way through in phases: first the broccoli and brussels sprouts, then (very reluctantly) the kale, and by now they’ve polished off the radish tops and nearly finished devouring the parsley. They also ate our landlord’s collards {like, a few hundred of them}, so apparently it was a hard season for finding “normal” deer food? We are hopeful that when spring and summer arrive, bringing other fresh green things, they will forget about our garden.

In the meantime, we’re planning for spring (and summer)! In just a few weeks it’ll be time to start tomato and pepper seeds, and peas can go directly into the garden. Potatoes will be ready to plant soon after, and it won’t be long before all the things will be ready to grow.

After a quick survey of our saved seeds, and debating what we want to grow this year, we placed an order with Baker Creek. We love them as a source of heirloom seeds, and they have cute mailers. See those adorable tiny Spoon tomatoes? I cannot wait to see how they turn out – I’m a big fan of teeny-tiny tomatoes on my salads (or tossed in olive oil with chopped cucumber and mozzarella).

Another part of spring planning is putting one of Mr’s Christmas presents to good use. This seed storage tin is the perfect size for holding seed packs and our marking tags. I love how compact and organized everything is, and it’s cute too!

Compact organization will actually be the theme of our seed-starting this year, but more on that in a future post.

Have you started planning for spring? What do you want to grow this summer? Or, if you don’t feel up to the growing, what are you looking forward to eating this summer? I’m personally very ready for fresh cucumbers {fingers crossed they grow better this year!} and picking tomatoes off the vine right before I eat them.