Time to order seeds for the spring. A good thing to do on a stormy winter day. But, what to order?

No bulbs or corms for flowers this year. I know that there were quite a few lilies already here, and I planted a few perennials I brought from the farm, but I should figure out what is already here before I add.

But what is the plan after that for gardens and containers? Previous owners did not have a vegetable garden. I have a place mapped out where I will put in raised beds. These will be much smaller than the garden I had, but enough for the two us. But what to do with the rest of the large garden areas?

The people who designed these gardens laid landscape fabric over the clay and covered it with bark mulch. It's kinda pretty, but also barren. It would have lessened the weeding at one time, but wild asters are finding the places where the mulch is breaking down. Other plants are spreading where the fabric is getting old.

There is a natural area on one side where spruce and ash trees grow together. There is a thick leaf cover and underbrush. But in the middle of the lawn are two groups of ash trees surrounded by rock where fabric and mulch make a bare area. The rocks keep the grass from intruding, but where deciduous trees grow naturally, there would be green. I have started to consider ripping up the fabric and amending the soil around these trees to plant green.

In the middle of the one clump of ash trees is the drain from the eavestrough and maybe the sump pump. I wouldn't want to put things we'd eat there. But maybe the sunflower seeds I saved from last fall could grow there. Birds would appreciate that. The other area could be transformed for coriander and dill.

Two other barren areas exist, one right at the shore and the other just above it on the other side of a path. The paths are fine, covered with rock, though they will need weeding where perennial groundcover has spread from the garden. In a few places, I cut through the fabric in those two areas, dug in manure from the farm, planted lily and rudbeckia roots. Beyond that, I haven't been sure what else to do. These are decisions that have to be made before the seed is ordered.

Fortunately, the John Deere magazine arrived. I was going to throw it away; I'm not a farmer now. But the title, "Sea Change" interested me. I wondered what new trend they would discuss. I read every word of the article. Wrote down references to check later. You see, in California, some farmers are working to add carbon to the soil, breaking down CO₂ in the atmosphere and increasing the ability of the soil to hold water, increasing productivity.

Using compost and different management techniques, the ground itself is becoming a carbon sink. They've been able to make the microbic life of the soil more active among other things.

I don't manage 300 acres anymore. I used to feel that the acres of maple and cedar held as much carbon as we produced in a year, though I never actually calculated. Still, I now manage this plot of land that has been a bit neglected and where I want to grow some things to eat.

And the article suggested that I can improve the amount of carbon my gardens gather, something good for the climate and good for the productivity of the land.

I already have compost brewing. The mulch that has been here for years is starting to break down. If I rip up the fabric and dig the mulch into the clay, the structure of the soil is going to change.

I have to take into account that rock isn't very far down. And right by the water, I will have to think about erosion and cold. I will check out the forested areas near our place as well to understand the natural vegetative cover in this clay and bedrock mix. But I think there is potential for healthy soil and good growth on this patch of land by the bay.

Cathy Hird is a gardener living on the eastern shore of Georgian Bay.