I’m starting to feel that sense of panic.

What if I wait too long? What if I start too soon? What if I can’t make time to get the job done?

Now, what could I be referring to? It’s the annual planting of my garden, of course.

During each of the past three years, my husband, Mike, and I have made steady progress on establishing our little plot in the middle of Belmont. We have finally arrived at the point where we have a fence that is tall enough to keep the deer out, though smaller invaders do sometimes manage to dig or slip beneath it. We also have collected and composted organic material to enrich the soil. We have a well established area for gardening, complete with weed-blocking fabric laid down beneath the fence so we don’t have to cut and trim grass and weeds too near to it.

The problem, it seems, is time.

Each and every spring, I see ambitious and more experienced gardeners than myself planting and growing crops weeks before I even consider getting started. Folks like Patty Phillips of the Smith Township Volunteer Fire Department planted cooler-weather vegetables such as spinach and onions weeks ago. When I saw those people posting about their work on social media I will admit that I envied them. I have no idea how they managed to accomplish so much so early in the season.

Now, the clock is running out. Not only did I fail to plant any of those early-season crops, but now temperatures are starting to get quite warm. I know that if I don’t get some plants in the ground soon, they may not be well-established enough to handle the heat of the summer sun.

So, what progress have I made toward planting my garden? Absolutely none. But I hope to change that this weekend if the weather will just cooperate.

Our fence is still in place from last year, but we will need to shore it up in a few spots. A couple of sections are sagging, having been battered by winter storms and weighed down by ice in February. And there is at least one place where a tenacious rabbit or groundhog chewed their way through the perimeter. That will have to be patched or replaced.

First, though, we need to get the soil turned over. That will require a couple of hours of running a tiller through the entire area. Then, we likely will wait at least a few days and repeat the process.

After that is complete, we can fix up the fence and begin to plant.

I do intend to do a few things differently this year, in terms of plant placement and selection. For example, Mike and I have come to realize that no matter how appealing they sound, we simply don’t eat hotter varieties of peppers when we grow them. So, there is no need to take up space and, later, time picking and processing those little fireballs.

I also don’t think I need so many tomato plants this year. I believe we had about a dozen plants last year and, despite the fact that we have used them in soups and various recipes, I still have bags and bags of diced, frozen tomatoes in my freezer.

Instead of focusing on quantity, this year I plan to set my sights on quality and variety. I love beefsteak tomatoes, but I also want to be sure to grow some sweet cherry varieties for snacks and salads. And it couldn’t hurt to try some striped or yellow types of these fruits.

I hope to bolster my crops of greens as well. I have had little luck with spinach, probably because I always plant too late in the season. But my Romaine lettuce did well last year and I’d like to add some items such as arugula and leaf lettuce varieties to the mix. I remember my mom making wilted lettuce with vinegar on hot summer days, and it was quite a refreshing treat.

Of course I will try a few types of squash again, since we eat zucchini and other gourds in all sorts of dishes. The challenge with these is the amount of shade my garden has to endure, due to trees around the edges of the property. That can lead to a powdery mildew latching on to those plants, so I will try to select their positions in the garden more carefully with that in mind.

Another crop that was always a summer favorite when I was a child was cucumbers. Mom would slice them and some onions and put them in a bath of vinegar and sugar, making for a cool, crisp, tart and tasty side dish or snack.

And of course I will plant our favorite root vegetables. We made great use of our white and yellow onions last year, and I already bought some red onions sets.

I might try my hand at potatoes once again after foregoing those last year. In particular, I would like to grow some gold or red-skinned varieties that can be harvested while they are still small and tender.

Staples of our garden are radishes and beets, though we have never had as much success with them as we did during our first year of gardening. But, we will try again, perhaps trying a different strain of each. I know some people grow yellow beets, so I might give that a shot as well.

Whatever we ultimately end up raising, I know we will enjoy the harvest. Growing some of our own food gives us a sense of independence and accomplishment, and it’s great to know your food is free of chemicals.

I’ll check back on this topic once the seeds have sprouted.