New Year’s Gardening Resolutions:
1. I will not overwater my plants.
2. I will not underwater my plants.
3. I will start more seeds.
4. I will grow more food.
5. I will plant more native plants.
6. I will make lots of compost.
Happy New Year!
“Anyone who thinks that gardening season begins in the spring & ends in the fall is missing the best part of the year. Gardening season begins in January with the dream.”
More Garden Resolution Ideas:
- Use More Compost: Add or start a new compost pile or bin to turn kitchen scraps into soil gold. Improve soil health and increase life that helps your plants grow better – use compost as a top dressing in your garden or make a simple "compost extract" with a cup or so of compost in a bucket of de-chlorinated water, mix for about a minute, then strain and use the "extract" to water your plants, seedlings and for starting seeds.
- Grow Your Own Food: Plant herbs and veggies to save on grocery bills.
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Try Hügelkultur (German for "mound culture") is a permaculture gardening method that builds raised beds using a core of decaying wood, topped with compost, soil, and plants, creating self-sustaining, water-retentive, nutrient-rich growing sites that mimic forest decomposition. You can also use the Hügelkultur technique in large containers!
- Water Wisely: Install a rain barrel or drip irrigation, grow drought-tolerant plants, and use grass clippings as mulch.
- Go Native: Incorporate more native plants like Echinacea (Coneflowers) and native milkweed to support wildlife like birds and pollinators including monarch butterflies. Native trees are especially beneficial for wildlife like birds, plus they provide much needed shade.
- Ditch Chemicals: Switch to organic fertilizers or use compost and avoid harmful pesticides.
- Rethink Lawn: Reduce lawn area and make more garden beds!
- Save Your Grass Clippings & Leaves: Leaves and grass clippings are great natural mulch for your vegetable garden and flowers.
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Electric Tools: Consider electric or hand-powered tools to cut pollution. Stop using blowers and switch back to rakes, plus, you can leave the leaves in your garden beds to keep the soil insulated and fed all winter.
- Start a Journal: Document your garden's progress with photos and notes.
- Try New Things: Experiment with unusual plants like specialty peppers, edible landscaping, or container gardening. Peppers grow great in pots!
- Learn Propagation: Focus on layering or seed saving for next year.
- Build Something: Construct a trellis, new garden bed, birdhouse, or simple arbor.
- Take a Class: Sign up for a course on a specific skill, like winter sowing.
- Provide Water: Add a bird bath!
- Welcome "Good" Bugs: Learn to coexist with insects like slugs, aphids, and caterpillars, which feed other animals. Did you know that baby songbirds eat thousands of caterpillars that their parents catch for them?
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Plant for Birds: Add berry-producing and native trees or shrubs.
- Plant Fruit & Berries: Perennial Serviceberries, Apples, Peaches, Pears, Raspberries, Blackberries, Strawberries and more can be grown for abundant harvests year after year.
- Join a Community Garden: Get involved locally and share seeds, seedlings, advice and harvests with your community!
- Volunteer: Help beautify vacant lots, help maintain pollinator gardens in your local parks or volunteer at your local botanic gardens, grow food for food banks, share seeds & plants and knowledge.
- Grow Your Own Food: Plant herbs and veggies to save on grocery bills.
- Try Hügelkultur (German for "mound culture") is a permaculture gardening method that builds raised beds using a core of decaying wood, topped with compost, soil, and plants, creating self-sustaining, water-retentive, nutrient-rich growing sites that mimic forest decomposition. You can also use the Hügelkultur technique in large containers!
Happy growing!
