Last updated on December 2nd, 2011
With 2010 just around the corner, let us recall the wise words of Mark Twain: “New Year’s Day…now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” Still, what fun it is to make — and then break — a series of promises for the New Year. Here are my garden-related resolutions for 2010:
1. Grow annuals and vegetables exclusively from seed
2. Replace roses with lower-maintenance perennials (your hints are welcome)
3. Design a circular lilac garden
4. Order — early — a mountain of free mulch
5. Screen, with evergreens, the only remaining view of a neighbor’s house
6. Find a level area on the property where croquet may be played (we received a croquet set for Christmas)
7. Enlarge the frog pond in the Woodland Garden
8. Incorporate videos into the A Garden for the House blog
9. Faithfully deadhead, disbud, and pinch back all plants that require it
10. Finally, spend more time sipping cocktails — not working — in the garden!
What are your resolutions — breakable or otherwise — for 2010?
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Eric says
Here are my Top Five:
1) Mulch the hell out of my perennial beds
2) Start an asparagus patch
3) Fence in the vegetable garden
4) Divide hostas (my '07, '08, and '09 plan, too)
5) Find a rose that JBs don't like
Anonymous says
From DeGuerre:
1. Research and purchase bulbs that will naturalize thanks to a special Christmas gift certificate
2. Teach all three puppies to walk together in their leashes so we can all be more physically fit
3. Cook more in my wok
4. Improve my habitat for cats
5. Complete the circle of meditation in my wooded garden
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Eric – I'd like to start asparagus, too. Thanks for reminding me! And, good luck finding a rose that is immune to the Japanese beetle! Let us know if you find one…
DeGuerre – bulbs, dogs, cats, a wok and a walk…great plans for 2010!
Judy says
So far mine are: quit negative thinking; cook more; buy a blender so I can finally make your recipe for salsa verde the right way! Happy New Year!!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Judy – I'm with you on the “quit-negative-thinking” front!
Yolanda says
OK, I don't have a resolution. But I do have a New Year's dream:
To hire a gardener with six-pack abs, and thighs that could crack a walnut. He works seven days a week, and never, ever, wears long pants or a shirt!
Justin says
Here's my 5:
1. Hire Yolanda's gardener
2. Propagate boxwood
3. Grow my own annuals from seed
4. Grow my own vegetables from seed
5. Keep all of my beds weed-free (ha!)
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Yolanda – When do I start? (Just kidding!)
Justin – I almost put your number 5 on my list of 10. But that was toooo ambitious!
Maureen says
Here are my top 5 resolutions for 2010:
1.plant sweet peas-lots of them even if only for a short season.
2.expand my home orchard by 5 blue berry bushes and 20 raspberry bushes.
3.make raspberry jelly with homemade pection
4.finish my horticulture therapy program
5.lose 15lbs by my next birthday by eating foods that are primarily locally grown, organic and unprocessed. Happy New Year!
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Maureen – What fabulous resolutions you've made, from sweet peas to healthy eating!
When you make your raspberry jelly with homemade pectin, please share your recipe here!
Lisa Campagna says
Good Morning All,
My top 5:
#5 -Dig up the 8 “newly planted” winter gems I managed to kill this Fall
#4 -purchase new winter gems 🙂
#3 -restore VERY OLD concrete fish pond with my kids
#2 -make a secret garden w/ pea stone walkway
#1 -Borrow Yolana's gardner to assist with all 4 of the above 🙂
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Lisa – sorry to hear about your winter gem boxwood! Before you discard the shrubs, try this: cut a few stems from each plant. If you see green, not brown, the plants may be stressed, but not dead. In this case, move them, if you can, to some out-of-the-way spot until they recover.
The concrete pond and secret garden sound like fab projects, with or without the help of Yolanda's VERY POPULAR gardener…
Gregory says
My five (from a NYC apartment gardener):
1. Learn more about orchids
2. Make a trip to Logees Greenhouses (for orchids and more), based on Kevin's rec.
4. Set up glass shelves in my windows to accommodate more plants
5. Explore the possibilities of growing both cherry tomatoes and lettuce under artificial light
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Gregory – I've often wondered if lettuce could be grown under fluorescents; after all, it doesn't need full sun outdoors to thrive. Let us know the results of your experiments!
And Happy New Year!
Anonymous says
great blog! I, too, have thought of an asparagus patch for years. Long enough to have a mature established bed by now! Planted two raised bed gardens this year Kevin. Had great success with my herbal garden but too much water seemed to drowned my tomatoes and summer squash. The herbal garden was planted in between the spokes of an old wooden wagon wheel and it looked great. I found “wild” hops growing out back and harvested them for my son's beer but they turned out to be bug infested. I hope to avoid that next year. Take care, for a better year of growing in 2010. Dale T., Maine
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Dale – welcome! Yes, the constant rain and cold of last summer was dreadful for tomatoes and summer squash. May we have more sun in 2010! I like your idea of growing herbs between spokes of an old wheel wagon. I'm going to try my hand at hops this year, too.
May 2010 be a great garden year for all of us!
Andrew Thompson says
Here are my Top 5 for 2010:
1. Buy a compost bin
2. Improve my soil with compost, leaves, and kitchen scraps
3. Build raised beds
4. Prune trees to admit more sunlight
5. Eat locally grown foods whenever possible
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Andrew – sounds like you are setting yourself up for a grand vegetable garden. You will be eating very locally, indeed!
Randy J says
Kevin,
Here are my top 5 (of about 100) for 2010:
1. Complete the pond that I started 3 years ago!
2. Expand my vegetable garden to include 2 beds outside of the fence for garlic and potatoes.
3. Add 3 Camellias in containers to my already too large collection of potted plants. Of all of the plamnts that I miss from my old garden I miss the Camellias the most and they are well suited to container growing as long as they have a cool spot indoors for the winter.
4. Plant 3 more shade trees on the porperty.
5. Complete my woodland garden (which of course includes many plants that are not native woodland plants. I lack the discipline to be a purist).
Randy J says
hmmm…one more goal for 2010. Proof read posts to blogs for typing errors BEFORE posting them!
Lisa Campagna says
HI Kevin,
Thanks for the suggestion. In regards to the above boxwood comment, I am burried in 4 feet of snow now. Should I wait until Spring to check for stress on the winter gems or is that too late?
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Lisa – 4 feet of snow? Yoinks! Definitely wait until the spring thaw (I promise it's coming!) to check your boxwood.
cupola says
Thanks for the post!