Last year, I made a list of garden resolutions, but I didn’t make it public. This year, I am putting my list in writing. Perhaps this will help me follow-through on these excellent plans!
1. Stake everything.
Everything. It’s difficult to believe that our sturdy little seedings will grow into large plants, varying from gangly to bushy to viney. No matter. Whichever shape a plant takes, it deserves a little extra support and, indeed, in our Michigan weather, requires it. Even the strongest looking plant can take a beating from hard rains or unseasonable winds. Weakened branches don’t keep fruit off the ground and fruit touching the ground is more susseptible to insects and decay. So I’ll stop that cycle while my plants are small and manageable by staking everything.
2. Plant More Brandywine Tomatoes
These are our favorite tomatoes for slicing and eating. Marinating and eating. Or picking and eating. They are a fantastic heirloom variety that grows large and luxurious, and somewhat irregular in shape. At times, they are so juicy that they are difficult to pick without damaging. We somehow manage to share a few with special friends and neighbors, and we always eat up whatever we grow. The only solution is to grow even more.
3. Take more pictures of the garden.
Rather self-explanatory. Like children, gardens grow up so fast. I love looking back at pictures of last year and the gardening seasons before. I’m going to do an even better job of capturing our growing garden in the year ahead.
4. Thin the Moonflowers (datura)
We have always been delighted to have a few moonflower volunteers in the yard. They are lovely and cheerful plants. One year, we had a veritable explosion of moonflower plants. They dominated a whole garden bed. We can’t let that happen again! Thin them while they are small!
5. Plant ancho peppers
This haiku explains:
We planted them once.
MMM chili rellenos feast.
Lately I miss them.
6. Plant camomile
Camomile is another plant I miss having in the garden. We had some plants that successfully reseeded themselves for a few gardening seasons. This year, we will have to plant some camomile ourselves.
7. Herb Management
We have to pay more attention to our herbs. Because they are so faithful, we tend to leave them to their own devices. We use fresh herbs regularly for our cooking, but we don’t remember to trim and harvest them. This summer, I will harvest our herbs in mid-summer and in the fall so we have freshly dried herbs for the whole.
8. Plant another apple tree or two.
With the barn finished and the shape of the yard decided for the next 100 years or so, we have come to the conclusion that we can have at least one, maybe two, possibly three, more fruit trees in the yard. We need to make a decision and order some soon!
9. Start some seeds indoors.
We usually do. Sometimes we forget to start them at the right time. This year we will!
10. Post regularly about our garden.
I’m pleased with how our blog has grown from our initial recovery from construction to becoming an attempt to solidify our garden philosophy and maybe more. For 2009, we are setting goals for posting more regularly about our activities in the garden and our reflections on them. There may be a layer of snow coating our frozen garden right now, but already ideas and plans for 2009 are taking root. Happy New Year to all!
