Last year at this time I made some gardening resolutions, in lieu of any serious resolutions that I would not be likely to achieve. Looking back on those has been rather amusing to me. How did I do?
My first resolution was to mulch frequently...well, not so much in practice. I did manage to get the front bed mulched by midsummer (was it June? July? Either way it was later than I would have preferred). Of course, once I had finished putting down the mulch I was looking over my handiwork and I exclaimed "I always forget how much better it looks with mulch!"
(This was taken in August, so there was mulch by then at least.)
I never did manage to get the back borders mulched and I've deplored my failure to mulch the vegetable garden numerous times already. So, I would say in 2010 I did mulch, but "frequently," certainly not. 0 for 1.
My second resolution was to plant a Japanese maple. Ha! Ha! This was a complete failure! I was seduced by a dwarf Canadian hemlock that I picked up at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show. I later killed this tree by letting it get too dry in its container. (The idea was to nurse it along during the spring and summer because it was a very small seedling and then plant it in the fall. You know what they say about the best laid plans...) I would still love a Japanese maple or even another shrub because this is the problem border I've been wrestling with for three years, and something will go there at some point! But will that happen in 2011? I won't resolve to do it, that's for sure. 0 for 2.
Next up was to fix this @$!# border. Success!
('David' phlox and purple hyssop was a great combo in the front sunny area.)
I widened the border (with some not-insignificant sod removal), planted a bunch of stuff, had seedlings survive, and it should be even better next year.
('Bon Bon' cosmos came through for a late summer show.)
Yeah for me! 1 for 3
Lastly I resolved to grow more vegetables. Done! 2 for 4
OK, so a .500 record isn't too bad! Time to resolve to do more next year, but I'll get to that in another post soon...
What did you resolve to do this past year in the garden? Did you accomplish your goals?
2 comments:
This is a great idea, Rose! Many of us make New Year's resolutions, but how many of us remember what they were in December?:) Mulching and keeping up with weeding were at the top of my list, too, and like you, I never did a decent job of mulching the vegetable garden. But I've got a headstart on 2011--I bought two bales of straw this past October and stored them away, so I have no excuse for a bare veggie garden this year! I also resolved to keep up with watering the roadside garden, which requires a short walk carrying watering cans. I didn't do so well on that either, but I blame that on the dry summer:)
I don't make resolutions, I simply make notes of what I need to be doing. You can be excused for being late with the mulching. It rained so much last spring it was hard to get it done. I wish I had some mulch now, the garden paths are a mud mess.
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