The weeks immediately after the calendar changes from one year into the next are a great time to start thinking about your gardening goals for the upcoming season. This week, I talk about how to plan for double the success of your garden. I also discuss what I want to do differently and what I will stop doing.
I shared my ten gardening lessons from 2022 last week. Now I’m shifting gears and moving forward rather than looking back. I have tried many things in the past to great success. I am now ready to move on, improving and expanding upon those methods that worked well for me. I want to spend more time in my garden, just watching and monitoring. This is something that I was able to do with great success last year.
These are the Things I Want To Keep Doing
Since I started gardening, which has been a long time, I have settled down on the things that work for me and developed habits. I have culled everything that didn’t work for me, so I’ve settled down over time to a consistent system of what I would consider “best practices.”
It is important to ensure that your plants are in the correct environment. Other things I recommend include making sure your soil is rich in nutrients, mulching and watering directly from the soil rather than from above. Also, be proactive with pest and disease management.
These are the basic principles of good gardening. However, I have found some new practices to be very successful with in recent years. The best fertilizer is said to be the gardener’s shadow. A garden will perform better if the gardener is there to identify problems early and address them before they become serious problems.
I have learned from many years of talking with gardeners that they are too ambitious and go all-in. When we get cabin fever at the beginning of each year, this is easy to do and create grand plans for our gardens that eventually prove too difficult to manage.
Gardeners who are just starting out will quickly realize that there are limits to how much they can do in a given size garden and the amount of time it takes.
Although plants that have been set up for success by following the principles I described above will thrive, it can lead to overwhelming. Even if we overplant, we cannot allow this to happen. We must get out there quickly enough to see that this is happening and take preventive steps so it can be manageable.
If I had to give gardeners one piece of advice, it would be to go out and enjoy your garden as much as possible.
It’s difficult to do that due to our lives and schedules. You might find it difficult to get out there every week. If that is the case, make sure you do go out once a week.
You should also be able to get outside every day or more than once per day. You’ll find that gardening is enjoyable and you won’t feel overwhelmed. You’ll be able to keep up with the changes every day and have fewer problems with pests, diseases, and weeds.
Remember to Keep Track of Important Planting and Sowing Dates
Because of my busy schedule, I missed two important planting times last year. My cool-season crops didn’t mature in the heat because I started too late in spring. Several of my fall crops needed more time to mature before it got too cool. These are the window of opportunity I want to take advantage of.
When there’s no pressure and time to plan and think, this is the time of year to consider what you will plant in 2018. Decide when you should start seeds indoors or transplant seedlings outside. Keep track of the dates for maturity and your late and first frost dates for each variety.
Look beyond the Garden Box
What amount of space do you need to grow? You may need more space than you realize. You can easily create additional growing space without spending a lot or clearing more ground. You can squeeze more crops into both of these options.
You can identify areas outside of your garden that receive less sun than your main area, but they may still be suitable for planting. You’re ready to go!
Gardening in unfenced areas can attract browsing deer. I was the one who did it. It took three fishing line strands to attach to the posts to deter the deer.
Winter sowing is possible
You should winter sow this year, whether you sow native flowers in containers with wire mesh to protect like Heather McCargo, or the traditional way with milk jugs.
Heather’s method was my first attempt at going all-in with Heather’s last year. I am determined to continue with Heather’s method because I want to fill my landscape beds as much as possible with native perennials. There is still a lot of room, but I want to avoid the expense of buying perennials that I can grow myself. It’s also a lot of fun and a great way to get your children involved.
