Happy New Year! It is your GPOD editor Joseph here, and today I’m sharing some of my New Year’s Resolutions… for my garden. Some things that I’m thinking I want do to in the garden this year.
What are yours? We’d love to hear about them!
Learn to use my new cold frame. A neighbor was throwing away old storm windows, so I grabbed them and used them to make myself a cold frame in the back garden. I’m so excited, I’ve never had a cold frame before. So… I need to learn to make the most of it. Right now my plans include using it to overwinter border-line hardy plants, force bulbs, and grow veggies for winter harvest. We’ll see what all I can pull off.
A related resolution… start my winter lettuces sooner! I built the cold frame late and then sowed a bunch of things in it. The lettuce here are growing great, but they are romane and I didn’t start them soon enough to head up before winter arrived. Next year I’m going to get my seed-starting timing better! The same applies to my pepper seedlings… I never get them going soon enough and end up with runty little plants to put out in the garden.
More fall interest! This shot is from my home office window, looking out at the incredible sugar maple (Acersaccharum, Zone 3 – 8) in my front yard. It looks AMAZING every fall. But the rest of the garden doesn’t. I mean, I do have some things that look good in fall, but not enough! Time to fix that. I put in a bunch of asters last year… but the rabbits ate all of them. Time to figure something else out.
This photo is from Oklahoma State University Botanic Garden. I just loved this incredible creative container made from an old plow disc, and it is inspiring a resolution to get more creative with my containers this year, especially in combining them with cactus and succulents.
This beautiful rose bush is one I pass walking my dog through my neighborhood regularly. It looks so amazing! So my resolution is to get one for my garden. But I don’t know the variety, so I’m going to have to meet that neighbor, get the name, or see if they’ll let me take cuttings.
Grow more penstemon! This is Penstemon heterophyllus ‘Zuriblau’ blooming in my front garden last summer. I just love the color, and it seems to love my sandy soil. More! More! I want more penstemons! Penstemon huge genus with hundreds of species, all only native to North America, so lots and lots to explore.
My last resolution is to take good care of this terrarium I made. It was a lot of fun to make, using some mini orchids and moss, but I know that I typically am terrible about taking care of my houseplants once the outdoor gardening season gets underway. But not this year! I’m going to keep this watered and happy!
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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