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Here are some suggestions for a greener, richer 2009
By Denise Ellsworth
Special to the Beacon Journal
Published on Saturday, Jan 10, 2009
Do you find yourself in need of new New Year's resolutions? Perhaps, like many, you've already abandoned your resolution to exercise every day or give up chocolate.
I've compiled, from family and friends (and a few of my own), a list of gardening resolutions: feel free to circle a few for your own use.
• Have flowers in the house year-round: orchids, paperwhites, amaryllis, forced bulbs and cut flowers from the garden in summer.
• Save some seeds, and share them with gardening friends.
• Create a secret garden with a spot to sit and hide from the news.
• Start a compost pile.
• Grow a new herb to use in the kitchen; maybe Greek oregano or chocolate mint.
• Dig purple loosestrife out of the perennial garden once and for all.
• Learn to tolerate spiders in the house.
• Save money and help the environment by growing more of what I eat.
• Press flowers from the garden in a phone book to use for crafts next winter.
• Add a bird bath for birds and pollinating insects in summer.
• Commit to water all newly planted trees and shrubs on a regular basis in the first few growing seasons.
• Grow a plant that grandma grew. (Impossible to know for sure what she grew? Grow an heirloom plant, introduced on the year of her birthday or wedding date to honor her.)
• Keep all the leaves from my yard in my garden as mulch or compost.
• Support a public garden by visiting and becoming a member.
• Take a garden class to learn a new skill.
• Only order as much mulch as I can realistically spread by myself.
• Add art to the garden, whether it's found, created or purchased.
• Plant a shrub with berries the birds will enjoy, like a shrub dogwood and winterberry.
• Keep a garden journal, complete with a zippered bag to collect plant tags of everything planted this year.
• Attend an arboretum plant sale (great plants plus a great cause).
• Reduce my carbon footprint by planting a shade tree on the southwest side of the house.
• Garden at least an hour a day for the exercise.
• Plant lots of flowers for cutting.
• Only buy plants that fit into my garden plan.
• Get a garden plan.
• Volunteer to share my love for gardening (think church, school, adopt-a-spot, elderly neighbor).
• Keep as much rainwater on my property as possible, through a rain garden and a rain barrel.
• No new weeds this year!
• Plant lemon verbena and a rugosa rose, then make myself herb tea fresh from the garden.
• Keep track of the bloom times in my garden, and add interesting plants at times when nothing's happening.
• Sort and recycle plastic pots whenever possible.
• Find uses for the weeds in my garden, including which ones I can eat. (Start with purslane, which is very high in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins E.)
• Sort through and toss old herbs, spices and other pantry products to keep Indian meal moths at bay.
• Plant a vegetable I've never tried before — maybe luffa gourds or Brussels sprouts.
• Give up tilling, bark mulch, overhead watering and complaining.
• Plant fruit trees.
• Learn to identify beneficial insects so I don't kill them by mistake.
• Make my landscape an edible landscape by incorporating berries and vegetables into my garden beds.
• Plant everything I buy before Thanksgiving.
• Read two gardening books off my own book shelf.
• Make sure all my hand tools have orange handles, so when I drop them into the lake again, they're easier to find.
Denise Ellsworth is a horticultural educator with Ohio State University Extension. If you have questions about caring for your garden, write: Plant Lovers' Almanac, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309-0640. Include your phone number.
Do you find yourself in need of new New Year's resolutions? Perhaps, like many, you've already abandoned your resolution to exercise every day or give up chocolate.
Get the full article here.
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