Top 10 Gardening New Year's Resolutions for 2010

1. Publish "How Parsley Saved The Farm" - Finish writing and producing an inspirational story about our mascot, an adventurous woodchuck, Parsley, who saved the family farm. And figure out some kind of donation box for contributions to Parsley's Garden.

2. Grow A Hedgerow - Did you know that English hedgerows are not just made up of privet? Instead, they have biological diverse plantings and are a great habitat for wildlife. Removing nonnative species, encouraging native raspberries, and planting more native shrubs, are among my list.

3. Flowers Bouquets - Carol at Beaver Dam Organic Farms, Westhampton, taught me how to make a flower bouquets when I worked there as a farm hand. I will give her a call to find out what's the best kind of flowers for me to plant for the smaller bouquets we will harvest in Parsley's Garden.

4. Volunteer At A Farm - Help my friend, Ken, at Flanders Farm (Long Island Seed) with whatever needs to be done. We often help with planting and weeding in exchange for some great food and a fun time at the farm.

5. Expand The Strawberry Patch - It took me a few years of gardening in a shady yard to figure out that direct afternoon sunlight makes for a better vegetable garden. For the shady spots, I'm going to transplant and expand the strawberry patch instead.

6. Plan A Water Garden For Wildlife - Besides a bird path, I've been thinking about a shallow wet area, more for marsh plants than fish. This idea requires more reading on the subject and will be my winter project.

7. Plant Mountain Laurels - We live in an area where mountain laurel, a spring flowering shrub is native. But we don't have any! I will place an order and have them ready to go for next year.

8. Tear Up More Sod - Expand Parsley's Garden by removing lawn so there's less to mow during the summer, and also use the space for increasing habitat for his wild friends.

9. Turn Compost Into Gold - Our compost pile is a place where we dump our vegetable scraps and forget about it. I should know better since I interned with Crow Miller. Read and review Crow Millers advice (see sources below). Turn pile more often and add supplements, making it rich and ready for next spring.

10. Consider A Fruit Orchard - Do we have enough sun? I must reread Susan Dokko's article, "Plan Your Own Fruit Orchard Photo Gallery," and consider one for Parsley's Garden. Do we have the space and sun for a mini-orchard instead?

Sources

http://oldweb.northampton.ac.uk/aps/env/lbrg/projects/hedgerow.htmlhttp://www.pmt9991952.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Biodiversity.htm
http://www.rain.org/~sals/compost1.html
http://www.qualityparks.org/blog/category/how-parsley-saved-the-farm
http://www.qualityparks.org/blog/2009/10/22/plant-your-own-fruit-orchard-photo-gallery.html
http://www.liseed.org/