What I Hope to Do in the Garden in 2010

It is almost Christmas and every gardener knows what comes right after Christmas - (besides the bills, that is) seed catalogs. Burpees, Stark Brothers, Jackson & Perkins and others seem to be a staple in our mail box as soon as we have taken down the Christmas decorations. The bright colored flowers on their covers tempting us to spend time browsing through their catalogs. Dreaming of plants that look as lush and healthy as the ones in their pages, we write down wish lists of things that we want to order. Time passes and we put off ordering until it is too late. This year I resolve not to waste my time looking at those pictures and pretending that I can get plants that look like those in the catalogs. I will just put the catalogs in the recycling bag without making a wish list except for Gardener's Supply.(www.gardeners.com) Gardener's Supply doesn't have seeds, but has tools and other products that are useful and actually work. We ordered a new kind of net to protect our cucumbers and zucchini from bugs from them last year, that was wonderful (see picture) and can be reused. I am thinking that we might even try to use it over tomato plants and be able to put them in earlier.

I know most of those catalogs don't show reality. For example, the rose hedge that we ordered from Jackson & Perkins, 6 or 12 plants a year, has been nothing but work. It bears little resemblance to the hedge pictured in their catalog. (see picture) I wanted to replace our privet hedge with the nice thick beautiful rose hedge that didn't require trimming shown in the catalog. I got a scrawny, time consuming hedge that needs spraying, feeding and wrapping and unwrapping for the winter. I did not do a good job last year of feeding and wonder if we will lose plants over the winter because of that. I resolve to feed it at least once a month next summer if not every other week. I will write it on my 2010 calendar as a job to do. Perhaps I can even learn how to spray for black spot so my husband doesn't have to do that. He still has to trim the remaining privet hedge.

Last year we ordered more hedge roses to fill in spots where roses didn't survive the winter from Jackson & Perkins. They sent them while there was still snow on the ground. The plants didn't make it, but I kept hoping that the roots would have survived. Because I waited to be sure they wouldn't produce some kind of greenery, I called for replacements too late. They would send nothing. I resolve not to order anything from Jackson & Perkins again. As roses die, we will consolidate the remaining plants and put in something requiring less work. I resolve to look for a better hedge solution.

I am Mrs. Black Thumb married to Mr. Green Thumb, so most of the planting part has to be done by my husband, but I must be more faithful in my weeding this coming year. Last year I did a fairly thorough job weeding the raspberries and even got through the elderberries once, but almost everything else did not get touched. The infestation of morning glories and bind weed - which I call the weed from hell - continues in the raspberries and elderberries. We have managed to get rid of the poke bushes that were hiding out behind our lilacs next to the house. But vigilance must be constant. I resolve to go through the raspberries and elderberries again thoroughly while not neglecting the regular flower beds.

I resolve to use more Miracle Grow and Muracid on our flowers. I know that they will not be as nice next year, because I was not faithful in feeding the plants. I just didn't feel like going outside to work and neglecting the work in the house. But once the time to do certain jobs in the garden is gone, it is gone. The housework is always here. But the flowers look so much better and are so much stronger if they are fed.

I resolve to dig up some areas of our flower garden and replant the bulbs, so that next year, they will produce better flowers and not be so crowded.(see photo) We did just one small area this year and I am anxious to see if it looks better than it did last year. There is still an area along the side of the house that has been left pretty much to its own devices and I hope to get to that area next year.

I have learned the difference between ragweed and daisies. I took pictures and put them in the computer so if I was confused again, I could go look. I resolve to photograph more. It helps when I want to dig things up, to know what is hiding underneath. Are there bulbs under there, or is that bulb looking thing really a weed that wants to try to take over. If I can go and look at what was there last year, I can figure that out more quickly. It is a big help in my favorite game - Is it a weed, or is it a flower?

I resolve to not sucker the tomatoes. I have done that for years because my parents did, but we use tomato cages and don't really have the same issues that my parents had in their garden. Last year we had a really destructive fungus and it seemed to bother the plants most in the areas they were suckered. Now I must remember that since I have suckered the tomatoes as long as I can remember.

I resolve to find out from the neighbor who had no problem with the tomato fungus because they used a specific fungicide, what it was that they used and more importantly to write it down. I resolve to lift the tomatoes up in their cages every week after they are planted - (see Mr. Green Thumb for planting). That way they won't get out of control and I don't have to deal with the problem of pulling the branches up through the cages after they are too big. Again it is a write it on the calendar job. I think that pinching the tomatoes off after they reach the top of the cages might be productive so that the energy of the plants goes into producing tomatoes instead of foliage.

Next year we are going to have half as much garden. I think the last two years of really poor tomato crops has worn us down. We have removed one raised bed and have one left. Perhaps by concentrating on it, we can have a more productive garden. We use an underground watering system (Gardener's Supply) and black plastic which means that it should be low maintenance.

In 2010 I resolve to enjoy the work outside. That is a major change in attitude for me, because I have always readily acknowledged that I hate it. In fact the only thing I hate more than weeding - is weeds. While I know how to can, I also know that I can buy canned tomatoes at the store for perhaps less than I spend on growing the tomatoes, certainly for less in time and energy. So I resolve to feed and mulch more and to weed earlier in the year, so that there will be less work in the long run and more enjoyment of the beauty of the flowers and food that we grow. Hopefully it will be a better year all around