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January 1, 2003 |
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Happy New
Year!
Here it is the first day of 2003 and all I can think about is
getting some rain. We left
Maryland this morning after spending some time with Kevin's
family and it was raining cats and dogs! After
we arrived back in Kansas city I spoke to Kevin's mom and it was
still pouring there and they had
already received an 1½ inches.
Boy, doesn't that sound great?
For now all we can do is to keep
watering when the weather allows (yes, I am tired of hearing
myself say that) and hope that some moisture of any kind will
come our way soon, like tomorrow!
This is the
time of year when Kevin and I publish our New Year's Resolutions
for Gardeners. We always have fun
with this and it is always interesting to look back at
last year's resolutions to see if we followed through with
any of them. Just like every
resolution made some make the priority list and others don't.
The following list is what we
have come up with. Make sure to
create a list of your own and if you would like to share it with
us, we would love it!
~
Shelly
New
Year's Resolutions for Gardeners
2003
-
Keep a Gardening Journal
Don't keep putting this off
as you wait for a perfectly cute "coffee table" journal
to fall in your lap. Get a cheap spiral bound
notebook and start taking notes. Write down the
weather, soil, and plant conditions on different days.
Make notes about what's working for you and what's not.
With any luck your new note-taking habit will become an
integral part of your everyday gardening routine.
- Start
Something From Seed
This has been here before but it's
worth repeating. Seed starting can humble any gardener but it is so rewarding to take your little seedlings
out into the big garden world and see them thrive.
So,
use some of your spare time this winter to prepare
yourself an indoor planting area and plan on starting
some plants from seed!
-
Extend Your Growing Season
Through the clever use of cold
frames and hot beds you can add many weeks to the front
and back end of your gardening season. Need some
help? Read all about it
right here...
-
Conserve Water
Without hurting your garden!
A few simple steps can dramatically reduce your water
use and improve the health of your lawn and garden.
Drip irrigation for your garden beds for instance is
inexpensive, efficient, and saves you lots of extra
work. Watering during the early morning on hot
days is another simple step. Keep reading our
newsletter and we'll give you tips on watering all year
long!
-
Grow Something Indoors
Gardening isn't just for the great
outdoors you know. There are all manner of
interesting and wonderful plants that can and should be
grown indoors as well. Whether it's herbs,
tropicals, succulents, or anything else that strikes
your fancy find some time to start growing them inside
this year..
-
Teach A
Child About Gardening
Whether it's your own children,
grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or neighbors, take time
to teach them some small things about gardening.
Get them interested now and they may enjoy your hobby
for many years to come!
-
Buy Locally
We like gardening catalogs too but
we've also discovered that the best local nurseries are
more likely to sell us plants that may actually survive
our challenging growing conditions. They are also
a wellspring of great (and again, local)
gardening advice - at least for the stuff you didn't get
from us.
- Plant
Something Where Nothing Has Been Planted Before
Is there a nook or corner in your yard or garden that
is begging for a shrub or some flowers? Make the most
of your landscape. Try planting in new places; areas
that have not been planted before, areas where the
grass might not be doing well or there is too much
shade or too much sun. In 2002 we
successfully introduced some Boston
ivy to a spot in our garden in front of our chimney
(believe us, the chimney needed some ivy). Unleash your imagination and be
creative.
- Tell
10 People About Savvygardener.com
OK, here is an easy challenge! Kevin and I would
like every one of our readers (over
5,300 of you) to
tell someone you know about Savvygardener.com!
We are very thankful for all the new subscribers that
have been referred by our readers but there are still
some area gardeners that haven't found us yet. Give
them a nudge. Here's
an easy way to do it...
-
Have Fun
Really. If your gardening is more chore than fun
then you must be doing something wrong. We don't
mean stop gardening - just figure out what aspects of
gardening you really enjoy and figure out how to do more
of them.
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