Organic Gardening New Year’s Resolutions

Posted by Katie Elzer-Peters
December 29th, 2008
Filed in Garden Maintenance
Tags: flowers, habitats, vegetables

2009 is almost here, and I’m making my gardening New Year’s Resolutions.  In theory, these resolutions should be fun to keep.  In practice, I might need a nudge from time to time.  Thinking about the previous year of gardening, blogging, copy writing and more, I’ve come up with some things I definitely want to try so that I can I can write about them (and enjoy some tasty meals)!  I have also thought much about my own definition of sustainable and organic gardening, and what it all means to me.  So, here’s what I’m planning to do this year, and hopefully ally’all (as we say in the south), will benefit from my trials and errors!  (There might be some surprising revolutions, here.  I am not always as adventurous as I might sound in writing.)

Start the Vegetable Garden

I have vegetable gardened everywhere else but here in NC, which is ridiculous, because this is the ultimate veggie growing paradise–sandy soil, year-round growth, lots of rain.  So, come January-or maybe February-I am going to churn up my intended plot and start planting winter greens.  We can learn together how to grow orgnic vegetables in the humid, humid weather.

Expand my Habitat Garden

I already have a tiny butterfly garden that I planted for my dog, Lucy.  It is planted in the space between the sidewalk and the house (about two feet deep).  Even though the garden is tiny, it still hosted an impressive amount of black swallowtail butterfly larvae last summer.  My plan this year is to plant more shrubs that will provide yummy snacks to birds and other critters.  In particular, I want to get some beautyberry Callicarpa.

Start a Compost Pile

Again, I have composted up north, in the frigid wasteland of Ticonderoga, New York, but not in my own yard, in my first house that has been all my own.  I have a good start with all of the leaves swirling around in my yard.  I also want to start an under-the-sink worm bin in my house.  (That will make my husband happy, I’m sure!)  I just like the idea of having worms living with us.

Amend the Back Garden

When I planted my garden last year, I amended the front soil, but not the back, with a compost/topsoil blend.  You can definitely tell which garden plot got the love and which didn’t.  I was not practicing what I was preaching, so now I’m going to have to scrape all of the mulch off the back, dig in compost, and re-mulch.

Try some New Plants

Now, I know that for you hardcore gardeners, new plants are a given.  While I was working in a botanic garden, I planted lots of new plants, but in my own three sorry container gardens, I planted the old standbys.  Last spring, I carried that into my new garden.  This year, I want not to just drool at the new varieties in the seed catalogs and garden centers, I want to plant them!

Those are my gardening resolutions.  They may not seem weird or extreme, but all of the “experts” on TV tell you to set small resolutions that you will actually keep.  I think I have a pretty good shot at keeping mine.  I hope, at least!