I don't like to make "resolutions"...that's just setting myself up to fail...but I love to make plans! Here are some of mine:
* Expand vegetable gardens. I put in several new raised beds last season and my veggies were ecstatic. Must Have More!
* Organize cellar to more efficiently utilize space for starting seeds and storing jars, root veggies, etc.
* Build cold frames for greens.
* Plant fruit trees. I already have pears; plan to add apples, peaches, and cherries.
* Plant berries. I already have blueberries and strawberries; plan to add red raspberries and blackberries.
* Buy chest freezer to store harvest!
I bought my first house 5 years ago and since then I've been gradually converting the lawn into mostly edible landscaping. Yum, yum, yum...
What are your gardening plans for the New Year?
Ordered plants I wanted for08 to finish off the perennial gardens in 09.
Moved some of the containers off the deck to the bluestone path next to it.
Made new lazagna bed in front of the waterfeature.
09 spending time planning that area.
Making files of all the photos of gardens and flowers bu color.
Enlarge the Vibernum bed to include more Oriental Poppies.
Winter sow annual poppies.
Get ready to move all the shade plants that were under the dead spruce we removed in October. Not looking forward to that but its 4 months awas ahhh.
I have too many wishes and dreams to list here, and I'm always forgetting one or two if them anyway.
Two things I would REALLY like to complete would be the Shade Garden, and then cut a path down to the creek bed and place some wonderful shade-loving container plants strategically here and there along the path.
Well first I guess it would be to find a spot for all the stuff I have already ordered. HA! I have in mind a place for everything but you know how I see it in my head and how much room there actually is are very likely two different things. The other is to divide and rearrange a couple of beds.
phuggins and Ge1836
My list is very similar to yours. Last year it was much longer and more expensive. I called it my "Victor List" as he got me going. I managed most of it.
Expand vegetable garden.
Plant fruit trees. Cherry and Quince and maybe a Pear.
Plant Red raspberries and blackberries for DH
Buy chest freezer (no room unless we get rid of the Hot water tank for a new on demand system...DH's dream)
Start brush cutting and clearing the south side of the property for future use.
Putting up a new section of deer fence with proper posts on the east side and the south if possible.
Buy and plant a group of Winterberry for the North yard (on last years list)
Buy and plant some scotch broom along the west drive (on last years list)
Extend the East End of the Long Bed to connect to the Well Bed. (have to wait until DH is out of town)
Lots of tree pruning.
Clean up debris from a big dead tree.
More big burn piles. Have one started.
More Viburnums
Move some small native cedars to better spots
Hang up a hammock to enjoy all the work I just did in my mind. Tired!!!
I just revisited my Victor Vision list from 2008 and my big work with the clearing started Jan 10th.
Maybe come summer I can stop and visit Candyce and walk down her new path to her stream. Pressure. Patti
Patti my "victor list" is pretty big as well and i just went through last years Wayside catalog and was surprised to see much was the same - and how many i already had here. i'll knock of what i want from the list slowly. my real goal is to have victor start a "bill list":)
Wha, I was hoping to see another "Great Wall" on your list. I have lots of rocks in Vermont and an old wall needing help and one I would like to move. I still am covenanting your J. Maple Shirazz. Santa Mom gave me a Christmas check which might just cover the price of a tree. But I need a big Viburnum too. Do you buy from Wayside? Also which local nurseries do you use near Pepperell. I drive down 119 a lot from Vt. to route 2 in Ayer. I keep thinking I will go to Mason, NH. I vow this spring for sure for some shade plants for my endless stream garden as I hear it is a nice nursery.
Schickenlady, I forgot my GH list. What do you sell? I will be growing more seedlings this year if I can find someone reliable to water them for 10 days in April when I am gone. My timing was a tad off last year. Started some too late. I would like to set up a cold frame this year as I had many years ago. I will put the word out with a couple of carpenters that I want some old windows. The list grows. Patti
I had all kinds of plans for the New Year - but just before Christmas our eldest DD announced she is pregnant with our first grandchild! So, needless to say, DH and I will be spending much of the summer travelling to Victoria, BC, spending time with DD and DSinL and new baby, and travelling back.
Congrats Grandma!!!!!!! LOL
Very exciting news, congrats! Let the spoiling commence. LOL Enjoy!
Last year I sold. I only have a small GH and the bigger one sitting in a pile :-(
Tomatoes - big boys, roma, beef steaks & cherry.
Green Bell Peppers
Yellow and Green String Beans
Cukes - straight 8 and pickling
Blue hubbard squash, Zuchinni and Summer squash. Those were the "HOT" sellers.
NOT SO HOT
Jalapeno, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Peas.
I only had a few flowers and the HOT sellers were Marigolds and Hollyhocks. I could of sold a gazillion hollyhocks.
Seandor, Congratulations. Nice spot to visit anytime. Are you a knitter? Remember to plant a special tree or shrub in your garden for the new baby that blooms around its birth time. It is so nice to celebrate a loved ones birthday in bloom especially if they are far away. I have a January birthday so I hope for snowdrops, but not always in luck. I finally planted a Witch Hazel with hope that it blooms this Jan. Our DS has an April birthday, so when he went off to Boarding school we planted a Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana) which is now deemed a trash tree, but it blooms reliable on his birthday in Nantucket so we are always happy to see it burst forth around April 20th. Patti
schickenlady, Where are you in NH? I might need to wander by for a few things that I don't start like Hubbard squash and yellow string beans. Patti
Hi Patti - just got it from dropping one last maple to end the year. rest assured there will be more wall construction - i have lots of rock still and all the blue stone i took down that will be used for a shallow retaining wall in front of a new bed against the back of the house and a front circular wall inside of which I'll build small brick patio from left over brick from a front walkway project from two years ago. this will me to finally move a monet bench out of the basement where it has been for four years and place it there.
i planted a witch hazel myself this fall - diana - looking forward to when it grows up. as for 119 nursery's i go to them all.nashoba valley nursery is right at the bottom of the hill, there are a few small ones along 119, the groton nursery is pretty good, and agway. i think the best is cataldo's in littleton off of 110 towards westford. they always have unique trees and bushes i got a paper bark maple, satomi dogwood, a unique redbud bush, winterberry and a bunch of perennials at the end of the year. For the shirazz i got that at mahoney's in winchester - it was the only place around that had it - still in limited distribution.
5 was the limit all nurseries had on the shirazz. i got seeds from mine and they are out back in pots buried in the ground. not sure if the grow from seed - if they do i'll be one happy gardener!!
maybe there will be more available next year - have to say it is a pretty sturdy tree.
I saw them at several nurseries. There are even a few at my local one now. I was just waiting until fall, then I needed a big replacement tree which put the 'shirazz' on the wait list. Patti
I saw them at several nurseries in western Ma. There are even a few at my local one now. I was just waiting until fall, then I needed a big replacement tree which put the 'shirazz' on the wait list. I bought a stack of tall narrow clay pots at the Walpole agway just before Christmas. I haven't bought plants there yet. I will have to check it out. Patti
Congrats Seandor! Be sure to wave when you fly over.
2009 ToDos
Weatherproof cedar fence without getting stung to death by the bees who moved in.
Weatherproof upper deck.
Rip out lower deck (DH job) and design and build new stone patio (DN foreman, DH crew)
Finish new raised tulip/dahlia bed.
Cull native plants in Sante Fe Rockery
Make bettery nursery patch for perenial seedling babies.
Expand Tree Island Bed to meet Desert Bed to become Umbrella Bed (whoo hoo another +/- 30 feets of garden to play with)
Bribe welder friend to make me an umbrella trellis to go in Umbrella Bed
Whew I'm exhausted already.
Me too, picture? Before and after. I especial want to see the desert meet the tree island bed. Patti
I have no digital pics of the whole Sante Fe Rockery. This one shows part of it. I shall take an early spring shot so you can see its structure before the plants take over. I call it the Sante Fe Rockery because of the colour of the fence and rocks. My DG friend from Sante Fe thinks it's a riot that I call it that, especially since it was named before I joined DG. Patti I will definitely take before and after pics of the Umbrella Bed. I really like before/after pics.
I am a huge fan of dark red iris. I have a mess or them. I will post some before pictures too. Especially of the areas that I wish to clear. But not today. Snow storm. Patti
Its a NOID. Maybe 'Battle Royal' or 'Copper Penny'?
finishing up 08' - here is the last maple down on the ground. had rope up in the tree to stop it from going the other way as it naturally leaned to the left - had to really have a tug of war with it to get it to go down where i wanted it.
Patti - just for you here is the "great wall" snow covered a few minutes ago.
Great job wha. Looks like a snowful day. What's wrapped? Shrubby things? I'm also a big fan of the great wall.
wrapped in an evergreen bush - sort of like an arborvitae except yellow. and i put stakes in and wrap with burlap around some of my hydrangea's to protect from the winter wind - not all just the ones in harms way. also dose them with wilt proof - not sure if it helps or not - makes me feel better. wrapping the evergreen definitely helps.
O no. Should I have wrapped my new 'Pink Diamond' hydrangea? :O I mounded leaves on it and it's got good snow cover too. I gave up on wrapping my cedars wha because I was constantly ringing doorbells asking if I could get my wrap out of the hedge/off the satelite dish etc. Very windy on Heritage Hill. I now consider cedars annuals in my garden. They sell them cheap like borsht at one of the box stores and I use my 'free money' for them.
snow and leaves are good insulators - it will be fine - like i said i do it only on a few that are in trouble areas.
Congratulations, Michaela! Great news.
Bill, I doubt I would have any room to squeeze in much stuff from a 'Bill list'.
D-nut - sounds like the desert and umbrella beds would have different water needs!
My plans are not too ambitious yet. I am running out of room for sizeable things. I plan to add another of my must-have trees - a Franklinia. Will probably add a dwarf JM or two. I need to add more stuff to the new shade bed I started last year. I'll surely dream up some more.
Tee hee Victor right now the desert bed is the desert bed because the trees in the Tree Island (mugo pine, blue spruce, weeping carragana) plus the 50 foot white spruce and the Mountain ash steal every drop of water from that area. I am going to line the umbrella bed with newspapers and mushroom compost in order to give the new plants a fighting chance to get established and most will be drought tolerant. Some of the desert bed plants will be moved to the Sante Fe Rockery and I'm going to make a raised patch for others and introduce some alpines. I will miss the funny old desert bed though. The umbrella trellis is my psychological ploy so the plants think its moister than it is ^_^
oops clarification on 'free money' It should have read 'free money from my garden budget theory'. As it reads it sounds like I have 'free' real money. Sorry. My bad.
Dahlianut, I was going to ask for some of your "Free Money".
Wha, nice wall no matter the weather, in fact a "Great Wall" anytime.
Victor, I can't wait to see what you manage to squeeze into your garden. Patti
You have your own using the 'Free Money' theory ^_^ You just add your savings to the budget. Let's say you have a budget of $40 for plants. You go to the store to buy a rose that you budgeted at $15 and it only costs $10
$40
-$10
= $30
+ $5 (savings earned)
=$35 left in your budget.
I know. I should have been an accountant.
For those who may not know, the caladium co-op order thread is open. Great quality.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/938163/#new
Congratulations, Michaela!! I haven't made too many plans yet, but the biggest goal is to finish clearing the area down by the canal in back of the house and make it useable for gardening. Eleanor
Hi Eleanor! Happy New Year, I hope 2009 brings great things for you and Colin.
Victor I ordered right behind you in the co-op.....did you see the Hosta one yet??