Look back before going ahead in the garden
Christmas Day has passed, and our attention turns to wrapping up 2018 and planning for 2019.
We often talk of New Year’s resolutions, but this is a great time to think back and evaluate the past year in our personal lives and for our yard, landscape and gardens. This is a great time of year to review what grew best and what was disappointing.
We don’t necessarily give up on plants that didn’t work well, but try to think about whether the weather conditions were tough on them this season. Were they too dry or too wet. Would they have done better in a sunnier spot, or would a shadier spot have made a better home?
We try to repeat our successes in future years and try to figure out a better home or place for the plant crops that disappoint us on our first effort.
The shortest day of the year already is behind us, and the more we are shut up inside the house, the more anxious we will get for next spring — still a number of weeks in our future.
This is a good time to flip through the seed and plant catalogs to pick out some new plants to try. This also is a good time to study garden magazines, garden books or to explore gardening sites on the internet.
The Oklahoma State University Extension Service publishes a great number of fact sheets on most every gardening question, and these are wonderful tools to help you plan new flower beds, new vegetable or herb gardens, new lawns, trees and shrub selection or building a hobby greenhouse.
You can access these great materials at your local county extension office or online by searching for OSU fact sheets. Many local garden centers also feature their own garden help sheets or may offer gardening classes over the winter months to help you get ideas and inspiration and make plan for spring.
This is the time to plan for any bigger yard and landscape projects you want to tackle this next year. Do you want to add some new trees to the backyard?
Do you want to start a rose garden or add a water garden?
Do you need to prune your trees and shrubs, or do you need to tear out the overgrown shrubs in front of the house and replace them with new, younger and smaller shrubs?
Do you want to add a patio surrounded by flower beds?
Have you been dreaming of a gazebo set in a garden in the middle of the backyard?
Do you want to grow more of your own vegetables, berries and fresh fruit?
Do you want to plant to attract birds, wildlife and butterflies?
The possibilities are endless and only limited by your time, effort and imagination. Make some time to think about what you want to tackle in 2019 and start making plans to make your 2019 dreams become a growing reality.
Happy new year to all!