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Gardening Resolutions for 2010: Win A Free Pair of Garden Gloves!
Category: Presenting "The Curious Gardener"
One lucky reader each week in January will receive a free pair of Womanswork High Performance Gloves!
Send us your gardening resolutions for 2010 by adding a comment below, and we will pick one lucky winner each Thursday in January to receive a free pair of Womanswork garden gloves to help you with your resolution. We’ll get the ball rolling by telling you ours:
Dorian Winslow’s 2010 Gardening Resolutions–
- Get my clivia miniata to bloom. I bought it in full bloom in Jan 2008, and since then it has been all strap leaves and no blossoms. All my sources say “easy to grow.” I recently found a page from the White Flower Farm website with complete instructions, giving me confidence that this is the year. We are now in the “winter rest” period. I hope to see a nice big bloom in about 2 months.
- Begin hosting once-a-month Womanswork evening meals at the local soup kitchen in Poughkeepsie. (Our first one is on Jan. 13th. See facebook for details.) Try to increase the output of our vegetable garden this summer so we can contribute to the meals from our own harvest.
- Build the greenhouse I’ve been planning for two years. We have the foundation completed. Read about it in this blog at: http://womanswork.com/garden-gloves-blog/?cat=8
Ruth Clausen’s 2010 Gardening Resolutions–
- To sow all the seeds and plant all the plants that I buy. Often I find that many plants stay in their pots most of the season because I can’t decide quite where to plant them. I will give extra veggie seeds to a local community garden as there are always too many seeds in a packet for one family.
- To thin veggie and annual seedlings ruthlessly, so that they are not crowded. I use seedling greens for early salads, but there are still too many. I resolve to lift a small clump of seedlings every 3″-4″(an old table fork works well) and transplant them elsewhere or give them away.
- To plant up the containers on the deck BEFORE the plants become potbound and are young enough to really bulk up to their full potential. To my advantage, the plants will be healthier, dry out less often, and look gorgeous!
Eve Winslow’s 2010 Gardening Resolutions–
- Make mint and basil herb boxes to enjoy fresh pesto and mojitos year round.
- Make a molded concrete planter for growing succulents.
- Can and preserve more from my garden for next winter.
1. Double the size of my backyard garden by making hanging baskets for tomatoes & using containers to grow potatoes, sweet potatoes, and beets.
2. Include my children in gardening by growing a “sunflower house” and growing several types of smaller gourds in & around their playground.
3. Grow through 3 seasons this year using small hoops on my raised beds.
I have an article I cut out from a magazine that explains how to make a concrete planter. I will dig it out and give it to Eve.
Overall, to spend more time in my garden, and also to be more disciplined and organized. I have 3 large raised beds that with more attention could be twice as productive as last year. Resolutions:
1) Plant early spuds in my “California” bed – we’re talking February in Vancouver, folks! Following harvesting these will be replaced with the usual tomatoes and basil.
2) More integration of flowers and fruit bushes – blueberry bushes are so pretty, even in the fall.
3) Start saving for a SunPod http://www.sunpod.com so I can grow lettuce in winter!
I want to add plants to our currently empty flowerbeds to attract the birds. Last year we doubled the size of the beds, and now it’s time to add some plants, shrubs, and small trees to them, including moving the bleeding hearts that our neighbors are sharing with us so we can attract hummingbirds! We also have a flower bed next to our driveway that I want to plant with annuals, and I’d like to add plants to my office flowerbox that the birds will like (I have birdfeeders outside my office).
It’s a lot of work that needs to be done, but the birds will love it and it’s great to get outdoors!
Two weeks ago I had different resolutions. Since the hard freeze, we have a lot of rethinking to do.
a. Replant things that normally grow in our zone except in case of a 25 year historical freeze?
b. Let nature take its course, dig out what has been frozen to the root and add to compost pile and only plant what will survive a freeze?
c. This one we are still keeping-expand the kitchen garden.
I am going to work more on our shade garden this year. Any suggestions for shade tolerant plants? I have enough hosta. I would like more Solomen Seal, but have a hard time growing it. I am in zone 3-4.
I resolve to enjoy my garden more and appreciate all its sensual delights. To take some time to wander through the borders and inhale the perfume of lilies and roses, stand in front of the dahlias and soak in their color. To worry less about the overall design and enjoy each plant for its own unique beauty. To stop obsessing about making it perfect and love the garden as it is each day, blooming and waning, arising and dying back. To appreciate the great unfolding of life, the sound of birds rejoicing in the day, the sky with all its changes, and give thanks for being a gardener.
I have two gardening resolutions for 2010. Would love any help in accomplishing them. First my rose garden which has been consumed by some disease as well as pests. In the Spring I plan a new regimen of care which will produce the beautiful plants I once enjoyed.
Then I can start on my herb garden which has become so overgrown. Still produces herbs to be dried, but several need to be divided. I will pass them on to family and friends.
I resolve to put up a rabbit and deer-proof fence around my kitchen garden.
Jody, we have a Shade Garden Wheel that has lots of ideas for great shade plants. You can find it on our website at: http://www.womanswork.com/catalog/shade-garden-wheel-p-125.html
Last year I was so proud of myself for transplanting the tomato plants my 10-year-old son had planted in paper cups as part of a school project … and that they actually grew! And then they grew some more. And then they grew some more and they took over a large corner of my flower bed. Unfortunately, I was so thrilled at the whole miracle of growth, I didn’t stake them so they stood up. Actually, it wasn’t just the growing miracle, it was part slacker, too. I’m pitiful at keeping up with plants. This year, I’m going to once again start tomatoes in paper cups and transplant them and buy stakes and harvest tomatoes. And I’m going to keep improving each year until I can sell them at the Farmer’s Market! OK, maybe that last one is overdoing it.
1. Use my gardening journal more effectively to record planting dates and yields.
2. Improve the variety of vegetables I have for sale at the Seville Farm Market.
3. Help more people in my community to eat locally and in season for more of the year than just during peak gardening season by providing them with recipes and techniques to use in season produce.
I am only 14 and I always go to my grandmother’s house and she is always gardening, so she got me into it. Now my Gardening Resolution is to create my own garden full of herbs, fruits veggies and flowers in my backyard.
This year I am going to start my seeds indoors in Feb (instead of late March, as I did last year) and enjoy my organic veggies this summer.
I solemnly resolve not to have garden resolutions. I have hopes, dreams, and plans aplenty, but I never want gardening to be just another chore on a to-do or resolution list.
1. Rebuild shed and re-establish drain fields where needed.
2. Work on overgrowth in corners of small, terraced grounds in our small out-back, in SW Washington. Must water care and attend to create healthy living environment for pour plants, animals and, let’s not forget, us humans.
3. Assess established plants needs and land development for to sustain healthy environment. Repair, till, plant and transplant where needed.
Regular gardening will resume once the above is completed.
Thank you for your time and for all of your inspiring and helpful advise!
I resolve to break the backyard habit, by planting a more colorful garden in my front yard. Why hide everything in the back yard and put landscaping in the front. I live in a small town on an island and we have many visitors so why not have my flowers and flowering shrubs in front for the visitors and townspeople who pass down our street to enjoy?
Expanding my front yard garden is a goal this year.
I also plan to plant my refrigerated bulbs so i can have those wonderful harbingers of spring in sub-tropical Florida.
This year I resolve to divide and transplant (or share) all the plants that need dividing….most often I’m so thrilled at the start of the season to see them once the snow is gone that I don’t want to ‘disturb’ them..1 month later they’ve covered everything near them!
2. Redo the overgrown beds at the back fence that haven’t been properly tended to since the birth of my child…now 4 years old!
3. Move the spikey gooseberry bush that’s in that flower bed.
My resolution this year is to teach five people how to garden here in Chicago with the caveat that they teach someone else next year. I’m going to help them site their garden, help build it (I like raised beds), grow starts for them and help them plant after May 15. Each one teach one! In our case, each one teach five!
2010 will be the year that I:
plant some heirloom seeds, & save some,
plant 2 more apple trees,
re-landscape under the deck,
cut down & replace the dead mountain ash,
take out the overgrown globe arborvitaes,
& plant more gladiolas.
My resolution for 2010 is to keep my yard weed free and move my raspberry patch in the fall. I will really need a good pair of gardening gloves for that job along with many others. 🙂 I plan to plant even more green beans and sweet corn this year and hope to get enough to freeze before we eat it all. Thanks a bunch!!!
My 2010 garden resolutions are to get more than 2 tomatoes from my balcony garden and start a shade tolerant vine, maybe climbing hydrangea, on the back balcony to create a privacy screen.
Re-Solutions (a new way to think of resolutions)!
1. Add two southerly raised beds to our suburban yard to extend the size of our winter beds.
2. Thin, thin, thin.
3. Read more. learn more and practice what I learn.
4. Plant just one thing I’ve never eaten before.
I resolve not to look at a single catalog until I can get out into the garden and see what I haven’t managed to kill from last season.
I resolve not to go out and find a ton of really interesting garden decorations on Freecycle because I have a tiny garden and the plants need some ground, too!
I resolve to really get the soil tested this year (the right way), and work on fixing the soil. I further resolve not to buy any plants until this is complete, so that I don’t have to beat myself up at the end of the season when half of my plants die.
I resolve to let things grow on their own terms, instead of lamenting all of the bare spots in my garden. They will grow, and I just need to be patient and enjoy them as they are. Also, I promise to talk to my plants to make them grow stronger and faster, instead of sneaking out in the morning and tugging on them to make them taller. 😉
My 2010 Gardening Resolutions:
1. Learn to plant trees better – my area burnt in a fire 12 years ago and I plant about 6 a year (about 3 survive my transplanting)
2. Try container vegatable gardening
3. Move my raspberry bushes – again
4. Plant bird & butterfly friendly plants
5. Actually read my gardening/landscaping books
We have decided to give away 3 pairs of garden gloves this week because we liked so many of your comments and gardening resolutions. We are sending a pair to Taylor who is 14, because we were inspired that someone so young dreams about gardening; we are sending a pair to LaManda Joy because we like her idea of teaching 5 people to garden and asking them to teach 5 others; and finally we are also sending a pair of gloves to Ann Carranza who is resolved to plant something in her vegetable garden that she has never eaten before.
Any comments starting today Jan. 15th will be considered for next week’s drawing. Spread the word and tell your gardening friends to send in their comments!
Ann, you are one of our winners of a free pair of gardening gloves this week. See our blog to find out more about who our winners are. Although we intended to send only 1 pair, we were inspired by so many of the comments we received that we wanted to send to 3 winners. Please send us your mailing address (US Post) and also go to our website and click on Determining Your Glove Size to let us know your size. These gloves run a tiny bit small so please take that into consideration. Also select a color you would like. Thank you for participating! Hopefully you will tell your friends about our contest also. It continues through January.
LaManda, you are one of our winners of a free pair of gardening gloves this week. See our blog post to find out more about who our winners are. (www.womanswork.com/garden-gloves-blog/). Although we intended to send only 1 pair, we were inspired by so many of the comments we received that we wanted to send to 3 winners. Please send us your mailing address (US Post) and also go to our website and click on Determining Your Glove Size to let us know your size. These gloves run a tiny bit small so please take that into consideration. Also select a color you would like. Thank you for participating! Hopefully you will tell your friends about our contest and our website also. It continues through January.
Dear Taylor, you are one of our winners of a free pair of gardening gloves this week. See our blog post to find out more about why you were selected. (www.womanswork.com/garden-gloves-blog/). Although we intended to send only 1 pair, we were inspired by so many of the comments we received that we wanted to send to 3 winners. Please email us your mailing address (US Post) and also go to our website and click on Determining Your Glove Size to let us know your size. Also select a color you would like. Thank you for participating! Hopefully you will tell your friends (and ask your grandmother to tell her friends) about our contest and our website also. It continues through January.
I have lots o’ resolutions that I posted on my blog, but the more I think about it, the more I want to prioritize this one: I hereby resolve to take more photos of things that are going wrong in my garden. I’ve become so obsessed with taking and sharing only pretty photos that I never have documentation for the things I want to improve or correct. Instead I have lots of lovely close-ups that diligently ignore the disheveled context. Then when I need to solicit help or advice, all I can do is describe what I sort of remember about the problem areas. And when it comes to dividing and overhauling in the spring, I have no idea where each plant that needs to be moved is! So this year I resolve to be more brutally accurate and “tell it like it is.” I think the garden will thank me for it.
My main resolution would be to stick with my resolutions! and….
~start out by returning to this website to read others’ resolutions to inspire
and motivate me
~begin weeding as soon as the snow melts in early spring
~mulch my flower beds as soon as possible
~expand my herb garden, by adding thyme and any other plants that pop out
at me at the local garden shop
~increase my pots of basil and rosemary
~wear garden gloves more often so that I don’t have to end up with
bandaids and splinters after-the-fact
~research and talk to my more-creative friends on different ways to use my
lavendar…rather than the usual cutting and hanging throughout my house
gathering dust as the year goes on. Any ideas???
My 2010 resolution is to enjoy my retirement by experimenting/learning and experiencing the joys of growing fresh veggies for my hubby and I. My first project is container gardening. I have my space drawn out on paper, the pots raised off the ground so I do not have to bend so far, lattice behind for any trailing vines or veggies that need to climb. I thouroughly intend to cherish each moment of watching my plants transform into the healthy food we need.
My resolutions are to finish building the raised bed boxes I started, plant more sweet peas this year, and more colorful bulbs!
My resolution is to start and completely transform my front walkway area…we moved into a 16 year old home with the original tired old landscape. I have transplanted all 8 of the alberta spruces that lined the walkway and torn out 4 hugely overgrown boxwood(what a feat that was)…it’s quite bare but looks 100% better…my goal is to make it more naturalized and xeriscaped then the traditional symmetry he had. I think I can(smile)…I think I can…I know I can…(motto borrowed from my grandson’s storybook)
My resolution for 2010 is to actively participate in our yard with my husband. This must go beyond, ” I think you should plant that one over there.” My husband would love me to share in his hobby of growing flowers and vegetables. It has just never been on my ” Bucket List. ” This year I will grab that bucket of compost and lend a hand.
Our winner this week is Sue Altvater (who put her comments under the “Hubbard Squash Soup Recipe” article http://womanswork.com/garden-gloves-blog/?p=35#comments). Sue has such ambitious plans that we want to rush her a pair of our gloves. Thank you everyone for posting your resolutions. They are all inspirational. We still have one more week to go with our contest. Next Thursday we will announce our final winner of a pair of Womanswork gloves. Tell your friends to post their gardening resolutions for 2010!
I would love your advice on my particular problem. I have a back yard of perennials and have always a nice blooming yard. This year I have three bunnies that I have inherited. I love sitting outside and watching them hop around and play. The problem is they are chewing all of my perinnials up. What do you suggest I do to fix this problem other than get rid of the bunnies?
Teri, I queried Ruth Clausen on your question and here is what she said. “There are some plants that rabbits don’t go for I know, but not enough study has been done yet that I’m aware of. There are three options- destroy the habitat where they breed and get rid of the bunnies-trap, poison etc-ugh!
Fence or otherwise protect your garden, enclosing it with small size chicken wire or some such stuff. That’s OK on a small veggie garden but ugly elsewhere.
Apply rabbit deterrent to particularly affected plants (not for edibles)- see Gardeners Supply or Gardens Alive catalogs.