By Chris Winslow.
Gardeners and farmers alike have to have a deep-seated sense of optimism to keep ourselves going… because tests are constantly being put in our way, mostly in the form of weather conditions.
Promises and resolutions for me – with encouragement from members of my family! – normally include eating better and exercising more. But as a gardener, naturally enough, my favorite list is my alternative one with my goals for my garden in the upcoming year. Some of my 2014 garden resolutions that I was thinking about on New Year’s eve on Tuesday included:
1. Plant more trees: I would like to plant one a month. Trees add value to a home and can help with the utility bills as well. By planting evergreen trees on the north side of your home, they can act as a windbreak from the cold, north winter winds. Shade trees planted close to the house provide cooling shade in the spring, summer, and fall. Deciduous trees provide shade in the summer and allow warming sunlight in the winter after they shed their leaves. Trees also absorb carbon dioxide, and this can help slow down global warming.
2. Plant or expand the vegetable garden. By growing your own vegetables, you become more independent –fewer trips to the grocery and fewer trips to the filling station. Working the soil and eating the produce that you have grown is highly rewarding. Gardening is also great exercise.
3. Start composting. By saving and composting grass clippings, leaves, and kitchen scraps, you can make rich compost and mulch for your garden and flower beds. The material is free and just takes a little bit of effort to convert it to something useful. Compost will save you money and will help to limit the waste that goes to the landfill.
4. Start and expand your use of organic practices. Besides making your own compost, use organic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides. This will make the environment less toxic. There has never been as many organic alternatives on the market as there are now. In addition, consider setting up a system of rain barrels, and shift to drip and soaker hose irrigation.
5. Start gardening projects with your neighbor or perhaps the community. Target a piece of ground that’s going to waste and produce some vegetables for the food bank. Reap the mental rewards of volunteering!
6. Besides vegetables, establish other forms of food you can grow. Central Texas is a perfect place for asparagus, grapes, berries, artichokes, peaches, pears, apples, plums, olives, apricots, nectarines, and pomegranates. These plants are perennials and will produce year after year without replanting.
7. Shrink the lawn. With Pam Penick’s book ‘Lawn Gone!’ (Ten Speed Press) as a guide, we are all realizing that there are a myriad of options for replacing the lawn with pretty, drought tolerant plants that will save you money and time… and help save the planet as we become accustomed to gardening in drought conditions.
8. Hang up the phone and garden. As cell phones continue to take over our lives, gardening can be a haven and a sanctuary from the encroaching world of technology.
Well, that’s a start for 2014. Yesterday I started on my first tree planting, after eating my good luck food: cornbread for gold, collards for dollar bills, and black-eyed peas for pennies.
Happy gardening everyone!
