My
wife and I are spending a couple months in Ohio this winter for some “quality
time” with friends and family. As I’m sure you can imagine, I’m already
‘champing at the bit’ to get started gardening. Check out the “snow rolls” that
formed on a local lawn-grass “wasteland” in 30-mph winds a few evenings ago.
Thought
I would share some plans for 2014 including a few late New Year’s Resolutions.
First, I’m planning to give a talk on composting this coming spring, after
which I’ll participate in a composting workshop at the MG-SEEDS garden. I
seriously doubt that any audience I’ll have will be more attentive or ask
better questions than the fifth-grade kids who came to hear my talk at Woodland
School near Traverse City last year! Resolution
1: I will do a better job of
“practicing what I preach,” e.g., more carefully sorting out and moving
compostable material into locations. (I’ll post dates and times for the events
when they’re firmed up.) Resolution 2:
I will update the talk and improve the
handout that goes with the events; and I’ll get the handout posted here on the METHODS & MATERIALS page well before the events.
So
far this winter, I’ve accomplished only one thing related to gardening: I’ve
plowed through a dozen or so garden seed catalogs and web sites, marking dozens
of vegetable varieties that look oh, so gorgeous that I just must give
them a try. Resolution 3: I will
resist temptation to choose based on appearance or to try every new
“improvement” that comes along; I will stick mostly with tried-and-true
varieties using my own saved seed or that sold by responsible organizations and
grown for taste and nutritional value.
Last
year, I allowed some of my plants to get too weak and “leggy” because they
didn’t receive enough light and weren’t moved outdoors soon enough. Resolution 4: I will install additional fluorescent lights, and build and use new
cold frames to help “harden off” plants more effectively.
Last
year, I waited too long to thin several things, including summer squash,
carrots, turnips, parsnips, and beets. This made the squash more vulnerable to
fungus diseases because of the reduced air flow and sunlight, and it caused
many of the root crop plants to produce thin, tough roots. Resolution 5: I will thin each crop to its recommended spacing as soon as its seed
leaves appear.
Oh,
I could go on and on, but I need to save SOME mistakes for 2014—that’s how one
gains more “experience” with each successive year.
