So, here it is. The long awaited new year, together with all the promises we all make about how this year is going to be SOOO much better than last.
I’m pretty sure every gardener out there would stand by me when I say that 2012 was a bit rubbish for vegetable growers. We yo-yoed between impending drought warnings to full on floods. I personally lost too many plants to list, due to their inability to morph into pond dwellers. So with this in mind, I come to my first resolution of 2013
Drainage
Although we’re at the very top of a hill, we are also on clay. Added to that, there’s an old rumor that we have an underground spring running through the middle of our lawn, and that there used to be a brook at the end of the garden which was filled in eons ago. Hence, drainage in the garden can be a bit tricky to say the least. This year we’re installing a pump under the patio to give the water somewhere to go, and raising up the beds on the veg plot. With any luck, these two combined will create some great conditions for growing, and we’ll have more crops than we can physically harvest. Well, that’s the plan.
Heritage
Last year I grew everything and anything I could get my hands on. It was all an experiment to see what grew well and where. This year I’m on the hunt for a few rare and heritage plants. Just to see if there is any difference in how they grow, or indeed, the taste.
Writing
This blog began life as a journal so I could keep track of the changes going on in the garden. Although there are loads of good, informative blogs and articles out there, I always set out to write in a laid back style, with a touch of humor thrown in. For years, I’ve been reading stalwart gardening articles, where we’re sagely told to stand by our beds, and informed what to plant and where. I wanted this to be a bit more fun… so I’ve documented the failures alongside the successes. I sent it to my local paper early in 2012 with a cheeky note to see if they would be interested in printing it. They came back with a ‘yes’, and after my initial panic, ended up having over 40 articles printed over the year. I’ve really enjoyed pulling the pieces together each week, so my next resolution is to keep on sending stuff in, as long as The Hinckley Times still want to print it.
I turned the entire year’s worth of articles, plus a couple more tales into a Kindle book – 50 Spades of Gardening… Resolution number 4 is to produce a couple more books. All to be revealed shortly.
Enjoy
The last, but maybe most important of my resolutions this year is to continue to ENJOY the garden. Yes, it’s a challenge at times but at the end of the day, it needs to be fun. I’m ever the optimist, so have massively high hopes for everything that I plant. But some things don’t make it. When that happens I’ll try to stick to my motto of, “Suck it up and plant something else”.
So there we have it – five New Year’s resolutions, that shouldn’t be too hard to achieve:
1 Improve drainage
2 Plant more unusual stuff
3 Keep churning out the articles
4 Write a set of Kindle books
5 Enjoy the garden
I’d love to hear what my fellow gardening friends would list as their resolutions for 2013. Of course, lots of our success depends on the weather. I’m currently putting my bucket full of sunshine on order…
