2008 Gardening Resolutions

Ahhh ... 2008 gardening resolutions. Yes, resolutions. Most folks make some of them with each New Year. Even gardeners. Even me.

And, like most folks, the plan is to follow-through on my resolutions this year. The difference? This year's resolutions will be doable.

Actually, that'll be my first resolution. I resolve to keep all gardening projects small and manageable. Last year's major fiasco in that huge hosta bed will not be repeated this year.

Rather than trying to tackle the entire bed all in a single task, it'll be broken down into smaller parts which can be completed little by little each weekend until the entire project is successfully finished by the end of the growing season.

Secondly, I resolve to stay within the gardening budget. True, there are way more daylily varieties than the 40 or so already planted in the garden.

And true, all daylilies are beautiful and another one would be just right set beside this plant or that other plant. But, rather than buy another ten daylily plants all at one time like last year, I'll limit the purchase to only two new daylily plants ... well, maybe three; yet no more than three new ones to be added to the garden this year.

And, due to my first resolution being to keep gardening projects small and manageable, this will be my third and final gardening resolution for 2008.

I resolve to help one other person discover the tremendous joys of gardening. Since there are always extra plants in the garden, I can use some of the extras to give to someone and help them start a small garden area of their own.

Of course, while we're in their new garden planting those extras, I'll also remind them to: