Every new year brings forth the idea of a fresh new slate. We gather together ideas and draw an image upon that slate filled with optimism over what we can accomplish each year. I always have goals in mind for the garden and try to put them together to create a to-do list for each year. Some of these things may be on your garden to-do list for 2020 as well so let me know what you think!
2020 Garden To Do List
- General Clean up – The beginning of each season requires that old plants I left with dead foliage for winter interest and natural habitat need to be taken down. I’ll compost what I can.
- Start seeds! Starting seeds is one of the most fun things to do each year. I’ll start some greens seeds as soon as possible indoors for transplanting in the garden. Then come the peppers and tomatoes which need a bit of time to get sizable enough to go in the garden. I have racks in our garage with heat mats to keep the temperature up. Last year my pepper starts didn’t make it so I’m determined to have a better result this year. Check out my Seed Sowing 101 Series of posts for some information on starting seeds.
- Build 3 new raised beds. Over the years I’ve tried many different gardening methods and the best way I have found for my garden is raised beds, but they don’t last forever. I would like to make 3 new 3’x6′ or 4’x8′ simple raised beds with lumber.
- Dismantle our “Birdbath Garden.” Many years ago I began a garden based around a birdbath. It was a copper bird bath built on a wooden post. The weld on the bird bath broke and the post rotten so today there is no birdbath in the bird bath garden. It’s become a bit over grown with shrubbery I’ve planted and I would just like to reduce the garden and leave only a few shrubs/trees like the witchhazel and viburnum. There is a rock border around it which needs removed and transferred over to our property for future use.
- Repair our shed. My Blue Shed has been around for about 10 years now. It’s time for a bit of maintenance. Carpenter bees have had a go at the wood trim and fascia so those pieces need replaced. Also my daughter shot an arrow through a glass pain on the front door so I need to replace that with something!
- Clean up the daylily and iris garden. This garden now gets way too much shade and the blooms have suffered. It’s time to move it over to our land and continue to grow them over there.
- Add some giant plants! I’d like to add some really unique plants into the garden just for fun. Plants like gunnera and elephant ear. They have a tropical look that breaks up the appearance of our garden. My 6 year old daughter loves sunflowers so we will try a few giant sunflowers for her and the birds.
- Do more gardening videos on Youtube. If you haven’t subscribed yet to my Youtube Channel you can do that right here: Growing The Home Garden. I just released a new video about where I think my vegetable garden will be when we move to our land. Check it out if you’re curious!
- Start building our house. This is a huge item on my To Do List that I’ve spent so much mental energy on. I hope that by the end of the year we will be ready to break ground. That may be optimistic since so many things need to happen before we get to that point. It takes a lot of money to build a home. While this isn’t directly gardening it will change everything with Growing The Home Garden once we are out on our 7 acres. Just think about how many gardens can I get into…
That’s really enough. Really. I know I’ll add more ideas as I move forward through the year, I always do!
First Daffodil of 2020
I always like to notate the arrival of the First Daffodil of spring each year. In this case it has arrived early, as of January 17th!!! Here are a few photos of the daffodil (Narcissus). Here in the south many people call them buttercups. It’s very early but the warm spells we have had this winter are giving way to early bud opening in many plants. Hopefully this won’t cause us trouble later with the fruit trees.
