Happy New Year

It just seems natural to take stock of how my garden did at this time of year and make plans for the new year.  I'm glad I don't live in the southern hemisphere--winter permits a leisurely assessment for making new year plans.   I'm sure they make plans in the winter too but it's not the new year but it is for gardeners I guess.  I always make New Years resolutions.  I'm not foolish enough to think that I will accomplish each of these but I just want to make progress and in a few years drop it from my top five.  These are my New Year’s Garden Resolutions for 2011.

1.   I will only buy the number of plants (bedding/cell pacs) that I can plant in 2-3 days.
2.   I will not save every plastic pot simply because I might need it someday—I must recycle at least half.
3.   I will continues to fertilize those plants that need it throughout the season and not stop arbitrarily in July.
4.   I will really disbud this year even if I don’t want to lose the bloom.
5.   I will stake before the plant falls over.

There are a couple of new projects for this year too.   One that I'm really excited about is a full sun raised bed cutting garden for church flower arrangements.  I've made it 4' x 24' and have it filled with top soil.  I'm working on selecting plants and successive planting schedule for certain varieties.  The other project is reworking a large bed in my backyard. What I'd like to try and do is make a large tufa basin type of structure to create a damp soil area in dry shade.  I'm not looking to make a bog so I need to drain it and yet keep tree roots out.  I'm itching to get started but this may take a couple of years to get it right.

Last weeks snow has finally melted but it was a slow process.  I've never seen icicles like this before.

The Christmas Cactus is now in full bloom.  This is the only one that was not torn up by squirrels and cats this year.

I haven't posted any blooms of Yuletide Camellia this year.  Both of mine are heavily budded but only about 2 or 3 buds opened.  It may be a late winter early spring bloomer this year.