How To Plot The Perfect 2012 Gardening Resolutions - 2

Brush pile teepee bird habitat
Spring cleaning in the garden can be immensely satisfying and provide a big visual payoff for a weekend of labor. But don’t start too early. You want to avoid compacting the earth by making multiple trips across a soggy lawn or flowerbeds.

This is also the time to build brush pile habitats in out-of-the-way places. This is an easy-to-do project that even the kids will love. Gather up unwanted saplings and fallen branches and loosely pile them up, alternating the direction of the layers. Birds and small mammals will take shelter and feed here. If your property is challenged for space, try assembling the brush pile in the form of a teepee and plant pole beans, squash, morning glories, clematis, ivy, or other vines to make it do double duty. 

Cut up fallen trees and limbs for fences or firewood, and stack them for later use. If it will be a while before you get to the reuse project, be sure to “stick” the wood to ensure air circulation and keep the wood from rotting.

Next, identify at least one project that will have a major impact on how the garden looks, how you use the space, or how you feel when you’re in the garden. This should be the thing that makes your heart sing. It will provide the siren song that lures you outdoors and carries you along when nothing else will.

Start the gardening resolution process by selecting no more than one major project or purchase, deciding whether it can be a diy project, or require hired help, and figuring out a budget. List four or five maintenance jobs and assign a completion date for each. Gather your books and plant catalogs together and start a wish list for trees, shrubs, perennials, edibles, and annuals.
--More next time--

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