A good time for ‘armchair gardening’
Amy Jordan
Thursday, December 28, 2006
A relative recently brought me a stack of gardening magazines from his 2006 subscriptions. I reluctantly took them, knowing they would clutter my already cluttered house and join the stack of unread books and magazines on my nightstand, awaiting my attention.
They were all of my favorites; Horticulture, Fine Gardening, and Garden Design. I picked up a June edition of one that night, and I was inspired. My mind immediately left the dormant landscape of winter and started planning for spring.
Now that the holidays have past, spring is right around the corner. We begin to wait anxiously for the mail, hoping another seed catalog will arrive. We pour over them, reading all of the descriptions of new vegetable varieties with higher productivity and greater disease resistance. We can almost taste that first tomato while looking at the pictures.
As we plan for the upcoming gardening season, perhaps we should reflect on last year. What worked? What didn’t? Unfortunately, due to the unfavorable weather, a lot didn’t work. Weather is something that we, of course, have no control over, and keeps gardening challenging. Would it be as much fun if it was easy? There are ways to make gardening more successful, despite the weather, such as improving soil with organic matter and choosing plants that tolerate prairie conditions. Hort
culturists at K-State Research and Extension have done research on annual and perennial flowers and developed lists of the top performers in the prairie climate; Prairie Star annuals and Prairie Bloom perennials. Check them out at www.prairiestarflowers.com
Now is the perfect time to pick up those gardening books and magazines to get a little inspiration. “Armchair gardening” gets us through the winter and prepares us for spring. Research a few new plants on the Internet or learn the scientific names of your favorites. Who is Quercus macrocarpa?
Gardens can be a metaphor for life. As we begin a new year, think about what your garden says about you. Here are a few I came up with:
• It’s alright to have void; do I really need to add one more thing that will need my attention?
• Gardens require hard work.
• It’s important to remove weeds.
• Celebrate successes, learn from failures.
• Be patient; gardens take time.
• Give children direction, but let them do it.
• Fertilizer and pesticides are not cure-alls.
• My garden isn’t perfect, and neither am I.
sreecharan (anonymous) says...
the article is very good and informative. after reading this i think interest on gardening will grow for anybody. I started gardening after read this type of articles. www.theflowerexpert.com is a very helpfull site if we want information on flower gardens.
December 29, 2006 at 4:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )