5 Tips for Helping Moms Plan Next Year's Garden and Landscape
 (Read 250+ times)
By Kathy Kline Danner
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If you are like me, nurturing your plants goes hand-in-hand with nurturing your family. Gardening not only helps me fight the joy thieves of motherhood by digging in the dirt with my kids, but I also enjoy sharing the fruit of our labors. I like showing my children the joy of bringing fresh cut iris blooms or roses to someone who needs a little lift in their day. It is also great fun to eat some of the edible “fruit” together. Teaching my children the magnificence and variety of God’s creation along with some practical gardening skills can really put wind in a tired mommy’s sails.
If you are also like me, you sometimes fall short and failure is no fun. Every year at this time, I take stock in what I accomplished as a mom last year and what I can do better next year. The same goes for the garden and landscaping.
It didn’t help that last year we had a drought following a 6 day late Spring freeze. We lost whole plants and shrubs. Not to mention that the Japanese beetles were such long term residents that my kids started naming them!
Here are 5 tips along with some web links to help you in planning for next year’s garden and landscape.
1) First take a walk in the garden and write down what failed and what did well.
Take a look at what plants looked like they were on steroids and what plants were fighting the Japanese beetles all summer. Take notes on what plants to divide right after the next rain (or after the snow melts) and what plants to move to a better spot.
2) Dream of what you would love to see next year. Get some graph paper or just draw a freehand sketch of your landscape or garden and color in what blooms and at what time of year. I strive to have something blooming or fragrant to cut and bring inside year round. Even in the dead of winter, I can clip some camellia blooms and pair it with some magnolia or holly greens.
3) Use pictures of other people’s garden to help you plan. Go to a website that gives you gobs of great ideas. If you don’t have enough experience or feel like you are stuck in a rut of using the same old plants, venture out to some new on-line sources of inspiration.
4) Start Shopping for seeds, bulbs, and seedlings. Go on-line or call and order your catalogs. You can get a lot of bang for you buck by ordering bulbs, tubers, flower seeds, and saplings from these catalogs… just read the fine print on the size of these plants. The first time I tried this, I was deeply disappointed at the size of my little tiny plants. The pictures in the catalog showed full grown and thriving Clematis vines. I ordered a pack of three different kinds and I got all three in a sandwich sized bag. Then when I whipped the rubber band off the plants, I also whipped off the only two leaves on one of the little vine plants. Needless to say, only two out the three survived. However, the two that did survive did grow into verdant and thriving vines by mid Summer. They also came back as loyal perennials bigger and better each year.
5) Lastly, fill in some of your blank areas with focal points. Use either specimen plants or garden sculptures. This time of year is a great time to clean up on year end sales at garden centers. You might be able to find a garden sculpture, fountain, large pot, or bird bath for ½ off or more.
Decide where your focal points are by entering your yard or garden like you are a guest. What do people see when they first go out on the back deck or porch? What do people see first when they look at your front yard? What do you see out a main window?
Choosing pleasant garden art that will add charm and value to your landscaping doesn’t always have to be pricey. Try using sculptural plants like a spiky yucca, a twisted vine, or graceful fern in a brightly colored pot can act as a garden focal point.
Bonus Tip: Include your kids in planning for next year’s garden by walking through the garden with them and talking about your successes and failures. Have them help you pick out next year’s plants from the colorful catalogs. Also, go ahead and brace them for the fact that mommy is going to take steps to keep the “cute” little green beetles off the roses next year.
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Author Bio Box: Kathy Kline Danner
 © By Kathy Kline Danner
www.PBandJAHM.com
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