Garden resolutions for 2009

It's that time of year when we tend to think of what we hope to accomplish this year.  Have you made some gardening resolutions? Many of your fellow growers have.

Joan Morris of the Contra Costa Times in California asked a number of experts for their home and garden resolutions.

Responses included:
Antonia Adezio, president of the Garden Conservancy: "At home, I'm going to begin composting for my new vegetable garden..."

Paul Licht, director of the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden: "I resolve to revise and repair my aging garden irrigation system..."

Brian Kemble, Ruth Bancroft Garden: "I will plant something that may not become a huge specimen in my lifetime, but will be a source of wonder for future generations."

Debra Prinzing, author of  the wonderful book "Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways," offers the seven habits of highly effective gardeners, to make 2009 a more successful year in your garden. (No. 2: Choose plants you love.)

Debra inspired fellow Californian Lydia Plunk, who took these seven habits and explains how they apply to her garden and what she's learned about them.

"A gardener’s list of resolutions should be flexible," writes Robb Rosser, a Master Gardener in Washington State. "Gardening is a combination of science and art. We work within a definite framework of rules but we must always be open to the spontaneous whim of the creative spirit."

He suggests you start your thinking about this year's garden by asking: “How do I want to use my garden?” It's a simple question that, when answered honestly, can simplify your garden and allow you to concentrate on what matters to you, not others.

Keeping a garden journal is a good way to get organized in the garden. "All in all, records make gardening easier and much more interesting," says Master Gardener Mary Fran McClure. "It's a smart and doable resolution for 2009."

Lisa at Greenbow Gardens finds that a journal makes all the difference for her. She takes it out into the garden with her. "I sketch in it, write whatever is running through my mind about the garden and sometimes other things happening in life."

So her 10-year journal becomes a record of her garden and life.

Of course, you may feel that pen and paper are so 2008. Maybe this year calls for something more high-tech?  Garden Tracker combines garden journal and plant labeling software.

If you feel especially ambitious, here are Dave's  10 projects for for 2009 garden. 

Don't call them gardening resolutions. Call them goals, suggests Robin Wedewer, the National Gardening Examiner. Goals are ongoing and more likely to stick around than "resolutions." No. 1 on her list: Stop and smell the roses. (All gardeners are guilty of working so hard to create beauty that we don't stop to enjoy it.)

Do you say that you haven't yet decided on a resolution and figure that after a while they all sound the same? Stuart Robinson asks you to think about whether you could garden a year without spending ANY money. Now that would be an accomplishment!

But after all this serious thinking, let's end with a smile: Honey's New Year's resolution for regular garden maintenance, which is on Flickr.