Gardeners’ New Year’s Resolutions

If you’re among the almost 50 percent of Americans who statistics show make New Year’s resolutions, be sure to remember gardening when setting your goals for next year. In fact, consider putting gardening at the top of your list.

Gardeners have more opportunity at this than most. Sure, everyone at least considers turning over a new leaf at the beginning of the year. But gardeners consider these resolve-to-make-it-better ideas when they plant in the spring, put the garden to bed in the fall, and all winter long as they peruse seed catalogs, read old gardening journals, and draw schematics that show exactly where the tomatoes will go. They’re always resolving to do something.

Gardeners’ New Years’ Resolutions

Here are some ideas to make your upcoming gardening year your best ever. Gardening can not only improve your yard, but it can help you with other resolutions like eating more veggies, getting more exercise and reducing your stress.

• Test the soil you have: Purchase a soil test kit and go for it. When you test your soil you will make sure you know the makeup of your soil and you will also be able to know how much fertilizer and lime you need to apply to it.
• Reduce your lawn area. Lawns are high-maintenance money pits. If you replace some of your grass with shrubs, perennials or even vegetables, you’ll spend less time behind the lawn mower and less money on fertilizing, watering during droughts and re-seeding in the spring or fall. You can even begin this project now by organically killing a portion of your lawn. All you have to do is select an area of grass and smother it with compost and aged manure or “burn it up” by solarizing it under plastic sheets. By spring, the area should be ready for planting and mulching.
• Plant to attract wildlife. Enjoy watching butterflies and hummingbirds from your kitchen window after planting black and blue salvia, swamp milkweed, cardinal flowers, or a butterfly bush.
• Remove diseased plant parts. Many diseases and some insects will hang out on infected plants all winter only to infect new plant growth in the spring. Good sanitation goes a long way in preventing plant problems.
• Don’t let weeds go to seed. “One year’s seeding equals seven year’s weeding.”
• Enjoy gardening more. Sit on a garden bench every day. Ok maybe every week. Well, at least every month. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Arbor Hills Trees in Omaha

Arbor Hills Tree Farm, LLC is a family owned and operated business. Our tree nursery is located in a valley of rolling hills near David City, Nebraska. The tree nursery today consists of a large variety of high quality fast growing trees – shade, ornamental and evergreen, as well as various shrubs and landscaping plants.

If there is a particular variety or size of tree you are seeking, and you don’t see those trees listed on our website at arborhilltrees.com, please call at 402.895.3635 or e-mail us at ArborHills@cox.net with your request – and we may be able to locate the type of trees you are looking for.