Choices, Choices, Choices

 

January 2024

Pickaway to Garden

Choices, Choices, Choices

By Paul Hang

 

At the beginning of the New Year choices seemed like a good place to start. I made the choice to start a new year of this column, its fifteenth. Thinking of the coming year presents the opportunity to make lots of choices. Life is a journey of choices. It seems ironic because life doesn’t begin for us as a choice. As the existentialist philosophers say, we didn’t choose to be here. By the time we realize it we are already here.

 

But let’s talk about less philosophical choices and concentrate on horticultural ones.

If we are responsible for a few square feet of the earth’s surface we will have a garden, unless it is all paved. (If so, then we could have a container garden.) The first choice is will we cultivate a garden? If you choose to cultivate a garden but haven’t established one we must choose where it will be. Will it be vegetables, just flowers, or both? The next choice is, what plants will grow there? Will I choose them or will nature choose them? What to plant? How to care for them?

 

Choices, choices, choices: what soil, organic, fertilizer, diseases, pests, spacing, rotating, plants or seeds? Choices. This column is not a detailed how to column, there are a lot of other resources for that. I prefer to cover the whys and what for of gardening, the thinking about, not so much the doing. That, and a monthly list of some of things to do in the garden.

 

To find out the how tos we must make choices of where to find the information we need. For scientific (tested by authoritative experts who are knowledgeable and published) gardening information go to internet sites ending in edu. Those are universities, often land grant schools, that perform horticultural research. Some are better than others and should be located near where you garden, in neighboring states that have similar growing conditions.

 

Other good resources are: botanical garden sites, e.g. missouribotannicalgarden.org; professional associations’ sites, e.g. www.rose.org; trusted names, e.g. Joe Lamp’l joegardener.com and Martha Stewart marthastewart.com. These last two I have found generally use science based information. In all cases choose more than one source and information that is relatively recent.

 

If you are choosing to start some plants from seed indoors, better get your supplies together. Peruse the seed catalogs. Dream a little. Someone said “The best gardener is one who does the most gardening by the winter fire.”

 

Things to do in the garden:

 

The list of things to do in the garden has gotten shorter. Things we can do about gardening are: Review last year's garden; draw a map while you can still remember what grew where. Plan your gardens and plantings. One of my favorite guides for this is The Ohio Gardening Guide by Jerry Minnich.

 

Check your supply of old seeds. Are they expired? Do you want to reorder that variety? Read your new seed catalogs. Want some more seed catalogs? Go to gardeningplaces.com. Order seeds and plants of new varieties that you want now. They usually sell out quickly.

 

Believe it or not, by the end of the month, you can begin to grow members of the Allium family (Onions, Leeks, Garlic and Shallots) from seed indoors. You can get ready by getting your seed starting supplies together. Make sure you provide plenty of light.

 

Cut back on watering your houseplants and don’t fertilize until March or April when growth begins as the amount of light lengthens, rinse/dust leaves, turn the pots every few days. When your poinsettias are looking ragged throw them on the compost heap. The same goes for paper whites. In my opinion it is not worth trying to get them to bloom again. If you like a challenge, go ahead but be prepared for disappointment. Amaryllis and Christmas cactus are exceptions and can be kept for re-blooming. Check the internet for instructions.

 

Establish a new bed by placing black plastic or several layers of newspaper, cardboard or even old carpet down over the area you’ve chosen for the new bed. Weight it down so the wind doesn’t disturb it. By late spring the vegetation under it should be dead and the space ready for planting.

 

Learn to sharpen your tools, trowels, pruners, spades and if you are adventurous, your mower blades. Oil them and use linseed oil on the wooden handles. Getting rid of a cut live Christmas tree? Don’t. Use it to serve as a wind break for evergreens. Cut the branches off and use them as mulch for perennials. Put it near your bird feeders as cover. Decorate it with suet, fruit, seed cakes, as a bird feeder. Chip it for mulch. If you have a pond, sink it for structure cover for fish. The needles can also be mulch and will not make the soil too acidic. If you had a balled live Christmas tree, plant it ASAP.

 

Some gardening resolutions: Rotate vegetable crops; water the base of plants, not from above; weed and mulch; use row covers; water newly planted trees and shrubs; visit and scout your garden often. Happy New Year.