When I was working in a normal office and had a staff, I hated goal setting. My goal was always to get thru the week without making some terrible mistake that cost someone pay or PTO, or lost the company $10,000. For most of my staff, setting goals was a total waste of time. They did their jobs well, showed up every day with enthusiasm and were the hardest working group I have ever known. Goals seemed superfluous at best.
But in the garden? It's a totally different thing. All winter i think about things i want to change or improve. Some years there are lots of things, or big things, and some years they are not so hard... but each will make my garden better. I see them as projects, but they really are goals, too.
So the top three four for this year:
1) Convert the xeri-garden into a veggie garden. I really loved the idea when I first started the xeri-garden, but it just hasn't worked out the way I hoped. It appears to be too wet for most of the xeri-plants and, tho I have replaced them annually and tried new things, i still have way more weeds than plants. And, to make things worse, the soil has packed down and i need to put 4-6 additional inches on top. Was going to wait until retirement for a bigger veggie garden, but this will definitely be the big project for the spring.
2) Divide the iris in the fish pond and clean up the lily pond. I love the iris, but they are way overgrown. Will have to hack the whole bunch apart and destroy the container and then move about half of it into a new container and move the rest to the lily pond.
The lily pond has not even been cleaned for two years, so that's where I will need to start. Then add more iris and clean up the pot of water lilies. This should be an easy, if wet, project.
3) Put in a step in front of the shed. This area becomes a swamp when it rains. Since i am constantly in and out of the shed, the grass doesn't grow well and what does grow seems to interfere with the door opening smoothly. A simple fix, but definitely needs to be done.
4) Turn over the compost pile. A big job this year. It's been at least two years since it was done and I have days' worth of small branches and woody stuff to shred before I can tackle the soft stuff. Probably will take several months to get it done, but worth the work.
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| Everything on the left needs to be chopped up, then everything on the right flipped over to the left until I get down to "good dirt". |
So goals for summer 2013 are all set. Let's see how it goes.
Goals are good. I'm so glad "conquering the compost pile" is on another list besides mine. Ours looks like a haystack!
ReplyDeleteI will love to trade compost piles with you. It will take at least five afternoons to shred up all the sticks. It's way easy (we have a chipped/shredder) but incredibly boring. But it works for days when it's too wet or too cold to dig in the dirt.
DeleteWell yours appears slightly daunting, but once you get going the time just flies.
ReplyDeleteRepeat that to yourself.
So disappointed today is so blah, need a little sun and some determination to start my next job: cut down all the liriope:yuck.
Takes forever. Bests thinking about the berm tho.
xo Jane
Lirope - what a pain. I have lots of it, too. Does make a good edging if you have the clumping kind and not the spreading kind. Got a string trimmer? or a lawn mower? I usually take the easy way out.
DeleteTerrible day!
Many a week my work goal is to make it through the week. I should probably work on that one of these days. I do have several gardening goals the first being healing the tendonitis in my elbow, so I can garden. I am getting nervous. Glad to see green grass. The weather here in Wisconsin is still pretty dismal.
ReplyDeleteThose are projects indeed! Some of them look pretty big to me, but it is always great to improve areas. The garden gives you the satisfaction that a "real job" never gives you (or at least it did not to me). We had "expectations" that were to be met, attainable or not. Oh happy "retirement"!
ReplyDeleteBTW, my compost pile gets turned by tractor :-)
Wow! that must be some pile! You are the queen of projects. I have yet to build a horse shed. We'll compare after i reach that stage!!
DeleteIt IS quite a pile. It never ceases to amaze me how much vegetation from landscape is pulled and recycled. Here in the desert stuff does not decompose readily unless you really keep it moist, so it's mostly a junk pile which eventually does go back into soil after years and a couple of turns with John Deere.
ReplyDeleteMy main "compost pile" are the hens who get anything green from the garden and other scraps from the kitchen.
This is an excellent, manageable list. Neal wandered onto Strawberry Street over the weekend (which, for the record, is my absolute favorite new spot) and there was a large school with a fabulous playground and a raised bed vegetable garden in the back. Each grade had their own bed and they were all growing green cabbage. So I figure if a 5th grader can do it, we'll tackle it when we get to our new home. Lily ponds are so beyond my ability though!
ReplyDeleteI set a goal of pulling all of the winter deadness from my back garden this past weekend, and I completely failed because I didn't even step foot back there! At least I already know what my goal for next weekend will be :)
ReplyDelete