Somehow this didn’t make it to my blog, but in 2013 I took out my concrete slab in the backyard and replaced it with a garden patio. I also had a huge vegetable garden and finally finished converting the shed into an office.
This year, I want to make my backyard an inviting place full of birds and flowers. And I want to make it fun for Savvy Jr.
MY 2014 GARDEN RESOLUTIONS:
1. CONSERVING WATER. California is experiencing a major drought. It’s scary—I’ve never seen so little rain in the winter before. So I’ll be using drip irrigation even more than normal and collecting what rainwater we do get this year.
2. FRUIT TREES. I mentioned this before: I’m putting in a grapevine, apple tree, mulberry tree, and some shade berry plants—huckleberries and thimbleberries, to start.
3. FLOWERS. For the first time since moving to our house, I‘m thinking about planting flowers to add color, beauty, and fragrance, as well as attract birds and butterflies. I know for sure I’m putting in a camellia, hydrangea, gardenia, and two rhododendrons, and I’ll also be adding some kind of vine to the back fence—clematis or jasmine?
4. VEGETABLES. I’ll have another large vegetable garden, similar to last year but not quite so intense.
5. CHICKENS. I’ll be adding two new chickens to my flock. One chicken, Penny, died in 2013—we don’t know what killed her—and that cut down the egg supply enough to make us decide to get more chickens.
6. KIDS STUFF. I’ll be putting in a jungle gym for Savvy Jr. A relative has offered this as a gift, so we just have to pick out what we want. (No, not this one.) I’m going to try putting in a bean teepee or a sunflower house for Savvy Jr too.
What are your garden goals for 2014?
