The Blade, Toledo, Ohio, Kelly Heidbreder Column: A Gardener Makes Her New Year’s Resolutions

By Kelly Heidbreder, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio

Dec. 26–OK, put your right hand up and your left hand on the newspaper. Let’s get those New Year Resolutions on the record. Now, repeat after me:

I (state your name) resolve to prune the bushes this year.

I will not be afraid of my loppers and will get the dogwood tree in my backyard into shape by getting rid of broken and crossing branches first.

I resolve to rake all winter debris off my lawn instead of just trying to mow over it.

I will create a discrete compost pile in my yard this spring after I clean up the leaves from winter and show my children that the right mix of garden garbage doesn’t stink.

I will plant an extra flat of (insert your favorite color here ) annuals this year just because they will make me smile.

I will find my local extension office and have my soil tested this spring.

I resolve not to roll my lawn in the spring and finally realize that it flattens on its own.

I will figure out the real meaning of the numbers on those bags of fertilizer.

My lawn will not be scalped this year because I will raise my mower deck up to three inches even if I have to get the W-D40 or oil out to adjust its rusty risers.

I will actually sit down and draw a landscape plan instead of digging holes and filling them, then moving those plants to a better spot.

I promise not to bag all of my grass clippings and will compost a few bags or get a mulching mower instead so the clippings will feed my lawn.

If I can’t live with my mole neighbors any longer, I will call in a professional to give me a hand.

I will grow (insert your favorite tomato variety here) with gusto, pride, and a little extra fertilizer so my tomatoes are bigger than my neighbor’s.

I will linger in my roses as I clip off the faded blossoms.

I will remember to plant pumpkins in late June so I will actually have a few jack-o-lanterns to carve.

I promise to read more about emerald ash borers and understand that they are here to stay and in honor of their memory, will plant an oak tree somewhere at the edge of my property.

Tulip bulbs are my friends and I will plant at least three dozen around the edge of my flower bed next year so my spouse will beam with pride and have bragging rights to the prettiest garden next spring.

Kelly Heidbreder is The Blade’s garden writer.

E-mail her at kheidbreder@theblade.com Read more Kelly Heidbreder columns at www.toledoblade.com/heidbreder

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