Happy New Year to you Kate, and all my friends here at GW. I been thinking about making my garden a little easier to care for, so I guess that's my resolution.

For instance, I have a lovey Tacoma Stands trained as a tree, but it produces seedlings all over the place, so I plan to take it out. It's just too much weeding the seedlings.

Happy New Year everyone! I know what I'm doing today, getting all my orchids in before we freeze. Hoping to make a new planting area this year. Speaking of shovels, how do you sharpen them, mine seems dull, either that I'm just getting weeker.

As soon as it warms up some I need to re-pot most of my potted plants: remove all the old soil, root prune and replace soil with Al's 5:1:1 mix.
And like Kate I want to get some edging and divide my garden spaces for a neater look.
More immediately I'll warm up the shadehouse. That includes rolling down the plastic sides and using the heater that is still in the box!

Happy New Year everyone,

My resolution is to NOT buy seeds from every catalog that comes in the mail ;-) I'm already off to a bad start since I found another tomato today that I want to try, getting ready to place my first order of the year :-) :-(

Tom

Great post Kate and one I've been thinking about very seriously.
1)I have got to get on some kind of fertilizer schedule and stick to it.

2)then maybe I can get my plumies to bloom this year!

3) I need to buy mulch. The free stuff isn't coming if the tree people don't have work.

4) I need to seriously thin the pot getto. Some of these plants have roots in the ground already and are huge.

(OK there's more but it's Bowl time for the gators)

...meant to say Seminoles.
Gators later.

Go Gaters!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Like Kate, I want to simplify. I have way too much hodgepodge. I would love to finally get the side yard fenced for a dog run and eliminate alot of the plants that just didn't live up to their potential or that are too hard to keep up with.

Kristi, I have some of your heliconia to give back to you. Plus I have a few others (none were 1/2 as vigorous as yours) if you want them.

PS sorry Kate, I still have about 5 or 6 potted plummies for you. Kristi, mine have been blooming...one very pretty rainbow in particular is a good & regular bloomer, would you like some cuttings?

That's ok. I've still got a couple things in pots that I planned to put in the ground in september! This year seems like it was one crisis after another - everything was handled... except the yard. New year / new beginnings.

Kate

Tom, lol. Did you get the "Totally Tomatoes 2010" catalog? They have a good variety.
Katkin, I would love your Tecoma tree if; you don't have plans for it and you think it will survive being dug up.

My resolution is, KILL THE DOLLAR WEED!!! Also try to get grass to grow in it's place.

I have resolved to be a bit less cranky, combative, and sarcastic this year.

No, that's not at all true, but it sounds good and there are some who would believe it.

So, in that vein, I resolve to make my garden less maintenance intensive in the coming year. (Might as well start with something less plausible than getting my hair to grow back.) How I plan on doing this is still a mystery and thus, I can rely on this same resolution to be made every year hence.

I resolve to no longer suggest to the veggie growers here that Publix or their local farmer's market makes more sense than fighting the bugs, lack of rain, freezing temperatures, or four-legged pests. (Not that I expect sense from such things anyhow.)

I resolve to find another tree to suggest for the twice-monthly posting of "Please suggest a tree . . ." from the folks who don't believe the question has ever been posted before and/or refuse to use the archives. As much as I love the Tipuana, there are a few more that will do the job just as nicely.

I resolve to get rid of the last coconut palm in the garden. (I did this several weeks ago, but what the heck, I didn't resolve it last year so I'm owed one.)

And last but not least, I resolve, if the winter doesn't demolish the garden, to host a Swap-A-Que in late April.

Like others, my goal for 2010 is to ditch the high-maintenance plants (ie: tea-roses) and rid the yard of 'clutter'/garden debris, ie: exactly why I haven't tossed out the broken terracotta pots is a mystery! So, enough of a 'keep it and find a use for it later' attitude. Toss-a-Roo!

Same goes with the extra plants that no one wants (including me...) and the tempermental ones that refuse to die or thrive.

I want to finish my tropical shade-garden where my hammock is located, so I can actually relax in the hammock, instead of mentally planning my garden until I finally just get up and start pulling weeds and digging up plants. I don't think I've actually spent more than 15 minutes IN my hammock....

I want to simplify too. I want tor reduce the number of large potted entities (like 20 gal plumeria 20-25 gal Heliconia rostrata, 15-20 gal calathea majestica, etc) that I have to overwinter. If I can just stay with what I have and deny the urge to collect more, things will be okay. But if I cave this next season.....:-(

I knew when I bought the big Travellers Palm it would be a pain to overwinter, but it was such a steal (a HD "trial", large 7-8 ft plant in 10 gal for less than $10). It grew a lot over summer, now more like 10-12 ft, and was a pain to haul indoors when 28 was forecast, but looks great in the living room under the skylight so that one was worth it. But NO MORE LIKE THAT!!!!

If I write it down will it come true?

#1 DO NOT IMPULSE BUY plants unless I have researched them beforehand or asked at this forum if it is a good idea.
Must remember that little plants grow up to be BIG plants and there is not a lot of room here.
Must remember that just because it's in bloom right now doesn't mean it will bloom ever again in my yard.

#2 Re-read #1 every time there is a plant sale or I walk through the nursery area of big box store.

Denise

Saintpfla, yes what is it about broken terracotta pots? I have them too...lol. I guess I need to do a little clean up as well.

I have a potting table that has become a catch all. I don't think I've ever potted anything on it. I need to clear it off and am thinking of adopting the Toss-a-Roo attitude! Oh and I have broken pot pieces,too. Why?

WRF...yes and yes.

I don't really have any garden resolutions because I have enough non-garden ones but I do have a goal of making some of the beds deeper and curvier and to replant the north flower bed with something that will actually grow there (third time being the charm). I started on that during my Christmas break but then got distracted by clearing dead bamboo and potato vines. And then since I could see some more of the side yard of course we found a spot where a tree fell on the fence and where the dogs could get out. And then of course we had to clear along the fence line so we could fix it. And then of course... Well you get the picture.

So that is why I had to move my other projects to 2010!

Have a good 2010, all. And, Ricky, good luck. I give you until March 1st on 2 of the 6.

Get rid off all the grass in the front yard by the end of the year.
Might seem simple, because we have a postage stamp front yard, but someone planted zoysia somewhere in my neighborhood years ago and now we all have it. And you can't kill it. You can't sod or mulch over it, you can't carve out beds that it will stay out of no matter how deep you dig the border material, you can't poison it. I fear nothing short of a flood worthy of Noah would do this stuff in.

But someday, I'm going to get rid of it.

Happy 2010 To All.
This will be the best gardening year ever! I just know it!
My resolution will be to find a property in central Florida with at least one acre and begin living out my gardening dreams!
Sounds simple, but not nearly as simple as it sounds. So many small lots in the Orlando area.
Our family has been trying to relocate for a year now. This will be the year it happens!
Happy Gardening

Here is a link that might be useful: My Lil Green Patch

I resolve to never again plant anything in the ground that won't survive 25 degrees. Except maybe a few bananas, and that papaya thats wintering in my GH, and the mango.....

Misha, I like your attitude!
I am now adopting as my new mantra
1)Toss-a-Roo and
2)This will be the year it happens!

I think I'm just going with Toss-a-Roo! It's the new Garden Hoes mantra!

Kate

The tech from AT&T was just here to fix my phone and left with a potted mexican sunflower baby!

It's working
This is the year I happen to Toss-a-Roo!!!!!(into someone else's garden)

I am new to this board and new (3 weeks) to Space Coast Florida. My goal for 2010 is to 'have' a garden! And I want to make wine. We do a lot of cooking and entertaining and can't wait to be set up.
We are also house hunting! We transfered from Virginia to here.
Used to live (11 yrs ago) in Fort Lauderdale, so we are familiar to Florida, but this area is a bit colder.

Here is a link that might be useful: our veg garden on my Blog