Looking Back on Your Year in the Garden
The end of the year is an ideal time to prepare your garden for the winter, bring your gardening duties to a close, and reflect on your overall growing experience. Over the last few weeks, we have been offering some useful tips on caring for your garden after harvest, winterizing your garden, and amending your soil.
This week, we’re taking a different approach and sharing some advice on evaluating your year of gardening. We encourage you to admire your successes, learn from your mistakes, and get some ideas flowing for the next growing season.
Ask yourself the following questions and maybe even write down your answers in a garden journal for future reference!
What Went Right?
It’s always a good idea to start with your accomplishments. How did you kick butt this year? Think about your very best plants and your tastiest yields, and consider what could have made that happen.
Did you improve your plants’ access to light and air with a trellis? Did you use a new soil or nutrient additive? Did you upgrade your growing container to one that promotes better aeration? Asking yourself these kinds of questions can help you recreate your success in the future!
What Went Wrong?
Now that you’ve celebrated, it’s time to get down and dirty with the challenges you faced this year. What are some things that didn’t live up to your expectations, and what could have been the cause?
Did your garden suffer from an infestation of pests like spider mites or thrips? (Eeeeew!) Did some plants fail to produce as much as you expected, or not at all? (Dang, that sucks.) Tracking these kinds of issues in a garden journal or calendar can help you learn to take measures to avoid them in the future, whether it means practicing pest management, encouraging better root growth, or learning to avoid the most common gardening mistakes.
What Was Learned?
The fine art of gardening is a skill developed over time through study, experience, and trial and error. Because of that, it can be helpful to reflect on the lessons you learned and keep track of the resources that served you best!
Did you finally figure out how to transplant without damaging the roots? Did you read up on the science of NPK? Did you find out about some useful new garden hacks? You’ll be an even better gardener next year by taking this knowledge with you into the next season. The more you grow, the more you know.
Looking Back to Look Ahead
Ask yourself these questions to help you recall the ups and downs of the past year of gardening, and be sure to note how you have evolved as a grower in terms of knowledge and skill. Gardening takes time to learn, but we at GardenTap will be here with you every step of the way!
Check out our blog for more growing tips, or read about planning next year’s garden if you’re ready to get growing!
