Turning Over a New Leaf

The nice thing about a new year is that it's a time to start fresh, to begin again, to do things differently. Last year I vowed to keep up with my garden maintenance better. I always wait until the weeds have taken over or the plants have grown beyond their bounds, and then I have a BIG clean-up job. Since I have two yards to take care of, I really needed to get my act together. For the most part I did a pretty good job. I still get behind now and then, but mostly I stayed on top of it.

Now, that brings me to 2009. I've been thinking about what I want to do differently or better this year. I know that I still need to stay really focused on regular maintenance chores, but I also need to take it one step further and stay on top of bug problems. As you can see the old leaves on my azaleas plants have had the juices sucked right out of them by those pesky lace bugs. I've had good results with Bayer Advanced Rose & Flower Insect granules in the past. The only problem is that I don't have a system set up to apply the stuff regularly. I guess I need some sort of calendar or perhaps a notebook might work better. I can jots dates down and look back when needed. There that might take care of those pesky bug problems.

But what about a little more fun in the garden. What I really want to do, no matter how busy life gets, is take a little walk around my garden each day. I want to see what secrets the garden holds, catch more flowers in bloom, see what plants are happy or not, and be more aware of what's happening as the seasons come and go.

So, for 2009, I'm turning over a new leaf (figuratively and literally - so I can see what bugs are hiding under there) and vowing to get better acquainted with my garden.