Top Three Gardening Goals in 2012

I suppose the consequence to writing a "Year-In-Review" article is to write a "Top Resolutions" article. I'm not too much into blog resolutions, but this time I'll make an exception.

I guess I'm just inspired, considering the sizeable amount of material (tips and projects) that went into this gardening blog last year. Imagine, I started with 3, relented with 5, and then finally churned out 10 tips in the article Best Gardening Tips and Projects for last year.

Of course I'd want to continue with some of the successes I've had. There were failures and mistakes, and hopefully, I learned from those. There are many goals (more like "wants") that I can think of for this year, but I'd like to focus a bit on three. This way, even if I'm busy with the regular garden stuff, these three are always on my radar - so to speak.


New Year Gardening Resolutions in 2012

1. Vermicomposting for Fertilizer
   
   
   
   Is vermicomposting part of gardening? Some may argue it isn't. But in may case, I'd like to think it is.
   
   In this area, I've started something a bit already and want to pursue it. The idea of creating fertilizer passively via composting fascinates me. There are several ways to compost dried leaves and kitchen refuse and these have worked for us quite well. But the idea to have composting worms digest scraps to create nitrient-rich vermicompost with their castings seems so amazing.
   
   Why so? Well, consider composting worms as your quiet little workers who will happily convert your kitchen and yard waste into fertilizer, 24 x 7, without complaints.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Granted, the first batch of vermicompost will be harvested probably 3 or 4 months after setting up the worm bins, the succeeding harvests should be much regular and continuous after that. That is assuming you have multiple bins with composting worms in them all working at the same time.
   
   
   
   
2. Read More and Participate in Garden Forums
   
   
   
   There is a veritable trove of wisdom (or should I just say "information") out there on the internet as far as gardening is concerned. For instance, I've been successful in identifying a few plants over at the gardenweb forums.
   
   The folks there are knowledgeable and mostly friendly. There are many members and contributors and so the interests are diverse. You can find help for information on any plant or tree, at least from my experience. The fact that the entire forum is well organized by categories and hierarchies makes searching quicker and convenient.
   
   For this year, I plan on reading more gardening blogs (like this one) and participating in garden forums (fora?). The PEX garden forum looks very interesting. The nice thing about this particular forum is the local flavor it lends to the daily discussions that are well participated by enthusiastic members and contributors. There is so much to learn and gain from all the sharing once you get through the incessant jokes and banter.
   
   
   
3. One Blog Article a Day (OBAD) Challenge
   
   
   
   This one qualifies more as a gardening blog goal.
   
   Writing for this blog can be difficult at times. This is especially when you have a self-imposed minimum length of 500 words (subtitles included) for each published blog post or article. Some days, so many things just get in the way of composing your thoughts. All the more so, when articulating these thoughts in a blog post. And it gets harder. The longer you omit writing articles, the more difficult it is to get back on the groove of writing.
   
   And that's exactly what I want to avoid in my blog writing this year.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   As far as article writing is concerned, there's so much that I can write about. Really. There is actually more - not less - that can be written. Sometimes, I feel that, all I have to do is go out in the garden and think of a way to improve any part of it, big or small, and I have an idea for an article (or several articles, even).
   
   I've learned to take pictures of garden DIY projects as they happen. I copy the digital photos to my hard drive. Later, I retrieve them and let the thoughts of that project inspire me into writing. Naturally, I include the photos in the articles.
   
   So the challenge is really in writing the articles. And that is why I'm embarking on this OBAD Challenge (One Blog Article a Day) as a goal. But the goal is not to write one article a day for just this blog. It's to write at least an article per day for the whole domain of blackdovenest.com, which has 4 blogs.
   
   

So, here's to a Prosperous and Floriferous New Year!