1. Avoid the temptation to get out into the garden while the soil is too soggy. You don’t want to compact it. If you must, put out some boards across your beds to walk on to spread your weight until the soil firms up. The wonderful garden writer Elsa Bakalar offered this test: Pick up a handful of soil and make it into a ball. If it crumbles, the soil is dry enough to work. If it balls up like dough, wait a few days.
2. Weed early and often. This will save you time in the long run, keep your garden looking tidy and keep unwanted plants from stealing resources from the plants you want to flourish.
3. Give up on a project that’s been causing years of disappointment and frustration. For me, that’s roses.
4. Plant enough basil so you have plenty to make pesto. It’s easy to make, freezes beautifully and keeps practically forever. It also is a perfect gift, especially for friends whose cooking skills are limited to boiling water.
5. Plants more butterfly and hummingbird friendly flowers. Butterflies love many plants and shrubs, including Buddleia (butterfly bush), Scabiosa columbaria (pincushion plant), Monarda (beebalm) and Liatris spicata (gayfeather). Hummingbirds gravitate toward trumpet-shaped flowers and red or pink flowers. These include perennials like Monarda and Chelone lyonii (pink turtlehead). Annuals for hummingbirds include red salvia, snapdragons and fuchsia.
6. If you’re an omnivore, buy meat and poultry from local farmers. There are several meat CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture) around. The food is tastier, healthier and happier all around.
7. Take a risk on a new plant, and remember that the planting guidelines are not written in stone.
8. When you’re buying annuals, don’t buy just one of everything. I’m timid when it comes to trying new plants, but I am always disappointed that I didn’t buy more of something that turned out to be a star. Two isn’t a felicitous number for garden arrangements, so three is good place to start.
9. Include some weird-looking plants in your patio pots. There are some eye-popping Begonias out there.
10. Take some time to admire your garden. My friend Jane Bryden, whose garden is truly envy-making, walks through her garden every day to see what’s happening there and to enjoy the fruits of her labor.
11. Let your garden be a source of joy rather than trial and tribulation!
Anyone interested in a career in environmental horticulture should plan to attend the Green Industry Career Fair sponsored by the Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association. This is where landscape, nursery and greenhouse companies go to connect with individuals looking for jobs in the green industry.
Landscape, nursery and greenhouse companies will be on hand to talk with job seekers about a wide variety of jobs. The industry needs irrigation technicians, project managers, foremen, salespeople, managers and supervisors, horticulturists and licensed applicators, landscape designers, equipment and fleet mechanics, people with CAD experience and laborers.
Green industry companies have offices and need support staff on their teams, too.
The career fair will take place at Sturbridge Host Hotel & Conference Center, Sturbridge, on Feb. 7, 2017 from 8 a.m. until noon. It’s free but pre-registration is required.
For more information go to www.mnla.com or call 369-4731.