It’s a New Year and hopefully a better year for all of us. Starting with a clean slate and fresh ideas can help us feel more in control of our homes and gardens. Get started with 4 simple steps for your best garden ever.
One of my biggest struggles is how to keep my home and garden organized. Maybe this is an area you struggle with as well. For many years I would just fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants and complete garden tasks as they came up. By the end of the year, I found that I didn’t get many projects done in the garden. And my produce and flower production was so-so.
I discovered that by planning my chores and projects in advance, I could accomplish so much more. Over time, I found a system that helped me to keep track of everything I needed to do. Here’s my 4-step process to get organized and ready for the new garden season ahead.
Get Focused: 4 Steps for Your Best Garden…
Step 1: Do a Project Brain Dump
As you think about what you want to accomplish this year in your garden, it can be overwhelming. To get a better grasp of what you need to accomplish, take some time and get it all out of your head.
You can complete this brainstorming for everything you need to do in the garden, but I find this most helpful for the extra tasks and projects I want to undertake this year. You don’t need to include the everyday activities that you know you must complete. Things like planting seeds, dead-heading flowers, harvesting produce, and mowing the lawn are a given for the garden season.
To do this activity, take a blank piece of paper and write down every potential project you want to accomplish in your garden. Include everything you can think of, both big and small. Here are a few examples of what you might include on your list:
- Expand your cutting garden
- Organize your garden shed
- Order seeds for the year
- Repair and paint your deck
- Add an outdoor seating area
- Create a brick pathway
- Build some window boxes
- Transplant shrubs to a new area
- Repair your birdhouses
- Experiment with new flowers in your cutting garden
- Purchase new outdoor pillows and cushions
Keep adding to the list until you can’t think of anything else that you want to accomplish this year in your garden. By the time you’re done, the list might be very long. Most likely you won’t be able to complete everything you’re jotting down, but that’s okay. The point is to get it all out of your head so you can make better decisions about what you can do.
Step 2: Sort Projects and Chores by Season
Now take your list and sort each potential activity by the season. Some activities might cross over the seasons, but for now, just place the chore in its best season. To give you an idea of how to do this, here are some examples of what your seasonal project lists might look like…
Winter:
- Assess last year’s garden
- Look through new seed catalogs and order seeds
- Organize the seeds you already have
- Read a new garden book
- Clean and repair birdhouses
- Start hardy annual seeds indoors
Spring:
- Clean and organize your garden shed
- Create a new flower bed
- Add amendments to all your garden beds
- Clean and repair your garden furniture
- Sharpen your tools for the year
Summer:
- Repair and stain the deck
- Build a new garden fence
- Paint the garden shed
Autumn:
- Create a new seating area
- Set up bird feeders for the winter
- Create a system for storing your tools over the winter
- Plant hardy annual seeds outdoors
Step 3: Pare Down Your List to a Manageable Size
As you look through your seasonal lists, consider how many items you have for each season. Some of your seasons might be empty while you’ve overloaded others.
It might not be possible to repair and paint your deck, add a new seating area, create a brick pathway, and build a new fence during the summer. Especially when you have all the other gardening chores to complete.
Try to be realistic in what you can accomplish. Can you move some of your tasks around? For example, you might move some summer projects to autumn while it’s still fairly warm. And you might complete some spring projects in late winter, such as organizing your garden shed.
If your list is overloaded, another option is to remove a few activities. Create an ongoing Project List to transfer the excess chores. That way the activity doesn’t get lost. You know it will be there if you have extra time or it can be at the top of your schedule for next year.
Consider choosing 2 or 3 large garden projects for the year and 5-10 medium-sized projects. A large project might take a week or two to accomplish, while a medium-sized project might take 2-3 days. You can also sprinkle in a few smaller goals that might take an afternoon or two to complete.
A Word of Caution… And as much as we gardeners would like to accomplish everything, you don’t want to spend the entire year just working. Be sure that you plan time in your schedule to enjoy your garden this year.
Step 4: Put it On Your Calendar
Now that you’ve created your project list for the year, it’s time to get practical and add it to your calendar. If you don’t add the items into your schedule, then it’s easy to put them off until it’s too late. Or you might completely forget about them. So pull out your calendar and give the activity a date, or at least a specific month to work on it.
Once you’ve put these activities on your calendar, you have a pathway forward to get the jobs done. Then it’s just a matter of checking your calendar each month to see what you need to do.
A garden planner is a great way to stay on top of your chores for the year. My Annual Garden Planner not only includes calendar pages but planning pages, a project list and so much more. Check it out here… Annual Garden Planner.
Here are some additional tools to help you start the garden season feeling in control. These five posts include ideas for planning, organizing, and creating routines that can help you jumpstart the season.
5 Keys to Getting Organized This Year
Plan Your Garden…
Follow these three steps to get a jump on the gardening season… Looking Forward to an Amazing New Year in the Garden.
Learn to Set Effective Goals…
If you want to be more productive in your home and garden, it starts with setting effective goals. Learn how in this post… 5 Easy Ways to be More Productive.
Create Habits that Will Set You up for Success…
We aren’t all born great gardeners, but you can learn to become a better gardener by developing effective habits. Whether you love to grow flowers for cutting, grow vegetables for your dinner table, or create decorative borders, you can improve when you build these habits into your schedule… 5 Habits of a Highly Productive Gardener.
Create Routines to Stay More Organized in the Garden…
When you create a routine, it becomes easier to follow through on your plans. Learn how to create garden routines that will have you growing your best garden ever… How to Create a Garden Routine for Amazing Results this Year.
Don’t Put Off the Important Tasks You Need to Complete…
Are you a closet procrastinator? Many of us tend to put things off. But if you want to get more accomplished this year, then you need to overcome the procrastination problem. You can find helpful tips in this post… 5 Ways to Stop Procrastinating.
We all love new beginnings. A fresh year. A clean slate to work with. But if you actually want to accomplish something in your garden, you need to create a plan that will move you forward. Flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants is not an option.
Follow these 4 action steps to determine what you want to accomplish and move it from possibility to actually accomplishing it. That way, no matter what this new year brings, at least you can create the garden you want. And you’ll be in control of the tasks that you can deal with.