Perhaps more than any other pastime, gardening is a perpetual reminder of the inevitability of change.
Seasons, weather, plants and even our soils are in a constant state of flux and one gardening year is never quite the same as another. While sometimes frustrating, the ever-shifting nature of gardening is also one of its charms and an everlasting opportunity to learn new ways of doing this thing
we love.
As we head into the heart of this year’s gardening season, here are three approaches to help you embrace change and create a more gratifying and productive gardening experience now and for many years to come. (Note: I highly recommend using a journal or notebook for this exercise, be it an old-fashioned paper kind or some sort of new-fangled
electronic option.)
Assess your garden and your gardening dreams.
Spend some time enjoying and examining your garden this month. Take note of the way it changes over the coming days, weeks and months and make notes about the things you love and dislike in your garden’s current state.
Also, take stock of any changes that have occurred in your garden. For example, a tree may have grown so large it’s now shading out a previously sunny area, or a tree may have fallen and opened up a new sunny spot. Temperature and rainfall changes may also be affecting what plants you can grow. Even your personal tastes and gardening goals may have changed over time.
Now think about what changes you want to make this year and into the future. Maybe you’re ready for a totally new landscape design or want to get serious about removing invasives. Perhaps you want to create new vegetable or flower beds or convert part of the lawn or an underutilized section of the yard into a prettier, more productive space.
Inventory your gardening tools and supplies, too. Determine what you have, what you need, which ones need a little extra TLC and which are ready for retirement. Take time to organize these items, too. You’ll be glad you did when the gardening season cranks up.
These lists and notes can help you plan and budget for the coming season and allow you to chronicle your garden’s life and your own gardening experience.
Work smarter, not harder.
There’s no avoiding work in the garden, but with a little forethought and planning you can lighten your workload. For instance, investing time to improve soils will make plants happier and more productive and can reduce the time and money spent watering and adding extra fertilizer. Building a raised bed or two can reduce the need to weed and make gardening easier on your body. Even little things like installing a new spigot closer to your garden beds or investing in better hoses and tools can make a big difference.
You can also save time and money by using more perennials including ornamentals, fruits, herbs and even vegetables (asparagus, artichokes and rhubarb for example). Naturally reseeding flowers (coreopsis, coneflowers, poppies and many more) and vegetables (tomatoes, carrots, celery, leafy greens and others) can also help reduce the time spent planting. Saving seed from the plants you love this year will help reduce the expense of buying new seed next year and also help promote biodiversity. Try succession planting, a process of planting seeds in staggered intervals to extend your growing season and spread out the harvest of
summer produce.
As you add new plants to the garden this year, try to choose native species or non-natives that are well adapted to your local conditions and aren’t invasive. And choose plants with different bloom times to extend seasonal color and add winter and
fall interest.
Embrace the power of three.
When it comes to gardening and to life, think in threes.
For example, the “three-year rule”—the first year, plants sleep; second year, they creep; third year, they leap—is a handy reminder that perennial plants need time to establish themselves and a reminder that patience isn’t just a virtue in the garden, it’s a necessity.
The “rule of three,” the practice of grouping plants, or any other garden design elements, in sets of three (or increments of odd numbers), is a universal tenet for creating a more natural and aesthetically appealing tableau in your landscape.
And then there’s the “third act,” that stage of life when, if we’re lucky, work and family responsibilities decrease, and we can spend more time gardening, getting involved in organizations like Master Gardeners and plant and conservation societies or volunteering in our communities. We can also pursue our passions, a change that is reinvigorating and may also make our lives busier than ever.
That’s certainly the case for me. In my third-act season, I’m finally pursuing a long-held dream of getting a master’s degree in creative writing, a decision that is leading me to make another big and bittersweet life change. After some 30 years of writing this column for Alabama Living, I’m handing the torch to Bethany O’Rear, whose gardening expertise and passion for helping everyone garden successfully will be a huge gift to this magazine’s readers. (Read more about her below.)
I have loved every minute of writing this column and, while I am excited to see where these changes take me, I cannot leave without expressing my undying appreciation for all the people who have made this experience so rewarding.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the late Darryl Gates, the wonderful and long-time Alabama Living editor who first hired me to do this column back in the mid-1990s. I am also deeply thankful for and indebted to Lenore Vickrey, Allison Law and the Alabama Living production team whose support and patience have meant the world to me and whose hard work makes this magazine happen each month. You are amazing! And, last but never least, I am grateful beyond words to everyone who has read this column, sent me ideas and encouraged me through all these years. You are forever in my heart.
Katie Jackson is a freelance writer and editor based in Opelika, Alabama. Contact her at [email protected].
A farewell and a welcome
Beginning in May, Alabama Living’s garden pages will have a new contributor. Bethany A. O’Rear will join the magazine’s writing family as our monthly gardening columnist, bringing our readers more than 20 years’ experience in the horticulture world. She replaces longtime columnist Katie Jackson, who has written the column for nearly 30 years. Jackson will continue to write periodic feature articles for the magazine, but with this month’s column, is retiring from her monthly duties.
“Since the mid-1990s, Katie Jackson has been a faithful and valuable contributor to the pages of Alabama Living,” says editor Lenore Vickrey. “Her expertise in all things garden, and her excellent writing skills have been a gift to our readers every month. We will miss her, but look forward to her continuing to be a part of our family of writers through periodic feature stories.”
A 2000 graduate of Auburn University’s College of Agriculture, O’Rear holds a bachelor’s degree in ornamental horticulture and a master’s degree in adult education.
Her passion for horticulture started at a young age on her family’s farm, and continued to grow during her time at Auburn. “I am very proud of my childhood, having worked on the farm until college,” O’Rear says. “The lessons learned there led the way to where I am today.”
In August 2001, she began her horticulture career at Landscape Services, Inc., of Birmingham as buyer/nursery manager. Over the years, she built relationships with numerous landscape architects, garden designers and wholesale nursery growers, ensuring that each job had the best plants the green industry had to offer.
Since 2011, she has been a regional agent serving Blount, Jefferson and St. Clair counties for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, specializing in commercial and home horticulture, working with both homeowners and industry.
At home, she says she loves growing all kinds of vegetables, adding, “This is the first year that I have successfully grown carrots, so for right now they are my favorite!” She and her husband, Cliff, have two sons, Elijah, a senior at Auburn, and Isaac, a senior at Hayden High School.
“I truly am excited to join the Alabama Living family,” she adds. “I am so blessed to be able to do what I love and share that love with others.”
