Garden Goals for the New Year
With the hustle and bustle of the Holidays behind us, we can gaze ahead into the New Year. Have you started thinking about some goals you want to accomplish? Most people have New Years resolutions to lose weight, make more money, or learn a new skill.
How about some Garden Goals? Are you including any goals to grow more food? use less water? or redesign your landscape? If you live here on the Garden Island, these kinds of goals make sense. You can also take heart knowing you don't have to go it alone!
Here at Seascapes, we can help you accomplish your gardening and landscaping goals. Use this blog post as a guide to help you get started and to get an idea of how we can support your "Garden Goals for the New Year!"
Create a Clear Plan
Make yourself a list and resolve to meet one goal each month. That way you won’t get overwhelmed. I'm sure you can think of 12 different goals for your Garden and if you're anything like me, you can probably think of 2x as much! Starting off small will make it easier to accomplish your goals and sticking to your list will help you cross things off your list and give you a great sense of accomplishment.
Here's a few Garden Goals you can achieve this next year:
Oil, clean, sharpen OR replace tools
Organize, tidy, and clean up around the garden or in your work shed
Replace or redesign your landscape or an area of your yard
Build out a raised bed garden
Plant more pollinator friendly plants
Incorporate more Native Plants into your landscape
Let's consider each of these in a little more detail. :)
Take Care of Your Tools
Having well maintained tools can make all the difference in your gardening experience. Are you taking time to clean, and properly store your tools? Could you improve in this area? Do you have old, broken or dilapidated tools laying around? Is it time to find some new tools or perhaps research and try out something new? Here at the nursery we have some tried and true hand tools. We only carry fan favorites so be sure and check them out next time you come in. If you have questions about any tool, our staff would love to talk story with you and help you find the right tools for your garden projects.
Recreating a New Landscape
A carefully curated landscape can become your own Garden of Eden; a refuge and a place to replenish your spirit. Is there an area of your yard or around your house that could use a little love?
Our knowledgeable design staff can work with you to prepare the perfect landscaping plan to fit your needs, plant preferences, and your property. Our Landscape Design & Development services range from site consultations to full landscape design, CAD drawings, installation and project management!
We generally start with an hour on-site consultation which includes answering any questions you might have. We share our professional advice and an estimate for the installation of a project with a basic overview of the project scope. From there you can decide how you would like to utilize our services. We will ensure that the correct plants are used in their ideal habitats, to create your ultimate vision for your landscape. Visit our services page to learn more.
Build Out a Raised Bed Garden
Have you always wanted to grow a kitchen garden? You can hit two goals with this one! Save money AND grow your own food. Even a simple box garden for herbs and greens can have an impact on your budget and your health! We've put together a simple guide to get you started. Check out our blog post, "8 steps to growing your own container garden."
If you want to build one out of wood, be sure to use untreated wood since treated wood contains chemicals you don't want in the food you eat! The Home Depot has a great DIY article you can check out if you want to get crafty.
Plant a Pollinator Friendly Garden
Every action we take has a direct consequence in the world around us. What we do affects everything else. A worthy New Years Goal is to build and contribute to a more sustainable future. Pollinators such as Bees and Butterflies are needed for 90% of the reproduction of flowering plants on earth and 1/3 of human food crops; 1/3!!!
All of our favorite fruits and vegetables would not be possible without our precious pollinators… just think if there were no Mangoes, Lychee’s, Papayas, Cucumbers, or Tomatoes?! What a tasteless world we would live in. Lets’s help the pollinators!
A good place to start…
Add plants to your landscape that provide food and shelter for pollinators.
Manage or eliminate the use of pesticides to reduce the impact on native pollinators.
Minimize tillage to protect ground nesting pollinators.
Spare some dead branches as nesting sites for solitary bees.
Ensure water sources are scattered throughout the landscape (pollinators get thirsty!).
Use a variety of plants, rather than a single type to ensure blooms year round.
Plant the same species in clumps. The larger the display, the more attractive the patch.
For a more in depth discussion and insight from local bee keepers visit our blog post, "Bee Responsible; Protect Our Pollinators."
Design a Native Landscape
Maybe one of your Goals this year is to have a beautiful garden that doesn't require a ton of maintenance. Something you can plant, forget about (within reason) and also enjoy for years to come. This is where a Native Landscape fits right in.
Hearty, wholesome, and heroic, Native Plants grow practically anywhere without much fuss. They need nothing more than what comes their way via the winds and rain. You can find them up in the mountains, down at the beach, and everywhere in between. They have even found themselves front and center at Kauai Seascapes Nursery. They don’t require any irrigation so they are easily incorporated into the landscape. Check out this article for our recommendations or come in and talk to our Native Plant enthusiast Dane.
Po’hinahina
A’ali’i
Kupukupu Fern
Setting and achieving New Years Goals doesn't have to be drag. Set some fun, rewarding goals that will not only benefit you but the whole earth. When we re-orient our goals and ways of life around nature and all of it's creatures we live a more harmonious and richly rewarding life. Set some Garden Goals for the New Year and be rewarded for years to come!