Have you got your list? I've got mine. And it's not a short one. When it comes to things I'd like to change in my garden, I'm never at a loss. I love to tweak and refine. In my opinion, anything can be improved, but, luckily, some areas need more improvement than others. So here are just the top four areas of my garden I'd like to renovate this year:
1. The east side yard.
2. The site of my former veggie garden.
3. My back deck.
4. The area around my house's front door.
Does your list look similar to mine? Is it longer? Shorter? Maybe there's only one item on your list. If so, lucky you. You don't have any decisions to make. The rest of us, though, do.
Personally, I know I can only do one major project a year. I can throw in a couple of minor projects that only take a day or two, but if I try to do more than one major project at a time, I know they'll both get bogged down and I will end up not finishing either of them. There's just too much regular maintenance work - weeding, deadheading, dividing - to be done, and so many demands from the rest of my life that I simply don't have the time or energy or money to put into more than one major renovation at a time.
Even if you are able to get more than one project done in a growing season, it's still smart to prioritize and focus on one at a time, at least at the planning stage. It can be complicated and confusing enough without adding to it by trying to do too much at once.
So need to pick which item on your list is the highest priority to you.
For me, it's my side yard. It's a priority because for years now, it's been getting on my nerves. There's nothing wrong with it, per se. Previous owners actually did a fine job landscaping it. They planted some nice shrubs, hostas, and a honeysuckle vine on a trellis. They put down rock mulch and landscaping fabric to keep down the weeds. It's a perfectly serviceable, if somewhat uninspired design. I could probably leave it as is for several more years and it would look just fine, but it's the 'just fine'-ness of it that drives me crazy. Most visitors approach my house from the east, so the front and side yards are the first thing they see, and if what they see is boring and uninspired what does that say about me? Maybe nothing to the rest of the world, but to me it matters.
So boring-ness bumps my east side yard to the head of the list.
What keeps it there is that I have an idea of what I want to do with it, and that I don't think it will cost too much. Looking at my other projects, renovating the deck will take money. The pond I'm going to put where my veggie garden used to be will as well, and it will require a bunch more research. Redoing the landscaping around my front door will require money as well, but also, I like the garden I have there already a lot more than I like what's growing on the side. So, the side yard wins.
Now tell me what wins on your list? Which item can you most easily afford? Which will fall within the amount of time that you can devote? Which will have the greatest impact on your landscape? Which will just make you feel the best?
Make your choice carefully, and tomorrow we will talk about choosing a style.
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