New Year's resolutions for gardeners

With the new year, it’s time to consider a few gardening resolutions for the betterment of you, your family, your community and the earth:

• Adjust your life to be more harmonious with the earth and its flora and fauna

• Tackle that problem area in the garden and take joy in that accomplishment

• Give more respect to the earth, yourself and others in your community

• Start more veggies and flowers from seeds

• Be more committed to leave a smaller footprint on the earth through conservation, sustainability and a more natural lifestyle

• Sow more native wildflower seeds throughout your garden’s open space

• Manage your water consumption in the garden and use more mulch

• Build a worm bin and do more composting and enrich the soils organically

• Take better care of your garden tools by sharpening, and lubricating shears

• Use more of what you grow and preserve or dry for future use; waste nothing

• Become a better educator for yourself, your family and your community

• Support the local 4-H club, FFA and horticulture departments at schools

• Help both youngsters and seniors by planting a garden with them

• Continue to spread cheer about the glories of nature and her bounty to others

• Do more recycling around the home and in the garden

• Share more cuttings and seeds with others in your neighborhood

• Consider the values of sharing your bounty and bartering of over-production

• Share extra abundance of food crops with the Senior Center, food banks and others

• Visit more private gardens, botanical settings, state parks and preserves to enhance your passion for nature and to be more appreciative of their values

• Plant more fruit trees around the home to enjoy their future harvest

• Strive to become an improved steward of the earth, for time is ticking on how we live and nurture the planet for today and the tomorrows to come

• Think global and act locally, for you and your family, plus your community, are part of the solution of a sustainable earth

Roger Boddaert, an ISA Certified Arborist and a professional landscape designer, can be reached at (760) 728-4297.