by Leslie Cox; Tuesday; January 3, 2023

I don’t know about you, but I always look forward to the start of a brand new year. So much potential hidden in the days, weeks and months ahead. A surprise, or surprises, just waiting to be unwrapped as soon as your feet hit the floor each morning.

I admit, I am an eternal optimist. This year’s garden is going to be better because I have taken the lessons last year’s garden challenges presented to heart. And it was certainly a tough year last year.

Top of the list was the water issue. We were restricted to hand watering two days a week for almost eight weeks due to a cracked main pipe at our Oyster River Water Station. Naturally, it fell smack in the middle of the drought period and when summer temperatures were soaring. It still remains to seen if we lost any of our plants.

And then there was all the snow which started to fall in the last week of November. So thankful  it did not stay around as long as it did last year! Looking around the garden, it appears only one of our Cornus spp. (dogwood) is showing severe damage. Hoping the branches on some of the shrubs and plants which are dangerously bowed ground-ward will bounce back into position once sap starts flowing through their veins once again.

Like I said. I am an optimist…especially when it comes to the garden. And in spite of the continued need to be water-wise in the garden, I am enthusiastically thumbing through the three seed catalogues which have arrived in my mailbox so far.

Happy New Year to all my friends and readers! Wishing everyone a beautiful and bountiful garden in 2023!