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A Garden Plan That Works

© Barbara M. Martin

Please note: Thank you for visiting my Cottage Garden topic and reading my columns, published here from February 1997 through spring 2003! This Cottage Garden column was written by Barbara M. Martin and is Copyrighted by Barbara M. Martin. It may not be altered or copied or published elsewhere in whole or in part without specific permission from the author. I regret I am no longer actively editing or contributing to this suite101.com topic as of mid-2003. Happy Gardening!

LOOKS LIKE THE LIGHTS ARE STILL ON! HAPPY Millennium NEW YEAR !!!

How To Make A Garden Plan in Three Easy Steps

The three steps to a good garden plan involve observing, thinking and writing it down. This is well within the grasp of most of us and yet do we do it? Nope.

Most winters we spend time with the wish book catalogs making crazy plans and dreaming about the perfect gardens we're going to grow the next year and they never quite happen the way we've envisioned. But it doesn't have to be that way. Not this time. Before you send off those insane mail orders, before you grab that shovel and rustle up a truckload of compost, take a little time to plan your upcoming projects right. It's virtually painless and requires no green thumb. Yet it practically assures you good results next season and for years to come. And all your planning can be done in three easy steps: observe, think, put pencil to paper. And I'll tell you an easy way to do it with professional results.

So resolve right now to change your ways!

Step One Towards The Plan

The first step is to enjoy the weather by heading out with the camera to take some "awful shots". These are the pictures that show all and I do mean all. The camera never lies, so go ahead and be merciless. Get out there and shoot some warts! A panoramic camera works best but any camera will do. (Take a series from left to right for a panoramic effect.) Show the ugly fence, the crooked trellis, the scrawny bushes and the muddy tracks to the trash can. Don't stop at the property line, either. Snap the neighbor's abandoned weedy veggie plot and the utility pole out front. Snap your favorite views along the way, too. When your prints come back, be sure to file them away safely no matter how tempted you are to burn them on sight. In years to come you will consider them to be priceless "Before" shots in the amazing but true "Before" and "After" series.

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