Unlike some, my New Year’s excitement usually centers around the garden. December is a quiet month in my Cincinnati garden. If I’m lucky, I may still be harvesting radishes or some hardy greens. However, I usually put the raised beds to rest by the end of November and let Mother Nature do her thing over the winter.

January is a perfect time to review what did or didn’t go so well over the last year and start planning for the upcoming growing season. Following are my high-level goals for 2017. I’ll also be sharing monthly to dos and goals throughout the year.

2017 Goals

1. Have my soil tested by a lab. In fact, I’ve already got two kits from the Hamilton County Soil & Water Conservation District. I just need to get the samples together and send them back.
2. Find a planning/tracking/journaling method that works and commit to it for the entire year. Any suggestions? I’ve dabbled with everything from old-school journals to Evernote but I’m very inconsistent and usually end up scribbling notes all over the place and taking random pictures. I recently downloaded Arbico Organics’ 2016 Garden Journal, which has given me some ideas. Also, the folks at GrowVeg.com are launching a Garden Planner Journal this spring. I signed up to be notified when it’s live—maybe it will be  solution for me?
3. Expand my perennial herb garden. I’m already growing thyme, chives, horseradish, fennel, mint (in a pot so doesn’t really count, ha ha) and chamomile. I’d like to expand the area and add a few more perennial herbs to help both the pollinators and my cooking! I’m thinking about lavender, rosemary, and oregano.
4. Learn more about beekeeping. I’m intrigued but not sure if it’s something I want to get into yet, so I’m starting with baby steps by hosting a hive through Gaiser Bee Co.
5. Redo the raspberry patch. We moved our raspberry plants last year during a dry spell and totally blanked on how wet the new area gets. Wet feet = unhappy plants. While a couple plants did well, I was disappointed in general.  to the worst area; wet feet = unhappy plants. Need to build it up this spring and get those raspberries growing again.
6. Try growing melons again. I was semi-successful three years ago but got discouraged. Still researching but I may try these sugar baby watermelons this year.
7. Buy a kitchen scale so I can start tracking how much I’m harvesting. I also daydream about selling at a local farmers market so this would help me decide if I’m growing enough.
8. Wear more sunscreen. No-brainer but I wasn’t as diligent as I should have been last year.