EDITORletter

Photo courtesy of the Montgomery County Master Gardeners from a recent online lecture.

Goals and Trends

January is a time for looking forward and back. In fact, the month is named after the two-faced Roman god, Janus. I’ve never been one for New Year’s Resolutions, but I do keep a set of long-term goals jotted down that I periodically review and update. I also hold onto my old planners from past years. They help me to recall what gardens I visited and when, as well as when annual gardening events normally take place. As we enter a third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the events I plan my year around are still in limbo or have been canceled altogether. Some have moved virtually and others are just big question marks in my schedule. It is proving really hard to plan any event with certainty. Because of so many potential unknowns, we are hosting just one Washington Gardener Seed Exchange this year. It will be at Brookside Gardens on February 26 (rescheduled from January 29). Registration is at WGSeedEx.brownpapertickets. com. The Seed Exchange scheduled for February 5, 2022 at Green Spring Gardens has been canceled. One thing we know for certain is that spring will come in two months and we can start getting ourselves ready now. We can take stock of our seed inventory, clean and sharpen our tools, shop the mail-order catalogs and websites, and get out some graph paper to plot our garden beds. I don’t have any particular goals for my ornamental gardens aside from staying ahead of weeds and getting all of the pots in my “holding area” planted. I do want to plant at least one “new” edible in my community garden plot; that is, one thing that I have never tried to grow before. Last year it was peanuts. This year, I am mulling over trying out rice in a big tub. The trend of fruit-growing also has me debating about ordering a small apple or pear tree to take the place of a failing ornamental cherry. What garden goals are you aiming for in 2022 and beyond?

Happy gardening,

Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener KathyJentz@gmail.com Kathy Jentz Editor/Publisher Washington Gardener 826 Philadelphia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: 301-588-6894 kathyjentz@gmail.com www.washingtongardener.com

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Volume 16, Number 11 ISSN 1555-8959 © 2022 Washington Gardener All rights reserved. Published monthly.

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