08/24/2026
What a difference a couple of months makes in the garden.
It's easy to forget how green and verdant early summer in the garden is when we look back from this point.
But , of course, when we were all rushing around in May and June to get everything planted could we imagine the golden grasses and explosion of bright colors to come?
It's important to document your garden throughout the year, both with the camera and by writing things down.
We all think we will remember our successes---better harvests, more cut flowers, lots of pollinators and songbirds, healthier soil structure, the homemade compost, a job well done with the pruning of fruit trees , better berry picking, more worthwhile use of irrigation and so on. . .
Sadly I think we all tend to fret about our mistakes---didn't w**d at the correct time, didn't get all the blackberries or bindw**d vines out of our planting spaces, forgot to fertilize enough or fertilized too much or at the wrong time, spaced out on pruning the Wisteria vine and now it's a monster, got tired of harvesting certain things and eating specific vegetables with every meal and feel wasteful about it. . .
Gardening, vegetable and fruit growing, cut flower farming, growing your own herbs and vegetables---it's all a lot of work and you aren't getting paid unless you do this work professionally, and even then the pay isn't high.
Hence the need for documentation!
You can look back and remind yourself that you did accomplish so much and that you did well overall.
Did you grow extra veggies or flowers to share with others?
Did your mood improve after working outside?
Did you take out your anger and aggression on the w**ds?
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
Go outside now and take lots of pictures of the good stuff, but also take pictures of the areas you want to work on.
Do you have large bare spots in the shrub and perennial garden? Are there some perennials you could dig and divide and plant in bare spots?
Do you feel like some shrubs and trees have suddenly grown large and are shading out your perennials? Take a picture! Dig out those perennials this winter and plant them in a sunnier spot or give them away to a new gardener who can't spend the money on a bunch of new plants.
Do you suddenly loathe a plant combo that you previously thought you'd like?
There are lots of plant color-combo fads that make the rounds and we all get sucked into them.
It's ok to let go!
Take a picture now so that you can remember to dig them up and give away later.
Did you plant water-guzzling things like Hydrangea shrubs all over the place because you just love Hydrangeas so much? And you've made yourself crazy trying to keep them watered and barely alive during our Mediterranean style summers of no real rainfall for months on end?
Yes, us too. We did that years ago. And then one winter we realized, hey, we can dig these up and make a dedicated Hydrangea garden in the part-shade area next to the forest and we can just water those and they will be happy and we will be happy. Instead of watering them when they are scattered about planted next to shrubs and trees that don't need summer water but will happily and greedily steal all the water from Hydrangea, leaving the Hydrangea too dry.
Do you want to grow more vegetables or cut flowers and don't know where you will find the space in full sun?
Walk around now and take pictures of a sunny area in your garden that is kind of blah, boring, not making good use of itself.
Can you imagine digging things out, giving them away, or replanting somewhere else?
Can you then imagine dumping a load of compost there and planting veggies or raspberries or annual cut flowers?
Will you need to build a deer fence around the new area?
Make it rabbit proof? Difficult to do, but not impossible . . .
Now is the time to envision new things in the garden.
I know many people say winter is the time, but I heartily disagree.
In winter, there are what seem like endless, vast expanses of empty space in the garden. Plants sleep, herbaceous perennials have died down to the ground giving us gardeners the false impression of available planting space.
And we make our plans.
Plans that fail to account for the bulbs and early spring perennials that push forth in March and April, plans that forget how much the shrubs grow and take up so much space, plans that tell us that the deciduous trees won't really cast so much shade when they leaf out again in early spring.
But you will have your pictures, notes and drawings that you will begin taking and making now if you have not already been doing so all spring and summer and you will be prepared to make proper plans.
