2015: The year of garden giving

Gardeners are, generally speaking, a generous bunch. We share seeds, plants, and knowledge with each other all the time. Most of us also enjoy gifting the fruits of our labor to others, including homemade jams, jellies, pickles, herbs, and other garden goodies. In addition to sharing the literal gifts of our garden, we also enjoy sharing the space itself, inviting a plethora of pollinators, songbirds, butterflies, hummingbirds, and beneficial insects into our yards and gardens. I’d like to propose we make 2015 The Year of Garden Giving. Let’s vow to share the gifts of our garden with both the humans in our lives and the creatures in our gardens, all year long.

Giving gifts from the garden is easy, especially when it comes to sharing with people.

– Vow to grow one more row of cucumbers for pickling and then share the extra jars with a friend.

– Grow a handful of spare tomato seedlings and pass them along to your young neighbor.

– Cut a bouquet of daffodils every week and send them to school for your child’s teacher or put them on your desk at work.

– Collect seeds of your favorite annuals, package them in labeled envelopes, and pass them out at the local farmers market.

– Divide overgrown perennials and set any spare clumps in plastic bags at the curb with a sign that says “Free to a Good Home”.

– Make an arrangement of cut sunflowers and zinnias in a Mason jar every week and drop it off at the reception counter at your local nursing home.

– Volunteer to help at a public garden, a local farm, or a school garden.

Give the gift of gardening to others any way you can.

As for giving to all the tiny creatures that share our gardens with us, there are many ways we can make 2015 The Year of Garden Giving.

– Plant fruiting shrubs for the songbirds, coneflower for the butterflies, and salvia for the hummingbirds.

– Stop using pesticides and start nurturing the natural balance in your garden.

– Use natural fertilizers instead of chemical ones.

– Plant a plethora of flowering and non-flowering plants to support beneficial insects and pollinators of all sorts.

– Instead of planting a single species of annuals in your foundation beds, increase the diversity by adding as many different flower shapes and colors to the mix as possible. Doing something as simple as this supports a broader range of beneficial insects and bird life.

Give the gift of your garden, and together we can make 2015 a Year of Garden Giving!