Start With Resolutions and a Plan for 2025
By Jackie Sledge,
Big Country Master Gardener Association
Happy New Year! Welcome, 2025!
But what happened to 2024? What happened with my 2024 Resolutions and Plans? What do I want to do in 2025?
I opened the notebook where I had jotted down several New Year’s Resolutions for 2024, and I quickly realized that only a few had actually been completed during the year. Some of the resolutions and outcomes were:
- Plan menus and eat healthier. This lasted just a few weeks before I was preparing meals with whatever I could find in the pantry and the refrigerator to come up with meals that could be prepared quickly when my husband reminded me that we hadn’t eaten dinner yet. (I added this to my 2025 Resolutions – again for another year.)
- Organize the house, garage, and storage building, and donate items we haven’t used in years. I worked on this several times during the year when I pulled everything out of closets and drawers to sort into piles to keep, donate, or trash. We walked around the piles of items on the floor, and I quickly put everything back into closets and drawers every time I found out we were having company. I have done this for several years and never totally completed this task. (I added this to my 2025 Resolutions and will finish the task this year!)
- Add several new shrubs and plants to the existing landscape and add a few new beds. I purchased shrubs, trees, and plants, and I got them planted in 2024!!! I have the design drawn out on paper for the pathways and edges for the new beds and will get them completed in time to finish filling the beds with perennials and annuals this year. (I added this to my 2025 Resolutions.)
I’m sure some of you may understand not getting everything done. We have wonderful plans and great intentions of getting tasks completed, but life happens.
So, here are some of the 2025 Resolutions I’m carrying over from 2024 (and possibly from 2023):
- Plan menus and eat healthier. I have selected some healthy foods and will build meals around them.
Exercise and walk to improve my health. I joined a health club last year, but I did not work out regularly. I paid my monthly dues all year, and this year I will actually use my membership. My goal is to work out at least 3 times every week in 2025.
- Organize the house, garage, and storage building. I have made a schedule of each room to organize and clean with a date of completion penciled in to help keep me on track in 2025.
Now the Landscape Resolutions for 2025:
- Implement the landscape plan I made last year. I will look for native and Texas Superstar® plants that grow well in our area and will purchase plants needed to complete the plan.
- Keep a garden journal. I will list all plants in the landscape and record important information about each cultivar – common name, botanic name, category, planting date, size, color, water requirement, rainfall, etc. Pictures of the plants are valuable parts of the journal. I will also take a picture of the entire landscape on the first day of each month so I can document the changes throughout the year. This journal will help me remember what grew, what worked, what didn’t work, and what I liked or didn’t like when I’m making plans for future changes. (I have purchased a garden journal and will use it this year.)
- Plant some vegetables and herbs. I don’t plan on having a designated vegetable garden this year, but I can still plant vegetables and herbs in beds with flowers and shrubs or in pots on the porch. This can be a pleasing combination of plants and will also provide some fresh vegetables and herbs.
- Design a low maintenance landscape. I will add ground covers and lots of mulch to reduce weeds.
- Add drip irrigation to containers. This will lessen time spent on watering.
- Invest in quality garden tools and keep them clean and sharpened. I have added some ergonomic tools to make gardening easier, but there are always new and improved tools to consider adding to my collection.
- Continue learning. I will attend horticulture programs, read gardening books and magazines, and check out information located on the Aggie Horticulture website.
- Add new hardscapes. I will complete the addition to the back porch, add rock or brick borders around flower beds, and use steppingstone pathways to beds by the back fence.
- Have fun. I want to get to the point where I can sit in my rocking chair, drink a glass of iced tea, enjoy looking at the landscape, and smile. I don’t want to spend all my time toiling in the landscape and being too tired to enjoy it.
I realize that’s a very long list, but my goal is to get items completed so the tasks and maintenance will be lessened and the landscape enjoyed. I’ll let you know in January 2026 how this plan worked out.
I mentioned that one of my resolutions is to continue learning by attending horticulture programs. BCMGA has a program at 6:00 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at the South Library Branch in the Mall of Abilene, and the same program is presented again at 10:00 a.m. on the second Friday of the month at the Downtown Library. We will also have Saturday Seminars on the last Saturday of each month beginning in February, and these are held at 9:00 a.m. in the Taylor County Extension Office Conference Room. These programs provide information that is important for the time of the year of each presentation, so the monthly topics are relevant for that month. I will attend these monthly programs to increase my knowledge about what to do in my landscape every month.
If you have any questions, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at mgardeners@yahoo.com. We hope you visit bcmgtx.org for information on all Big Country Master Gardener events, like us on BCMGA Facebook, and check out training presentations on the BCMGA YouTube. We are here to help you.
