My resolution is to do less mowing this year. Don't know if I can keep it though. The trouble with an acreage is that the areas you don't mow get overrun with pernicious weeds you don't want all over the rest of the property.
In our case, the two nastiest are sow thistle (the seeds blow around like dandelions) and buckthorn, a nasty invasive non-native shrub that the birds spread everywhere when they eat the berries. So I will most likely have to go over some of the new "no mow" sections at least once a month to keep these and other weeds from taking over.
The past season was quite something with regard to mowing - we went from the worst drought in 50 years in 2007, to the soggiest season I can remember. Usually, we get a break from mowing in July and August, but not last year.
In previous years, I had hired a young man to mow, but he moved on. Last year's hire didn't work out and so I ended up doing the job myself. This wasn't a bad solution: given last summer's high gas prices and all-too frequent mowing (every four days sometimes), I'm sure I saved us a lot of money.
However, I spent far too many hours on the mower: fortunately, it's good machine - ride-on, obviously - with an 6-foot mowing deck, and it's actually fun to operate. We'll see what happens this year...
What's your garden resolution for 2009?
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