Would of, Could of, Should of

Did you accomplish everything you set out to do? I asked this question to members of the East Coast Vine listserve, an email group that has close to 100 members.

Marc Landry owns Touche Organik, an organic based landscaping business in North Tetagouche, New Brunswick.

He says he had a pretty good year, but that he had to put the construction of a greenhouse on hold.

Josie Chapman-Smith from Toronto wishes she had of exercised more. “Especially when I had to dig a new garden bed,� she said.

Carol Matthews, an author and garden writer friend in Truro, provided a list of things she never got done:

“I wish I had: paid better attention to my compost pile, spread compost on everything this fall, planted more bulbs and done one last weeding.�

David Mills in St. John’s, NL reports two “major� things left for next year.

“I had planned to dig up my lily bed, replace the soil, divide the bulbs and add some new ones. Secondly I had intended to take some clematis and rhododendron cuttings to see if I could get them to root over the winter. No excuse for not doing either---just didn't get around to it,� he said.

“First thing next spring, divide and replant some old perennials: phlox, monarda, iris, obedient plant, etc., which have been ignored in the garden for the past five years,� he added.

Joanne Galley wanted to move more of her garden beds back onto her property. She relocated some plants but says she still needed to bring more back to “her space�.

She had plenty of room behind her property to expand her passion but now the land has been sold and new homes are going up.

“We do have a generous green space behind us but that means people will be traveling around there in the near future,� she said.

As for myself - having to write about this topic prompted me to get out and do that ‘one last thing in my garden’.

A poor little monkey-puzzle tree in my west bed was having his appendages nipped by the cold but this morning I placed an old, woven, plastic laundry basket with its bottom cut out over it and stuffed leaves inside. Once pegged in place it should provide sufficient protection over the winter.

Procrastination just doesn’t pay when it comes to tender new acquisitions.