Hi garden friends!
Winter is the perfect time to take stock of what worked (and what didn’t).
Did some native perennials absolutely crush it?
Did others struggle in too much shade or too little water?
Were there stretches when pollinators were scarce?
Did your soil hold up through heat, drought, or heavy rain?
Jot down a few notes or start a scruffy gardening journal, future you will be very grateful when spring rolls around and everything isn’t just a blur of “I’ll remember that later.” If you’re a visual type, flip through photos from the past year and circle spots that need more color, structure, or ecological impact.
Plan for Next Year (Gently)
Now’s the time to dream a little, without pressure for perfection. Want more winter interest? More native plants? Curious about seed starting? Grab some graph paper or your favorite garden app and sketch out ideas.
A few questions to guide you:
Where can you tuck in more native plants for pollinators and birds?
Do you need more evergreens or plants with winter berries for year-round structure?
Would a rain garden help with runoff in that soggy corner?
Is this the year you finally expand that mini-meadow you’ve been thinking about?
Remember: planning is not a contract. It’s just an invitation.
Cozy Up With a Good Gardening Book
Winter is prime “read about gardening instead of doing gardening” season and you can borrow many of these from your local public library. Here are some favorites to keep you inspired while the ground is frozen:
Native Plants & Eco-Gardening
For the practical dreamer with dirty knees and wildflower seeds in their coat pocket.
Memoirs, Musings & Garden Philosophy
For your heart, your hammock, or your favorite reading chair.
Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer
A beautiful blend of science, story, and reciprocity. It will change how you see your garden.
Second Nature – Michael Pollan
Wry, thoughtful, and comfortingly imperfect, like most of our gardens.
Late Migrations – Margaret Renkl
Short essays on family, loss, birds, bugs, and paying attention.
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating – Elisabeth Tova Bailey
A quiet, mesmerizing reflection on slowness and the life of one small creature.
Planning Ahead (But Not Too Hard)
For those days when you become convinced next year’s garden will be flawless.
Reader Corner: Learning the Most from “Mediocre” Seasons
This month, reader Cathy Taylor wrote in with a beautiful reflection on her own season of wins, surprises, and flops. A few highlights:
A spicy basil from Sistah Seeds did really well…until life got busy, watering slipped, and the whole patch dried up. (We’ve all been there.)
Red peas and honey beans thrived, but she realized mid-summer they needed a trellis. Lesson learned: infrastructure first, plants second.
Celosia turned out to be a star! Tender, nutritious leaves for salads and sandwiches, with new leaves sprouting as long as she left the stems in place. A true “ornamental plus edible” win.
There were losses too: watermelons that never took off, a crenshaw melon that almost made it, and a lilac that seemed dead…until cut branches in a bucket of water quietly sprouted leaves and tiny flower buds.
Cathy also wrote:
“Thanks for your encouragement all summer to press on in spite of trials and tribulations. I thought of your encouraging words often and it was a comfort to me in the discouraging moments.”
Cathy, thank you for sharing your story. It’s a perfect reminder that a “mediocre” garden is often a very alive, very learning-filled garden.
A Little Community Gratitude
This whole column started as a simple idea over coffee with Glenside Local editor, Ryan Genova: What if there were a gardening column for the rest of us, busy, imperfect, curious, a little overwhelmed, but still trying?
And now here we are, nearly a full calendar year in the bag, on this gardening journey together.
To everyone who has written to me (like Cathy): thank you for trusting me with your stories.
To all the new folks who recently joined The Mediocre Gardener on Instagram: welcome to the chaos. I’m so glad you’re here.
To those who attended our September workshop on native plants (you’ll spot some photos from that day sprinkled around this column) a reminder of how powerful it is when gardeners gather, share ideas, and learn together.
And to Primex Garden Center for sponsoring this column and being such a wonderful partner.
Beth made this pollinator sign with her granddaughter after our pollinator pathway workshop in Primex. Thanks for passing a love of pollinator plants onto the next generation, Beth!
I am deeply grateful for every reader who clips this column, sends it to a friend, or just quietly nods along and thinks, “Same.”
Got a favorite gardening book, a winter garden ritual, or a story from your own “mediocre” season? I’d love to hear it. Email me at dearmediocregardener@gmail.com, and I may include it in January’s column.
Stay cozy out there, friends.
— The Mediocre Gardener
For more of The Mediocre Gardener’s column with Glenside Local, you can click here. For more on Primex Garden Center of Glenside, you can visit their website and Facebook page.
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