I, like many of you, am ready for a new year, new garden. The New Year always brings with it a promise of a new start, especially with regards to gardening.

New Start in the Garden, Renewed Hope for Us All

And that’s the thing about gardening. Whether you had a splendid harvest or your crops were decimated by insects, the successive year is a clean slate – a chance to start over. Things may go swimmingly or disaster may befall your garden, but the fact remains that at the first glimmer of sunshine and melting snow, you look at your garden plans for the season through rose colored glasses.

For me, my hopes for the new year is that we have cold enough temperatures that the nasty bugs (who knew there were so many types of aphids!) can’t take hold in the spring, and also that spring arrives early instead of the snowfall we got last March.

I am hoping that the squirrels haven’t moved all of my spring blooming bulbs and the heavy mulch I’ve laid over my perennial garden does its job against freezing temperatures. I hope that in the New Year our rescue dog learns to trust us because I really need a garden buddy.

But really, all of these are rather trivial when it comes to what I hope happens in the New Year. My most earnest and heartfelt hope is that not only do we as a country become united once again, but that all the people of this little blue planet will arrive in the New Year with peace, enough food to eat, clean water to drink, and a place to lay their weary heads.

Maybe I’m just looking through rose-colored glasses or maybe I’m an eternal optimist, either way, I will hold out hope that not only my garden will return to its former splendor (pests and all) but that we, as human beings, learn to accept and love each other for all our differences, yet united by our commonalities.