The New Year always brings me renewed hope for the upcoming growing season. I pour over the latest seed catalogs, wishing that I could order all of them. I envision the largest, fertile, most productive garden that I have ever had. Yes, The New Year is a wonderful time for optimistic gardeners like me, and if you are anything like me, you’ll be itching to get started on your 2012 garden.

Planning your perfect garden for 2012 will take time and effort, but it will be well worth it when your garden begins producing. Take some time now to look over the records you kept from last year and evaluate what worked and what didn't. Since 2011 was full of extremes, with blazing heat and extreme drought, looking back just one year’s worth of records might not be enough for this year's planning. Dig out your records from several past years and review what plants did well, and which didn't. Ask yourself if you and your family liked the vegetable, and if the answer is “no,” don’t bother to plant it again. Start to narrow your wish list you started from pouring over the seed catalogs down to reasonable numbers, but always include a few new plants you’ve never tried before, too.

If you didn’t keep good records last year, one of your New Year’s resolutions should be to keep better records for this year. You don’t need anything too elaborate, even a notebook or ring binder will work. I use a program on my computer, and there are several garden planning sites online you might want to check out.

I hope you enjoy the winter months’ slower pace with fewer garden chores, but get ready for the best gardening year ever!