MONTY DON: I'm turning over a new leaf for the New Year

By Monty Don for MailOnline
Updated: 16:51 BST, 3 January 2011

More 緩和, いっそう少なく waste - and a whole forest of fruit trees. Monty Don 株 his 決意／決議s for 2011.

There are not many people alive who saw in 1/1/11 last time, and not many of us able to read this will see it again. It is a special day all 権利, and deserves celebrating with a new start.

Although the garden 合併するs from December into January stuck 急速な／放蕩な in midwinter, and wakes to the New Year without noticeable change, there is no 疑問 that for the gardener, if not the garden, it's a good time to take 在庫／株, order seeds and 工場／植物s and 計画（する） for the year ahead.

I know that in my own garden things are going to be very different. Over the past couple of years I have been 検討する，考慮するing over changes I might make, but like everyone else, the biggest consideration has always been time, money and 維持／整備.

A place to sit and relax: Monty Don wants a secret 位置／汚点／見つけ出す in his garden

It is one thing to make a change, but to 持続する it is just as important. ますます, I think that the 重要な to a good garden is knowing what you want from it. If it is a place まず第一に／本来 for 緩和 and escape from the hustle and bustle of life, then it is bound to be a very different 肉親，親類d of garden than if it is where you most like to be doing things.

I have always belonged to the latter school, and for 20 years I've hardly ever sat 負かす／撃墜する in the garden for more than five minutes. There are always 50 things I want to do, ten things I せねばならない do and three things I really must do now.

But I am changing, getting older and a little いっそう少なく gung-売春婦. I やめる like it now when someone helps me with the 激しい work. I still may not sit much, but I certainly want to stand and look more.

So my first 決意／決議 for 2011 is to create places and spaces just for 存在 rather than doing. I am lucky - I live in the country and have a lovely big garden, so I can develop lots of nooks and corners where I can put a seat or （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

But you don't need a big garden for this. When I gardened in London, my favourite 位置／汚点／見つけ出す was just wide enough for a small seat with a 2ft-wide path 主要な to it. I could sit there surrounded by flowers, catching the evening sun without seeing anyone or 存在 seen - and for a few minutes I felt like the king of my own 城.

Privacy is important. Find a corner of the garden where you would like to sit at the time of day that 控訴s you and make it 私的な with a pergola, a trellis, some 登山者s or shrubs or just a few tall 年次のs to 審査する you.

My next 決意／決議 is to have the courage to make changes so that the garden might remain true to itself and to us.

About 13 years ago, my wife Sarah and I started to make a large area that （機の）カム to be called the Jewel Garden. For ten years this was our pride and joy and we filled it with rich colours that dazzled from spring 権利 through till autumn.

But gardens change and grow just like children. It is futile to try to keep them 正確に／まさに the same for year after year. So last autumn we 削減（する） the whole thing 支援する, and this winter we've been digging it all up.

Some box hedges have to be dug up and moved, and good 工場／植物s 蓄える／店d in a nursery bed with every 捨てる of 少しのd taken out.

It is やめる a 職業, but I am excited about the prospect of 適用するing everything I h ave learned from the old Jewel Garden - 同様に as all the things I've seen on my travels - to replanting it in a 完全に different way without losing its integral spirit of lush, rich colour that also feels natural and fresh.

取り組むing big changes ーするために get closer to what you really want your garden to be, not only reinvigorates your garden but gives you fresh enthusiasm and energy too.

If this all sounds a bit grandiose, then another 決意／決議 is to watch the pennies and garden with thrift and modesty. Instead of buying new 道具, I shall make a point of mending as much as possible and making do if that will still get the 職業 done.

Just as a bad workman 非難するs his 道具s so a good workman values his 道具s with care. This does not just mean the spades, 売春婦s or mower I might use; I shall also continue to grow as much from seed and cuttings as I can, splitting and dividing herbaceous 工場／植物s, swapping with others and trying to waste as little as possible.

Apart from anything else, I know that it is so much more 満足させるing to raise a healthy, beautiful 工場／植物 yourself rather than go for an instant 直す／買収する，八百長をする with a boot-負担 of expensive 工場／植物s from the garden centre.

My next 決意／決議 is to 拡大する the 範囲 of fruit and nuts that I grow in the garden. This will mean spending some money, but I have learned to be 患者 with fruit trees and buy them young and small.

I already have lots of different apples, and plenty of pears, quinces, and damsons. This year I want to 工場／植物 some mulberries, medlars, morello cherries, greengages, vines, apricots and peaches.

My garden can be a 冷淡な place, but I think that now, after 20 years, I know it 井戸／弁護士席 enough to find 正確に／まさに the 権利 place so that each can 栄える and ripen.

As for nuts, I have 負担s of hazels but I want to find room for a walnut tree. It will be years before it 耐えるs fruit, but I don't mind, as my final 決意／決議 for 2011 is to live for the day and garden f or the 未来.