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by Michael Weishan
Editor-in-Chief
The final days of autumn are a time for reflection and renewal
in my garden. Like some giant multicolored curtain descending
at the end of the show, the mass of windswept leaves tumble down
and erase the tale of the garden's successes. The brilliant annuals,
the bountiful harvest, the shimmering fields of clover dancing
in the warm breeze are all gone now. Likewise, the forgiving autumn
rains rinse away all the traces of failure - the whitefly on the
tomato which I let get away from me, the forgotten and never-planted
annuals that languished with the lack of water in August, the
failed flower boxes - all done. The show is over, the garden stage
once again empty, the summer spectators gone home.
Yet the waning weeks of autumn should not be entirely without
action. Now is a time for preparation, for in large part, what
we do in late autumn will determine how successful the new gardening
year will be. There is no better moment to renew depleted soil,
lay out new beds, harvest the stored wealth of our compost pile,
(or, depending on where you live) settle a few last trees in before
the winter. These jobs won't bring the gratification of immediate
reward, but a few months down the line, the benefits will be threefold
(and spring is after all, only a few months down the line, though
in November, peering out through the frosted panes, it seems eons
away).
In many ways, we are undergoing the same type of renewal process
here at TRADITIONAL GARDENING. Having just completed our
first year of publication, we stand looking back on our efforts,
both successful and not, and we are already busy laying preparations
for the future. We have heard from many of you regarding what
you would like to see maintained, changed or improved. Almost
unanimously, you have urged us to preserve the current level of
detailed, hard-to-find information we now provide, while expanding
and enhancing our coverage. Unfortunately, this leads to something
of a publishing dilemma - given the fact that our present size
of 32 pages is at the limit of our current format, the only way
to increase content is to limit advertising and increase subscription
prices. While debating how to increase content, we were struck
by a recent feature in Garden Design magazine, where TRADITIONAL
GARDENING was named one of the five best gardening newsletters
in the country. Yet while our size was almost double that of our
fellow journals, our yearly subscription fees were by far the
lowest at $15, compared to an average of $25 and a high of $38!
Thus, to allow us to continue to provide you with the improvements
you have requested and the quality features you have come to expect,
starting with this issue, we will be limiting the size of the
advertising space we sell, and increasing the number of articles
by at least two. Existing features will also be expanded to provide
a much more detailed level of coverage for those of you who have
asked for it. This issue, for example, will provide you with the
actual planting plans of two of the gardens we cover. To pay for
all this though, yearly subscription prices will rise from $15/year
to $24, $45 for two years. This will bring our subscription costs
more in line with the general market, and allow us to expand our
investigation of the hundreds of topics you have expressed so
much interest in.
We hope you approve of our efforts and, as always, welcome your
comments. In the meantime, enjoy the current issue, and accept
a hearty wish of goodwill from all of us here at TRADITIONAL
GARDENING for the upcoming holiday season. We'll see you in
the New Year!
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