Essay time! 'What I did this summer'

I have done less gardening this year due to circumstances beyond my control. Hopefully I can pick up the pace before winter arrives. If not, it will still be there next year! :)

I had to click other although less gardening would have worked too. Remodeling the outside of the house so my gardens are getting trampled on. No point in weeding or planting new stuff when they will get smashed.

Did have a really good veggie garden going but then the tomatoes outgrew their cages and fell over. So much for anymore good tomatoes this year!

Brand new garden for me, in fact first EVER garden (i used to only grow things in containers only, lol). Mom decided to give up her rose bed, and dug up the plants to give to the neighbors. Its a tiny 6' X 6', but thats good enough for me!

Congratulations! That's great, jmc1987.

Same garden and striving for quality; not quantity.

oh how i love greenbrain's motto but sticking to it is another thing entirely.
i put in the second phase of the extended garden but it's not very pretty at the moment...more mulch than anymore.....these things take time........

as for the rest of the regular garden...less work this year. things are becoming more established AND we had real rain this summer. my only work has been to weed and whack...what else is new? lol

Last year was a nightmare where I live. I had removed some ivy, an invasive species, from the front yard that was taking over the front garden. I found a few beer cans, a no-parking sign from 1986, a few hyperdermic needles, some old clothes, a dead racoon and other garbage. Considering I live next to a childcare facility, it was an important clean-up. A group of evil tenants and the landlord in my complex were mob-bullying me everywhere I went and whatever I did including an assault and relentless stalking. It was a tough year.

This year, now that all that ruckus has subsided and they have new targets, I went about replanting the area with a large collection of Fuchsia, some nice shrubs and some perennials. I've had many complements from complete strangers and visitors to the city on the installation and I'm surprised at the number of people who stop to photograph the plants. It's a garden in development. Unfortunately the heritage Lilac has developed a bad case of powdery mildew. I was finally able to plant a cold-hardy Bromeliad, Fascicularia bicolor, which has proven hardy at the local botanical garden if proper drainage is provided. I was also able to plant some nice boulevard plantings around 2 street trees infront of the house. They've done well with the exception of some expected vandalism from uncontrolled dogs and crack-head street people. I'm happy to see an Asclepias curassavica in bloom as this genera doesn't flourish in our cool summer climate.

I really enjoy showing off the Fuchsia collection which runs about 70 different cultivars and some species including giving handfulls of flowers to interested people. It tends to put a smile on people's faces. I've planted super-sized bloomers next to miniature bloomers, different foliage colours in clusters and had a go at trying to hybridize with empty Japanese tea-bags. It kinda worked. All-in-all, it was a good planting that will need some adjustment. I was actually expecting the bad neighbours to spray the garden with herbicide again, but they haven't. I've also realized Vancouver is not the place I should live anymore as it is all about power & greed - a "behavioral sink" if you will - and I don't care for it . I'm looking to move to a much more rural setting where I can have a greenhouse and a peaceful life.

That's my essay for today.

Alas, my beautiful Campsis radicans had to be torn down, because she ate a hole in the roof. I managed to germinate a seed from my Ena Harkness rose, and although it will be some three years before I can assess her, I already know she's deep red and fragrant. Have a few new plants in containers; put nothing in ground because of drought.

Here is Little Kiss, the seedling.

Major land clearing and reclaiming this year.

I put in several dozen green tea plants (many more on the way), added more cacao trees, bamboo, bananas, and native palms (Pritchardia). Increased green been, taro, and vanilla production. And tripled the size of my nursery.

Hard work, but looks good at the end of the day, and hope to have lots of produce in the future!

I did less gardening this year due to my sisters death and my left shoulder surgery. Took 4 months to heal my shoulder. I am now trying to get things settled for the winter to come. Next year I will be gardening like crazy. I need to get about 2 dump trucks full of top soil delivered after January 2014. That will be for my raised bed in the front yard. Till than just killing weeds and getting the area ready.

growin, your garden is lovely. I hope that things get better for you soon.

marti001, your garden had a year of rest as you healed together. Take care and I hope that 2014 is much better for you.

Even though hubby wants me to do less, not more ... i just keep expanding my gardens. I started "Fairy Gardens" this year. Over the winter I had transformed plain little wooden bird houses (the kind you get at craft stores) into fairy/gnome houses. It's amazing what paint, glitter, stones, and moss can do! I also picked up colorful little ceramic houses, tea light holders and toppers, and other assorted chatchkies at the local Salvation Army Store to add to my collection of potential housing for the "wee folk". And of course assorted little fairies & gnomes wherever I could find them. Nothing fancy, and inexpensive. I have 3 designated Fairy Gardens and added little touches of their PRESENCE here and there around the outside of the house. :>))

growin...good on you for sticking to your plan despite the obstacles.
i really do hope you find your own piece of heaven on earth.

the weather here has made gardening a real adventure this year. started seeds and plants three different times due to late killing frosts and the heat and lack of rainfall has taken it's toll. even the chapparel is drought stricken. can only hope for more rain this winter then we got last year.

I didn't add beds but repurposed parts of many to grow vegetables. I really got with the program with my raised beds for vegies and realized that I could make little raised beds amid flower beds. I planted strawberries, asparagus and chocolate mint (in a sunk container to keep it from taking over). I have an area all dug up and circled with rubber liner to designate for something next year. Probably rhubarb moved from the west side of the house where it doesn't get enough sun. Will plant ferns, hosta, astilbe to go with the bleeding heart there. Still thinking.

This was only my third year gardening, but I learned so much about what works and doesn't work over the previous years that I pulled out any plants that could be moved successfully and replanted everything in spots where they would do better. I built an indoor growing setup out of a metal shelving unit and shop lights, and grew my own plants from seeds for the first time ever (something that has always scared me in the past...though I'm not sure why since it went so well). We were still getting snow here in May, so my seedlings were huge before I could get them outside. My dining room was pretty much a jungle for awhile.

I also added a Redbud Tree 'Minnesota Strain' (so beautiful in the spring!) to the yard and about 40 new plants to the flower border...I think the workers at the nursery knew me by name by the end of the summer. Planted gladiolus, anemone, and dahlia bulbs for the first time, which I hope to overwinter in the crawlspace for next year. Expanded the vegetable garden to make room for more plants and planted potatoes in 15 gallon nursery pots. Started composting at home with a compost tumbler, and we also built a deck this year, so I had a lot more room for container plants.

For next year I hope to add another 4' x 30' flower border to the east side of the house, three 4' x 4' square raised vegetable beds, transplant several willow trees from my parent's house to the backyard, build and install two rain barrels, and see the 650 spring bulbs bloom that I will be planting next month (if I don't go crazy first).


growin - Your new garden looks beautiful! I can't believe people would make such an issue of turning an ignored area into something pretty.

Other is what I clicked. I increased the number of tomato and pepper plants, and added potato and eggplant plants. But because I wasn't allowed to, dig up any grass, to create or enlarge gardens, I grew most of my stuff in bags this year. It was a learning experience, but eveything is still alive and producing, just not as productly as they could have, since I didn't know what I was doing, and had delays due to, a shortage of money.

The usual gardening
#1 always try to grow too much from wanting more ;
#2 a couple plants way out produced all the others .
#3 Most was a jungle mess by late summer .
# 4 I tell myself I should of done more , and been more attentive to the plants .
Same as always ^_^ lol

a new summer is coming! hope that I will have what to write about in september :D