How would you rate your '05 garden?

Having just moved into another residence, ive had to start creating yet another garden. I accomplished alot,... we created a pond, and a few flower beds. Next yr all will look alot better, but i cant complain about this yr.. There is always next yr :)

Our garden is still a work in progress. It has been three years since we moved in and started restoring what must have been beautiful. I've learned lots about what will grow, what won't, what gophers and deer like to eat and how to take care of plants and trees. I've lost five old roses to some sort of root fungus and two new ones to gophers. I'm not giving up on roses (this, etched in stone in the rose garden!). Real success came with a crepe myrtle tree - new this year and the dear thing bloomed. I planted a Zepherin Drouhin climber and it is lovely. I love the garden and expect to get a handle on this garden business. Tune in next year.

We had a banner year, partly because I was FINALLY able to do much of my own gardening and partly because of unseasonably warm temps causing things to really thrive despite our dry conditions. We paid a big water bill but it was worth it.

Next year we need to either add another raised bed (or 2) or not plant so much in one bed.

Worst year ever. I had my hip replaced in April and didn't get the garden planted so haven't had any fresh produce that tastes good this year. Didn't get my lilies all planted in the flower beds so I am praying they made it through till next month in my fridge when I will plant them in the flower beds and hope they live for next year.

Have been in a drought with no rain since June and my DH has been out of town a lot so when he moves the hose to the fields on the weekend he tends to forget to put it back at the yard so I can irrigate the yard. I have lost trees and shrubs and flowers to the gophers because of a population explosion in our neighborhood.

Had a hailstorm at the beginning of summer that pierced holes in leaves of my hosta and trees so they all looked bad all summer. The weeds are so thick this year that they are unbelievable and I can't weed much of anything after the weeds get too big for my little hoe as I can't lean over to weed and can't get down to weed either.

I have even considered briefly not having a garden anymore but that was a very short decision. lol There is always better luck the next year at least in your mind.

I love to garden ,and thats why I do it. Some things did great and others died, --but I enjoyed it none the less, --and --the Chickens are also enjoying all those snails that took over the greenhouse, --Michael

It was dry this year, but overall, my garden seems to be filling out a little more every year and did Ok with just a little extra watering. Still needs work, but I can see progress.

Susan

I'm in the same neighborhood as Scooterbug. Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. Talk about a dry summer! The only garden areas that thrived were the two strips along the north side of the house, which are shaded much of the day. All the others have suffered in spite of constant watering, then we got invaded by a nasty field horsetail weed that tried to take over everything so one entire bed had to be destroyed. Between that, the drought and the japanese beetles, and the chippies digging tunnels, I feel like we've been fighting a losing battle.

My plan next year is to sit back and watch the weeds conquer everything. Yeah, right. I'm with Scarlett, Tomorrow is another day!! Gardeners just don't have enough sense to quit and grow grass. LOL Besides, what would we spend our money on if we had to forego fertilizer, root stimulant, new tools, gloves, seeds, flats, irresistable sales at the garden shop.......

I had six plants most of the season; I'm just starting my garden.

On the other hand, those six have had the year of their lives, which convinced me I could do a garden on my porch. I live in a cave of an apartment where they have survived, but nothing more for three years. In January, I went to England for 45 days and to cut down on the cat sitters (you can call them house sitters, but they came over for the cats, and watered the plants) work I moved all the plants outside. Some had been out all season and it seemed better to take the indoor ones out, than to bring the outdoor ones in, I'm not sure why now. I left instructions to bring them in if we got snow, but short of that, they should be fine if watered now and then. My area had a record warm January and February. I came back and my plants had buds. This year both my spider plants have put out babies, my Christmas cactus put out new leaves (I'm hoping for flowers this winter), and my geraniums flowered, all of which are firsts since they came to live with me. I now have over twice as many plants, and I am looking to pick-up end of the season perennials, plant spring bulbs, and have a garden next spring.


This message was edited Sep 14, 2005 5:40 AM

I'm still developing the garden. Most of my plantings worked well, but now I'm moving, moving, moving - as well as planting some late additions. Ask me next year! - Julie

I said average but I had great successes & great failures. Averaged out.

Spring started really cool & moist - gorgeous blooms! Then May & June
were dry and July HOT. I lost several trees (OUCH) 'cause I didn't water
them in May & June. (Newly planted last 1-2yrs). But the tomatoes
were just fantastic! Best year in a long long time for tastiness.

And my progress in gardening was pretty good - I finally got a rock wall
and rocky hillside planted. I'd been working to clear it for years and this
year finally got to the point where I felt I had the weeds in control enough
to plant. Its along my driveway so will make a big difference in the
"curb appeal" of the property.

Tam

With the lack of rain this summer, and the cost of my water bill. I am not going to complain. My garden and my flowers all did great. I am so proud of everything. So I marked "two thumbs up". I grew a lot of new things this year and was real happy.

This message was edited Sep 14, 2005 8:53 AM

Had surgery and couldnt take care of it like I usually do.

Worst ever. Between health issues and the craziest weather we've seen in this area, few plants stood a chance. I had to move my tropical Hibiscus into shade and my fern into the house (air conditioned). Even native trees are looking a little sad. Dotti

New house, new yard, it can't be called a garden. Huge expanse of drought scortched weedy grass. No idea what's under it. Badly choked strawberry and raspberry raised beds, but some good cherry and plum trees. Can't wait to find out what the soil is like and how much I can accomplish before the snows arrive. Am very glad to have found Dave's Garden.

I did well this year. Built a planter at the end of the driveway and it came out quite nicely. This is the first year I've not worked graveyard shift after 15 straight years of it, so I've been able to tend to my yards better and had time to plant and play a bit. My flowers are doing very well in the new planter. Maybe because I put TOP SOIL in when I built it instead of just fill dirt and a little top soil. I also put some black compost for the top 2 inches. The back yard isn't quite where I want it yet, and may never be so since we will be selling and moving in 2007. I took the idea of using the post and rails from our trip to Ohio last summer. No one around here does this, so it's been unique here. I've had many people stop to ask where I came up with the idea and I've had to 'fess up that it's not an original idea, though all that I saw did not have stationary planters built of stone, just mounded up dirt and mulch. It came out so nicely, we built a modified one on the other side of the driveway with just a half-barrel of flowers behind the post.

My plants didn't all do as well as I was hoping they would, but since I got to do alot of plant shopping and landscaping a brand new yard from scratch, I have learned alot about the gardening world this year, so I would have to say it has been a"2 thumbs up" gardening year for me!..... :-)

Flowers at home in Houston area did ok because I watered them when needed. Planted two gardens in Northwest Louisiana and both were the worse ever. We hardly got any rain there this summer.

went from a cold dry spring to a hot dry summer. It was so dry
we didn't even have mosquitos. I planted in dust with hope and pulled the beans (sole survivors) last weekend in the dust.

Did not rain at all for weeks. Lost entire garden in June. There is a way to augment the rain in the garden but there is no way to provide all the moisture a garden might need.

roxroe - if you have the room a pond and cover crops would help a lot, and/or choosing drought resistant plants (I can get you a list if you are interested).

A really great garden year here....timely rains and warm weather.
Watermelons and cantaloupe were a dream year. I had so many good, large, and sweet watermelons....with Raspa and Rojo Grande so good. Orangeglo was fantastic in yield....119 pounds on one plant [4 melons] and still growing a second crop.
Sugar Queen cantaloupe is just scrumptous and prolific....25 fruits on 2 plants.
Corn, tomatoes, beans, broccoli, squash, and more are a dream year.

Although there was a severe drought in the Northwest, my garden did very well this year! I used Messenger and Alfalfa Tea - this made all the difference in the world. The difference in my garden, and others in my neighborhood, was pretty noticeable especially by the end of August. Many of my perennials, roses, shrubs etc, were still thriving, the other gardens in my area were barely hanging in there. I can't believe the difference Messenger makes in the vigor of plants - all plants!!

I can't wait for next year... :-)

jamie

My garden is under 20+ feet of brackish water and is gone forever. But I still have pictures of it! And, somewhere, I will start a new garden!

Luisianasweetpea, I would like to share, LMK if I have anything you can use to start over, --michael

For some reason this has been a pretty bad year. It has been hot and dry and we have not had nearly the rainfall we usually get. The water from the well just dosent seem to do the job as well as rainwater.
Then with my back out I have not been able to keep up with everything and I am soooo behind in weeding and just taking care of the yard.....
Well better luck next year....

Maybe we should have a thread for bad backs! Every serious gardener I know has one!

I was just thinkin the same thing boo, except my bad back came first, but has given me the time to start a new gardening hobby.

Really somewhere between "great" and "average", but the greats were amazing -- Sungold tomatoes were a huge hit with the family and they're still bearing despite spider mite attacks. I've never produced enough of any food crop to feed people before this year. There were also sugar snaps (brief but wonderful), swiss chard, a few good strawberries, some rather sweet Sunset runner beans, and (when I got around to planting them) Japanese morning glories. Impatiens and coleus did nicely in well-watered part shade. I have huge lavender boltonias now, finally grown to full size from Bluestone babies the year before. But nothing is reblooming, neither iris nor daylilies, and my Harlequin buddleia is just recovering from a nasty attack of rust. It's been a tough summer.

The spring was super -- great tulip displays, more iris than I really deserved (I planted some of them very late in a cedar container, and still got flowers from most of them), two colors of oriental poppy, great clouds of blue peachleaf campanula.

On the other hand, the landscapers nearly killed the Heritage China daylily fans I got at the Hofstra Flower Show, and I'll be lucky to nurse them through to spring. Mealybugs devoured my lamium (White Nancy and Pewter Pink) from the roots up. I'm going to have to face up to the need for pest controls other than the occasional hard spray of water. I just prefer deadheading and weeding to getting stuff that kills little bugs and mollusks, however organically. But this is the first year I've grown people food, and it seems to need more defending than the merely pretty stuff.

Ours was pretty average (and even a little disappointing at times). This is my second year gardening here and I did learn a few things and made lots of DG friends so that's a big plus. Hope to do much better next year!

Negatives: Lost a number of perennials through the winter. Lost five old trees in a storm(sob) My bloom color schemes often clashed and embarrassed me. (cringe) LOL My 'landscape design' often looked like a 'mish mash' of plant material around my house :-( . Went over budget quite often and not a lot to show for it.. Let's see, what else?...

Positives: Great spring bulb display after nervous start. Planted siberian iris, peonies and poppies in new bed for next spring. Started on a hosta shade garden. Read a lot of gardening books. Toured a lot of gardens. Met a lot of neighbors who stopped to talk. Lots of hummingbirds and butterflies. Great fun over all!

One of most depressing years for a garden in...years!!! Super hot,super dry(Drought hit gardeners and farmers big time)

Tried one month of watering some of my gardens and when the water bill came back at $185.63 I decided no more of that...

My turf is shot, my annuals baked, the perennials turned into annuals
but.....

I've some good ideas for next year's gardens...

ddbjs

Started out great with nice showers in April thru May everythings started out great, then the heat and humidity came to the mid-Atlantic and stayed until last week. It had to be the hottest year in a long time. Made it difficult to work outside for long period of time and the gardens suffered. Then the entire month of August we had no rain at all, not a drop! So the my gardens were not up to par!!!

In gardening, for me anyway, it is either the most sublime joy, or the deepest despair.

Started out to be the best year ever .Plants I've been waiting to mature DID.... Oh boy then it got scary. I feel like it's a jungle out front. Must thin them out next year.

Then drought from June to September. Just awful for everyone- plants and people, birds and animals. At least I didn't have too bad a pest invasion . Oh, well. It could be worse. We could have been in Louisiana or Mississippi. I feel lucky to have what I have.

Voted not so great........we had our house worked on for over a month and the workmen are coming back again. Plants and dropping building materials just aren't a good combination. :(

i bet there were all kinds of things that didn't work that i'm not thinking about right now- but today was a great day- met some terrific dg'ers at the ne roundup, and i'm thinking that gardeners are great, and gardens are great, and my garden is pretty great too!

My garden has grown this year alot! Had some things that didnt do well but alot that did great! This 4 months with DG and that alone plus all the DG ers I met Saturday have made it an awesome summer for me! DG also helped keep me sane during my DHs illness when I couldnt go far from home. I just want to keep the sharing and trading going on. Will be on a planting spree for the next few days due to all the great plants I received at the RU. Need to make more raised bed. I love Christmas in summer LOL

The drought this season and an attack of Japanese beetles made the garden grow very poorly. I help take care of a Hydrangea garden and it was under attack by moles. There were so many tunnels the root systems got cut off about 8 inches down and only massive watering saved them. The moles have resisted every attempt to get rid of them and we are trying to figure out how to get the tunnels collapsed. Jessamine.

In the Netherlands we had the dreariest summer in more than half a century - except for the last 3 weeks, but then it was almost autumn already! A cold spring, a dull and rainy summer - which caused my favourite gardenplants, my fuchsias, not to flower till late August.
I spent a lot of work on them, with very little result.
I know a lot of people in the USA have had a lot more trouble with the weather lately (!!!), so perhaps I shouldn't moan too much about the situation here, but I must say in the new century we've had 6 summers but only 2003 was good and with a lot of sunshine.
We get rainy bleak summers all the time since 2000, and 2005 was the worst considering light and sunshine.

Spring -- cold and wet
Summer -- hot and dry
Fall -- still summer!

The unusual winter and spring rains let everything get ahead of me. When school was out, I tried to weed and get the mess under control. Some tomatoes went in in May, but no veggie seeds were planted until June. The pricey grass killer only set back the bermuda grass in the flowerbeds, and the crab grass was not even distressed. By July it was just too hot, even in the evenings, to work outside. Now it's still hot, and I am back at school. When I retire, I'll garden during the one perfect week we have in the spring and fall. :>) On the good side, my perennials are still there, and perhaps next spring I will get ahead of the weeds. And I wondered if an acre and a half would be enough room for everything I want to grow.

Big bug year for me, so I chose "not so great." Aphids galore. I was fortunate enough to have a good tomato crop - the aphids left them alone, not sure really why.

It's pretty sad out there right now! My mom was ill all spring and early summer. She passed away on July 31. Before that date, I did little or nothing. Since then, I've dealt with paperwork, getting my "real" work caught up (still trying!), and a steady stream of houseguests--but not the garden. Result: everything is too tall, too mildewed, too overgrown, too uncared-for. For the first time in many years, I'd actually welcome an early frost!