This basically marks the end of our second year gardening.
Biggest accomplishments of 2011:
– building the fence
– digging 5 main garden beds
– planting two apple trees, one cherry tree, one raspberry bush, 2 rose bushes, 3 crepe myrtles, 3 gardenia bushes, 2 forsythia, and 13 thuja evergreens. (Unfortunately, the apple trees, cherry tree, raspberry bush, and forsythia seem to have died.)
– installed a semi-automatic watering and drainage system
Biggest accomplishments of 2012:
– discovered what we thought were peas last year was actually morning glory
-nearly doubled our planting beds (much thanks to Luke’s dad!)
– overwhelming success with dahlia bulbs, dragons tongue beans, and tomatoes!
– moderate success with corn, mint, bell peppers, zucchini, and cucumbers
– learned how to prune rose bushes
– discovered miracle grow
– landscaped the garden with mulch-covered paths (much thanks to Luke’s mom!) and created a brick edging around the “common area” in the garden
– re-landscaped the front garden bed and added a small bed around our front tree
– improved our existing watering system
-installed a cat window and freed our kitty-cats
– won our fight against the HOA and can officially keep our fence!
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Much of our success this year took us by surprise and we had a hard time keeping up with production – tomato production in particular. I made one giant batch of garden-fresh salsa and shared tomatoes with a co-worker to make a second batch. We enjoyed a few cucumbers, ate some of our dragon’s tongue, and attempted several times in vain to make our zucchini taste good. On the whole though we lost much of our yield and the garden is looking quite over-run at the moment — we’ve got some work to do for next summer.
One of the things we’ll need to problem-solve is our mulch-lined paths. Every time it rains all the mulch from the main walkway rushes into the common area and we have a miserable time raking it back. We’re also going to have try, yet again, to overpower and annihilate the damn squash bugs that kill our melons, squash, gourds, and pumpkins. Bugs. I hate bugs.
Other projects for next summer…maybe we’ll build a little deck out back. (We’ve been talking about it for the last two years.) I’m also wanting to re-vamp our circular bed out front and possibly add a bed along the side of our driveway. Visiting my mom really inspired me to do some container gardening too. She’s developed a great talent in that regard – – her flowers are so beautiful and uplifting. I’m not sure I’ve got the commitment and discipline needed to keep them alive though. I’ll need to start small.
For now, au revoir garden. It’s been a nice summer.
IMG 0265 from Elizabeth Caldwell on Vimeo.
Boom Goes the Dynamite 