We’re only a few days into October, and normally the gardens are still looking pretty good. This year… not so much. The lack of rain has really robbed the garden of it’s lushness. There’s still a fair bit in bloom, but there’s a lot of brown in between.
The bigger sunflowers are starting to die off – but these Vanilla Icecream ones are still going strong. And the finches are still loving them.
The Mums are all doing pretty well.
Neighbour Bronson gave me a beautiful planter as a thank-you for taking care of Freya and his gardens while he was in Portugal.
It contains a really beautiful Mum which will definitely be going in the garden before the weather gets too cold!
Bolero – the best smelling rose in my garden is blooming again. But sadly, it’s STILL dealing with those darn Japanese beetles. There are a lot less of them – but ARGH!!! I’ve never seen them stick around past early September.
The Cosmos, of course, are still going strong an beautiful .They don’t have quite as many flowers as they could, but the drought doesn’t keep them down. I’ve got several different varieties now and I’m always on the lookout for more.
Just like the tickseed…
The last thing I need is more plants… but I couldn’t resist picking up these two at the nursery the other day. I do have the pink one – but that red one is totally new – look at those neat petals
I also picked up this gorgeous rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan). I had it at the townhouse once upon a time. The pot has three plants, too, so I can spread it around a bit.
It’s been a hard year for the Dahlias – but they seem to be making up for it now…
And can you believe this is just one single zinnia plant?
It just keeps going and going and going. In fact, most of the annuals are thriving.
And after waiting, and waiting and waiting…
The “Eskimo” marigolds I started from seed have finally bloomed. In truth, they aren’t white at al, but a pale butter cream.
Still… Marigolds are one of those plants that just shine this time of year.
What I’m really thrilled about are these
I’ve tried to grow Chinese Lanterns for years. And finally – this year, I found success. I have three beautiful clumps and their all starting to turn orange.
And last – I do know that despite the heat (it’s scorching again) fall is on it’s way…
The toad lilies have bloomed, and the Monkhood isn’t far behind. They are the last two flowers to bloom – and the true harbingers of cooler days.
As you’re reading this I’m probably out in the gardens, getting a start on putting them to bed for the winter. I’ve noted before that I don’t do much with the flowers – I leave most of the seed heads up for the birds, and I let the leaves fall and create a thick mulch for critters and plants alike. I will be collecting some seeds if the weather is dry.
But the veg beds do need to be cleaned. Plus I have garlic to plant.
It’s also a great time to take stock of the year and reflect on what I’ll do again or change for next year. So without further ado…
The Good:
Carrots – were FABULOUS this year. I planted a full bed and I still have about 1/4 of it to harvest – which I can do right to frost. I will be planting another full bed because it’s been the perfect amount.
Potatoes- did well too. They were mostly really small. I’m not sure if that’s the type I planted (I just planted some small unknown type I had leftover from the grocery store), or the dry weather. Regardless – they are tasty and I got enough to keep us going for several months. Next year though, I think I’ll try some seed potatoes from the nursery and see if I get a better result.
Garlic – I planted 18 cloves and got 15 bulbs – which is about par for the course in my experience. I am planting them again, but I got a different type this year. Not because I didn’t like the first, this is just what was available at the nursery I was at the other day.
Shallots – In total, I got over 50 lovely little shallots. I think they are going to be my go-to onion. Dave likes the flavour – and I like them because they are small. One is usually just perfect for whatever dish I’m cooking up – so there’s no onions left kicking around in the fridge.
Sugar Baby Melons – In total, I think I got seven good-sized melons. I personally HATE watermelon. But the watermelon lovers in the family (Dave and Mom) said they were great. The Sugar Babies were the perfect size. The only downside – lots of big seeds. So I will plant melons again next year, but I’ll look for a seedless variety.
Raspberries – another fantastic year for the raspberries. But I can’t really take the credit. Once raspberries get rooted, there’s no stopping them. I just give them a trim every spring and let them do their thing.
Blackberries – though I didn’t get a tonne of blackberries, the ones I did get were lovely. (The birds thought so too). It is technically the first fruiting season for the blackberries so I’m sure they will do wonderful next year.
Tomatoes – The tomatoes were a mixed bag, but overall good. I had five seedlings of the yellow pear tomatoes. Only one of them survived, but one was all I needed. And for once, I haven’t been over run with tomatoes. We get a small handful almost every day. It’s just perfect for our needs. The Chocolate Cherry tomatoes I bought on a whim did so-so.. but they are in a pot. I’ve found tomatoes never do as well in a pot (at least for me). Last, I had one small Sweet Millions cherry tomato that grew in the mulch (from last years tomatoes). I put it in a pot and it’s given us a few tomatoes here and there – but like the Chocolate Cherry it hasn’t been spectacular. Still – overall it’s been a win.
Snap Peas – I never do bad with snap peas, though I do think the harvest was down a little this year. That could have been the lack of rain though. But the peas never make it out of the garden to the kitchen, so a big harvest isn’t a big deal.
Swiss Chard – My Swiss Chard is HUGE!! And tasty. We’ve had a few meals from it. It’s supposed to overwinter well so I’m going to transplant it from it’s pot to somewhere more permanent and we’ll see what happens.
Sweet peppers – I’ve struggled with peppers before – so I was thrilled to get four lovely red peppers this year. They weren’t huge – but they were beautiful! I’ll definitely do more next year.
Gourds – Just like last year, I harvested a whole pile of tiny gourds. I don’t think I’ll plant these next year though – they were fun, but I do think I’d like to give the space to something we eat instead.
Now onto the bad.
Pumpkins – I planted the last of my baby Jack seeds (about five or six) and only got one plant – with two small white pumpkins – one VERY small. So a bit of a dissapointment. Of course, this is likely the lack of rain, the squash bugs/squash vine borer. I’m debating on growing pumpkins next year. I’d like to grow some big pumpkins, but I’m not sure I have the room.
Lettuce/Spinach – I don’t know what it is, but I just don’t do well with these two. I did manage to get a little bit (one meal) of spinach and a couple (Very small) heads of lettuce – but the rest bolted and was no good. Neighbour Bronson had an absolutely gorgeous bed of lettuce in his yard, so I may talk to him about what kind he was growing and see if I have better luck next year.
Green Beans – As you may recall – the beans got off to a horrible start. I think this was a couple factors… I think the company I normally get my soil changed things up – and this years soil was crap. I got some seaweed fertilizer from Amazon to make up for it… and I think I got scammed – I’m pretty sure it was soy sauce. Once I gave the beans some bone meal – they seemed to pick up. I think the dry weather also had a poor effect. Eventually though – we did start getting some beans – even enough for a meal a couple of times – though Dave ate most of them raw. They are still producing, so I’ll leave them for now.
Cucumbers – The cucumbers did not do great this year. I think I got a total of maybe seven cucumbers this year – as opposed to the dozens I got last year. We were giving them away, we got so many. I only got two of the fancy lemon cucumbers I bought. But I won’t plant them next year anyway, because they were tricky to peel. But it was a fun experience.
Cucamelons – Last year, by mid-August we were drowning in Cucamelons… This year, I didn’t get a first harvest until late September – and it was small. These will go to the Frost, but we certainly won’t be get the amount we got last year.
Strawberries – I did get some strawberries – but not very many. In truth, I think my plants are past their prime. I’ll get some new ones next year. I also need to get some netting to keep the birds off them so I can enjoy more berries.
The Ugly
Leeks/Green Onions – I did get some green onions, but they weren’t spectacular. The Leeks however, were a complete write-off. I got nothing! I might try the leeks again next year though.
Zucchini – I think the zucchini suffered from the same thing as the beans. After I gave them some bone meal, they did get better – but I only got one zucchini – but it was really small. I will try again though – because Dave really likes grilled zucchini.
Squash – The saddest story of them all, as you may recall. I planted seedlings that came up from last year – only to learn that squash/pumpkins/gourds/cucumbers hybridize super easy. I got some weird monster gourd/squash. Lesson learned – next year I will start with fresh seeds!
Do that’s it. Some wins, some fails – but overall – a lot of fun. I look forward to next year!
And before I go… I harvested the peanuts the squirrels planted…
That little harvest came from three plants. I think it’s only fair I give the bounty back to those intrepid squirrels.
The next quilt in the quilt parade is one I’m keeping… and I think the boys knew it!
They gave lots of extra “help” with the binding.
This one is my Christmas quilt (because believe it or not, I didn’t already have one). It used the fabric line :Merry Little Kittens, which is made by the same company that made the fabric for my Halloween quilt, and it features the same vintage-style kitties.
This one is quite colourful with red, green, aqua and pink throughout the fabrics.
I love using black in Christmas quilts. It’s like Christmas lights shining bright at night!
For the back I found a nice cozy flannel covered in snowflakes, and a candy-cane inspired striped binding wraps it all up!
Now I’m not rushing Christmas by any means… but I do look forward to snuggling up with this one in December!
As you know, I was at Mom’s for most of the weekend. In that time I got three of my four tops quilted (I left Relic’s Wildflowers with her to do some ruler quilting)
The first is one of the quilts that will be a Christmas present.
Isn’t it beautiful. And the pattern was so simple. But those gorgeous prints just come together to create something magical.
On the back, there’s that stunning butterfly floral, amping up the coziness!
And now this one is tucked away until December! I can’t wait to gift it!
One thing the last of rain hasn’t affected is the raspberries.
It’s raspberry overload over here. We get this many just about every day. So there’s only one thing to do…
Make jam! It always amazes me how quickly jam comes together. I can do a batch in under an hour. And most of the dishes go in the dishwasher, so clean-up is a breeze.
And the end result is seven jars of summer perfection!
While the flowers are still going strong, things are drawing closed in the veg beds.
I’m still pulling carrots – I’ve got about 1/4 of the bed left..
The first few years I grew carrots, all were pretty long and straight. I don’t know if it’s the lack of rain this year but…
We’ve started to get some rather interesting ones.
Throught this last week I’ve harvested a lot of the last bits of veg
I picked the last pepper. None of them got any bigger than that, but Dave said they tasted great. On the right is the ONLY zucchini I got. I kept waiting for it to get a little bigger, but it never did so I picked it.
This year wasn’t the best in the garden – probably due to the drier-than-normal summer. I could have watered more, but I guess I was just too used to the beds taking care of themselves in previous years.
Next weekend I’ll be pulling out old plants and wrapping most of it up for the coming winter. I’ll do a proper wrap up post then
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