New Flowerbed (the last?)

 

Just when we thought all wall building was done forever, there remained one more wall to build. Fortunately, this one was short, and (comparatively) easy to finish.

And now I have a little flowerbed along the side of the shed.

Hooray for more flowers!

 

Overview

It was quite late in the season, but due to a delayed onset of frosty nights, I was able to get these plants in with time to spare. Also, there were some great sales going on at the nurseries. Dangerous territory, that. 

 

So, starting on the left side, this floppy wonder is half of my beautiful orange geum 'Totally Tangerine' from the other flowerbed. It was crowding its neighbors over there, anyway, and was due for a chopping. (I also moved it down some while I had it out of the ground.)

 

Remember this loveliness?

(picture from May of this year.)

Oh yes, this is the treat I will be in for on both sides of my yard, now.

 

Moving down:

We've got Gaillardia 'Commotion Moxie' on the left, Rudbeckia 'Chocolate Orange' in the middle, and a couple of purple irises transplanted from the back flowerbed.

This bed will mostly have hot colors, chosen by my daughter. I'm hoping the purple iris doesn't clash.

(Though if it does, it will be easy to move elsewhere.)

 

The star of the show: Little Lime Hydrangea

The dwarf form of 'Limelight,' this one should get to be 3-5' tall and wide.

Perfect for this narrow bed.

 

I have discovered that I really crave symmetrical plantings. This time I just went with it, so that's why I only took pictures of the first half of the flowerbed. The next half is exactly the same.

I also put some bulbs in here and there that were dug up in my renovations of the back flowerbed.

So I really have no idea what they are. I mean, they are likely either tulips or daffodils, I know that much, but as to form and color? I guess I'll be surprised come spring.

Could be interesting.

Once we turned the corner, the plan was to extend the raspberry patch, so that's what I did.

Awkward angle here, sorry about that.

 

The one and only 'Fall Gold' raspberry plant that I could find.

The rest I put in are black raspberries.

A little variety should be good, I hope.

 

 

The trellis' were all on sale, so we got 3 and actually use wire to make some sturdy raspberry supports, that should be a lot longer-lasting and more effective than the string variety we had up before.  Yay raspberries!

 

Now I think we are really done creating flowerbeds.

At least for this year!

Fall Colors out Front

My front flowerbeds are filled with delightful colors, even once the flowers have gone.

 

The front porch bed.

Oakleaf hydrangea, I knew I could count on you for some gorgeous fall leaves!

Snowball bush, with peony and Echinacea seedheads in the background.

Love it!

Boxwood, rose, and other foliage

Barberry

The guillardia are hanging on, and those lovely red tones blend in just fine.

Catmint seedheads, with purple ninebark in the background.

 

 

Plus a bonus: strawberry foliage up in the garden

 

If our winter is as mild as the weatherman claims it will be, we will be enjoying these colors for a few more months!

October vegetable garden

 

We're about done out there.

Pulled out all the rest of the beans and tomatoes, got the tomato cages put away.

 

A few flowers lingering on in my daughter's garden.

2 small pumpkins turning orange.

(Now that the beans and cosmos are gone, they'll get a lot more sunlight.)

Marigolds still hanging in, but they'll probably be done soon.

  

bare bean poles

 

I can't believe how long we've waited until first frost this year.

Canning & Processing Tally

I'm feeling pretty good about my harvesting, processing, and canning this year. We entered summer almost completely out of home-canned fruit and now our shelves are overflowing!

 

I didn't do so hot taking pictures of garden harvest or what I canned this year. I want to do better on that next year.

The oregano and vegetables were all from our garden.

We had 3 different friends offer free cherry picking in July, and I took them all up on the offers!

2 had sweet cherries, and 1 had a pie cherry tree.

Peaches, pears, and apples were purchased.

 

We ended up with:

 

1 1/2 quarts dried oregano

 

23 quarts sweet cherries

2 quart bags chopped frozen sweet cherries

15 cups pie filling (frozen)

12 pints? a bunch of cherry-berry syrup (jam that didn't set--oops!)

 

5 cups raspberry freezer jam--home-picked fruit

 

8 quarts sliced carrots, frozen

 

39 quarts peaches

 

5 quarts green beans, frozen

 

9 pints plum jam

Free plums from behind the elementary school!

 

33 quarts pears

 

41 quarts applesauce

 

6 pints pickled beets

 

I think that will do it for this year, unless I decide to make some more jam--which is tempting.

I want to make some more lemon-ginger marmalade.

 

My care for the vegetable garden and flowers really dropped off in September...along with my blogging. This list is helping me realize why--I was canning everything in sight! Everything from the carrots on down has been done since the last week of August.

(Not to mention school starting, soccer practice, etc., etc.)

 

Let me just say it again.

It's a good feeling to have all that done for the year.

Containers This Year

These have filled out nicely.

I never did fill up my other 2 pots.

With our kitchen remodel, the back deck was full of cabinets for most of the summer, so I didn't put any back there.

Maybe it was a good thing.

With the hot summer we've had, I have had a hard time keeping these three watered!

They really need it every day.

They get it...every 2nd or 3rd day, depending on when I notice the wilting.

Terrible! 

 

Those red petunias were a fluke!

I certainly didn't think I was buying any red petunias!

I really like the way the sweet potato vine has been spilling over the sides.

 

As predicted, the osteospermum has gone dormant in the heat.

The dahlias still bloom, as long as I'm consistent with the water.

These make a welcome bit of color and texture as you go up the stairs to our front door.

I think as far as design, these are the best I've put together so far.

I love the mix of textures, with the feathery asparagus fern juxtaposed with the bold sweet potato vine. The flower colors complement each other as well.

 

Maybe next year I'll assign a child to water them every day.

 

The Cutting Garden

After perusing some flower farmer blogs and visiting our local u-pick flower farm again, I decided to make a dedicated cutting garden on the end of our side terrace.

 

In May I pulled out all my flower seeds--varying ages, most at least 1 year old.

I weeded like crazy, (it had already been rototilled earlier), then planted my little seeds.

I waited, tried to remember to water, and waited.

 

And....not much came up.

These are the first pictures, because most of the summer has seen only very small struggling plants surrounded by (yes) more weeds.

 

So, to begin:

These daisies were a gift from a friend, and after taking a month or two to recover from transplanting, they're actually blooming again!

 

Funny story about them:

I was making a bouquet to give to a friend, and came over for some daisies.

As I was snipping them, I thought, "Wow, you can really smell the compost in this bed!"

Then later, in the car, I really thought I had stepped in something.

I checked my shoes, I was looking for the source of THAT smell.

Oh yes. It wasn't the compost, my friends.

So, fortunately, I have some pretty white daisies.

UNfortunately, those daisies smell like poop.

Therefore, they will have to be moved elsewhere in my garden, because flowers in my cutting garden aren't allowed to stink that bad!

 

My current plan is possibly moving them down the terrace, between each of my new lilac bushes.

Ever-loving zinnias.

These are the best!

They're the 'Cut and Come Again' variety, and they have all sorts of fun and different forms in the same seed packet. As you can see, most were pink this year, but that's okay, too.

 

These bachelor buttons grew from 4 year-old seed!

They sure are pretty, but also are super floppy, which made them hard to use in arrangements.

They must not get enough sun right here.

 

Sunflower mix.

Tall, stately, and beautiful.

I'm still figuring out how to use them in a mixed bouquet.

 

So out of maybe 10 varieties of seeds planted this year, so far I have 3 things growing.

I've got some work to do!

August in the Kids' Gardens

As they had mostly spring vegetables in their gardens, it's not too surprising that they haven't had as much to harvest these days.

 

My daughter's garden:

 

She's still got a few peppers coming, and a few carrots, but mostly it is flowers.

She loves the flowers, so that's okay too.

(A girl after my own heart.)

 

My oldest son's garden:

His potatoes have about died off completely in the far back.

He also has a couple of peppers starting to turn red.

He been picking beans off his bean plant (not pictured), and has a few carrots here and there, along with those beautiful snapdragons right in front.

 

 

Littlest guy's garden is still going, but about to be all harvested.

Carrots and beets are hanging on, but will be picked within the week.