Aaaaand suddenly, it’s November. We’re expecting our first temps below freezing this week, which will officially draw the gardening season to a close. This year has been warmer and wetter than average, which presented its own set of challenges. I thought I’d use today’s post to look back at the garden this year, at what worked well, and which schemes of mine went hay-wire.

When I started the season, I had a few projects in mind. I wanted to turn one of our side yards into a wildflower bed. I planned to add two new raised beds to the back yard for more planting space. And, I wanted to add a native plant bed to the hellstrip in our front yard.

The first of these projects just never made it off the ground, so to speak. The best time to prep a bed like this is in the fall, and I just didn’t get to this bed in time for that. I may work on it over these next few weeks. It would be a nice bed to try the “lasagna” planting method, where you don’t dig anything up, leaving all the organisms and soil structures in place, and instead, layer soil and compostable items like paper on top. The paper kills off the grass, and you’re left with a nice new bed for planting without tearing apart the ground below. It’s far easier on the body, (take that, arthritis!) and is a great way to maintain the health of the soil. Anyway, we’ll see if I get to that this project this month or not…

The next two projects, I did accomplish this past spring. The two raised beds were added early in the season, and we filled them with leaf compost. I grew quite a lot in all four beds this year, all from seed/bulbs: two types of tomatoes, marigolds, carrots, leeks, lettuce, parsley, garlic, shallots, green beans, bachelor button flowers, asparagus, oregano, bush beans, and basil. Everything seemed fairly happy most of the season (though, the druzba tomatoes caught blight at the end of August). I think next year, I’d like to plant about half the beans (they were hard to keep up with), half the tomatoes (I plant to just grow paste tomatoes next year), and I’m hoping to crack the secret to growing parsnips. I’ve tried for two years now, and just never managed to get them to sprout.

The hellstrip project was also a success. I scaled back my original plan to take out all the sod, and I never managed to get a maple tree planted (though, there’s a volunteer growing out back that I may move to the front yard yet this month). But, in mid-spring, the husband dug out a huge patch of sod, and I moved in a bunch of native plants that I’d grown from seed, along with a few other perennials for the pollinators, like creeping thyme and nepeta. The bed still needs edged with stone to match the others, but so far, it’s looking quite nice. I’m especially proud of the little blue stem grasses that I grew from seed using the winter sewing method. They are an important prairie plant, and look fabulous with their fiery orange and red spikes this fall.

In addition to these larger projects, I spent quite a lot of springtime turning the deck into Plant Central. It sort of started as an accident, as I’d planted way too many seeds, and ran out of space for all of them in the garden beds. But then, I leaned into the idea that the deck was now a hangout for potted plants, ignoring the lack of space for lounging and grilling for their human counterparts. I had… well, frankly, a garden center amount of plants on that deck this year. There were veggies, herbs, tropical plants, native species, fruit… at one point, there was even a 20 foot sugar pie pumpkin vine winding around the grill and half the deck. I really enjoyed my little jungle, and plan to go even more wild next year, because why not.

Finally, in what I consider my crowning achievement in the garden this year, I added a wildlife pond. I’d been day-dreaming about having a water feature in the yard for ages, but I expected it to end up as a large pot, with some water and a lily pad or something. Then, in a fit of whimsy, I announced to the husband that we were going to dig out space for a tiny pond. I had certainly done a bit of research beforehand, but really, one day I just woke up and decided I had to have a pond, and that was that. So, we dug out the pond, added a plastic lining, set rocks around the edges and along the bottom, and then added a boatload of native plants around the edges. I mulched the space, added a water pump, and we were off and running. Birds eventually found the space, and then, to my absolute delight, two frogs showed up (Stanley and Stan Lee). The space is wild, and beautiful, if I do say so myself.

So, the year ended up being quite prolific, garden-wise. I added a lot more native plants to the garden, which were vital during the long, hot stretches of summer days. They lured in all sorts of amazing insects and wildlife. I also grew more veggies, fruits, and herbs than I’d ever managed before, all from seed. I certainly learned a few things for the future, and I have lots of notes on what I’d like to plant next season. I’m pleased with the projects the husband and I managed, because landscaping is tough work.

I have a few ideas percolating for next year… I’d like to rip out some more grass, and expand the perennial beds that wind around the entire perimeter of the back yard. I’d also like to create some more height on the deck with a trellis for some climbers. Finally, I’d like to really focus on stuffing more native species into the yard. I have a lot of single plants peppered around, and I’d like to bulk up their numbers to make the landscape flow a little better. We also plan to replace our falling apart fence early next spring, before the perennials wake back up so they aren’t damaged.

For now, though, the garden is about to go back to sleep for the season, and I have lots of time to daydream about what’s to come in the months ahead. Soon, I’ll be putting the bird feeders back up, and awaiting the first snowfall. Many of my deck plants have been moved inside, so I’m surrounded by green and flowers, even on cold, gloomy winter days. 2021 was a great year in my garden. Hope your gardening season has been even better!