From winter through the spring, 2021 was filled with lots of activity and color in the garden.
2021 was quite a year for me in the garden. I started a blog, to keep track of all of my adventures. We put in a wildlife pond, a new pollinator bed, built two more raised beds, filled the deck to bursting with pots, and I planted more seeds than ever. I added quite a few native plants to the yard, tried winter sowing, started growing a few exotic (for Central Ohio!) plants like pineapples and a banana tree, and I’ve stuffed every available surface indoors with potted plants.
The yard saw quite a few visitors this year, everything from dragonflies and bees, to hawks and cats. Our birdfeeder collection multiplied (much to the delight of the local sparrow population), and the compost pile has continued to grow, then break down, only to grow again.
Recently, our lemon tree has started forming flowers for the first time! I’m so excited at the prospect of lemons.
Our raised beds had a productive year. Things kicked off with asparagus and lettuce in the springtime, then the herbs, garlic, shallots, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and green beans from the summer into fall.
2021 was a warm year, and a wet one, too. According to the local weatherman, who keeps track of these sort of things, this will have been our 7th warmest year since 1879. Just this month, which has been unusually warm, we tied our record for the 3rd warmest December since 1878. We’ve spent a few days with the windows open this week, which has never happened before at this time of year. Our hellebores are budding already (which usually doesn’t happen until March or April) and while most of the perennials dies back last month when we had a bit of snow, the yard is looking pretty green.
I made a few ceramic tiles this fall, with impressions of ferns and leaves from the garden.
Despite the temperatures and rainfall, the garden seemed mostly happy this year. I only watered the pots and raised beds with veggies and annuals- all the plants and trees out in the flower beds were left up to their own devices. I put in a lot of natives, which grow very deep roots that can withstand the summer heat. And I tend not to plant perennials that require much in the way of fussing.
When not gardening, I spent some time crafting up artwork and gifts for friends and family, inspired by, and borrowing from the garden itself. I made up some beeswax candles with bits of dried lavender from the flowers beds. I also dried up a bunch of herbs, like thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, bay leaves, parsley, fennel, and dill, some of which ended up in mixes for friends. Finally, I made up some little clay tiles and pendants, which I “printed” with impressions of ferns and other plants around the yard. I painted them, and shipped them off for some one-of-a-kind art for friends. They turned out rather nicely, if I do say so myself, and I hope to make up some more.
The lavender candles, mid-wax-pouring
I’m really looking forward to the next gardening season. This winter, I’ll be working on my Master Gardener certification, and soon, it will be time to start sowing seeds again. I’ve already been pouring over the seed catalogues as they arrive, and may have already purchased my body weight in seeds… I’m excited to see which new (to me) plants, flowers, and trees catch my eye and end up in the garden this coming year.
As pandemic life continues, and things in the world feel uncertain, I hope that your garden is still bringing you peace and joy. While those seed catalogues pour in, and you find yourself deep into springtime daydreams, may 2022 find you safe and healthy. Happy gardening!
Summer and fall were filled with flowers and treats for the pollinators and I to enjoy!
We’ve been having some particularly gorgeous sunrises lately.
It’s been a hot minute. I accidentally took the better part of a month off from updating the blog, and decided I ought to get back into the groove. So, now it’s December. We’ve had a few snowy days, some freezing days, cloudy days, and a lot of days where the temperatures have been above average for this time of year. The yard is blooming with dandelions again, something that usually doesn’t happen until the springtime.
A lot of the warmer-season bugs, like bees, have left for the season, but we’re still seeing ladybugs, stinkbugs, spiders, and little beetles whose species I don’t know. I’m sure if I did any digging around in the not-yet-frozen-ground, I’d find plenty of worms, pill bugs, and other creepy crawlies roaming about, too. Even when it is cooler out, there’s a lot going on in the soil.
Our volunteer maple tree put on quite a gorgeous show in November, with fiery orange leaves.
I did a tour of the garden the other day and was surprised at how much was still green this year. A few of the ferns are still hanging out, and the snow and freezing cold mornings haven’t managed to put all of the perennials to sleep yet. Most of the plants have finished for the season, though. As usual, I left up the vast majority for a winter display, as well as to help feed and house the local wildlife until springtime. I’m really enjoying all the tall, dry grasses, like the little bluestem. I know I talk about that native plant a lot, but I just love how different it looks in each season, and its tall, flowy brown stalks with their willowy little seed heads are just gorgeous at this time of year.
I love the way all the different plants look at this time of year, from brown grasses, to frost-covered herbs and green, orange, and red heucheras.
In addition to the gardens, we’ve still been enjoying our harvest from this years crops. The sugar pie pumpkins we grew made for some absolutely delicious pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving. And we are still making our way through the tomato paste from the san marzano tomatoes, as well as the smorgasbord of green beans that continue to pack the freezer. (I like mine with a little bacon and onion… mmm!).
Our sugar pie pumpkins made for a delicious pie!
I’ve been diligently making lists of which veggies, herbs, and fruits I’d like to try out next season. This process is ongoing, and I’ll likely make up about 74 different lists of plans before throwing the whole process out and simply buying whichever seed packets catch my eye once the seed catalogs arrive this winter. It’s fun to daydream, though, and I love a good list.
Speaking of lists, my project this month is to catalog all of the indoor plants. My little indoor jungle has become of showcase of my lack of self control in garden centers, as well as my inability to remember the names of anything. While one of the problems is surely too far gone to be helped, I think I can put my organizational skills to some use coming up with a spreadsheet naming all my plants. Who knows. Maybe in taking a closer look at all the plants, I’ll find some that can be split, necessitating a trip to the greenhouse for more pots! And plants! Win-win!
Hope that your garden is having a lovely sleep while you move your efforts indoors (if you are in the northern hemisphere). Happy gardening!
I love the way that prairie plants look in the autumn. We made it to the park yesterday to check out the fall color.
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.
I thought I’d pulled out the last of the carrots in late summer, but I spotted these last stragglers yesterday and harvested them before this weeks freezing temps.
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.
Our strawberry plants decided to flower again. The cold will keep them from actually fruiting until next year.
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.
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! This was our first year successfully growing pumpkins. I am still awaiting pumpkin pies. Hint hint, husband.
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.
The cats are back on bird watching duty. I’ll be hanging up the suet blocks and setting out sunflower seeds soon to draw in more visitors.
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!
“Life starts over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald
It’s finally fall! We’ve had a deliciously cool start to the season, and I’ve been spending much more time outdoors to enjoy all the colors, sounds, and scents of fall. It’s been nice to just sit on the deck and watch the golden cottonwood leaves glitter and dance in the wind.
There’s still a lot going on in the garden, and I’ve seen more birds around this week. A group of blue jays have been playing in the back yard each morning. I watched them bury peanuts from the neighbors feeders in our raised beds, and they’ve been chasing each other around the fenceposts. The warblers have returned to the yard as well, driving the cats wild as they set up camp on the deck furniture, yelling and digging through the remaining potted plants for treats.
In the fall, our bay window becomes a little jungle, with space for the cats to nap under the tropical leaves.
Out in the yard, I cleaned out most of the raised beds. The druzba tomatoes had caught blight, a fungus that attacks during very damp conditions and causes leaves to brown and then rot. We had a summer full of pouring rains and humidity, and the tomatoes just couldn’t cope with it. I know that next year, I’ll be excited to grow them again, but I am feeling a little salty about the tomatoes at the moment. Not that it’s their fault, but they are just so particular about their growing conditions… it’s hard to get the formula right with climate change making our weather more extreme every year. Too little, or uneven watering? They catch blossom end rot (which I dealt with last year). Too much water (which is so often out of our control), they catch blight. Ugh.
Blight is pretty easy to spot on tomato leaves, starting with dark brown spots that eventually take over the entire leaf, killing the plant.
So, the blighted plants have been removed, and I made sure not to add them to the compost pile with everything else, as blight can overwinter in the soil and attack again. For the bed that was hit this year, I’ve made a note in my planner to plant something else there next year (not tomatoes), which should help the problem to disappear. We’ll see. I planted out some hairy vetch seeds in the beds. I have no expectations for them what-so-ever, but hopefully, the vetch will grow because it helps replace nutrients like nitrogen back into the soil.
I have marigolds growing next to where the tomatoes lived, and I’m letting them stay put over winter to give the birds and insects some food and housing material. I may harvest some of their seeds to grow again next year. In the final raised beds, the asparagus stays put, but I removed the bush beans. The last bed still has pole beans in it, that I’m letting dry so I can harvest the seeds to use next year. There’s still parsley growing in that bed, which is pretty tolerant of cold weather. I plan to let it stay there until next season.
I brought in our loofah vine to overwinter and found a cute little loofah, starting to grow!
Out in the rest of the beds, I’m letting things stay as is for now. The only clean up I’ll do will be to remove the slimy hosta leaves after we get a few hard frosts. All the rest of the perennials I’ll let be until the spring, when they will be cut back to the ground to regrow. And, on the deck, I’ve brought in all the tender plants, like my pineapples. A few plants, like the dahlias and cannas, I cut back to the soil level, and brought the entire pot inside to live in the garage this winter. Plants like this will die off in the cold, but they will be protected in the garage, where it stays a bit warmer and dark. Why plants like this are fine with these conditions is something I don’t understand yet, but next spring, I’ll haul the pots back outside and watch them start growing like nothing happened.
After removing the flowers, gently dig up the geraniums, shake out the dirt from the roots, and store them in a cool, dark spot where they will have a bit of air to keep from rotting, like in an open box.
Another plant that I’m over-wintering are my geraniums. I used to bring the entire pot in each fall, but they take up a lot of room. The other night, I saw a video from gardening guru, Susan Mulvihill, of Susan’s in the Garden on a different way to overwinter the plants. She is a master gardener out in Washington, and one of my go to resources for gardening advice. Anyway, Susan explained that to save your geraniums, you can cut off all the flowers, gently remove the plants from the dirt (with leaves still on), shake as much dirt off the roots as possible, and then store them in a box with some airflow in a garage or basement. I’m putting mine in a paper bag in the basement. Check on them about once a month to make sure nothing is rotting. The plants will look like they die off, but in the spring, you’ll see leaves start growing again. Plant magic! I’m hoping this not only saves me some space in the house, but also helps these geraniums to be less leggy-looking when they grow again next spring. I’ve had them for years now and they are getting a wee bit scraggly.
That’s all I have for the week. I may do some clean up in the pond and unplug the fountain this week, but that’s really about the last of the clean up I have to do until the springtime. Now it’s just sitting back, watching the leaves change color and fall, and enjoying these sunny, cool days. Happy gardening!
This mantis was so big, I spotted her from my perch on the couch. She was making her way around the lemon tree, perhaps in search of a snack.
