Gardening Season is Wrapping Up

Now that fall's officially here, I thought I'd take some pictures of the garden and reflect on how this season went for me.

I took these pictures at dusk, so they're not as clear as they could be.

In the greenhouse, I have Diana the pomegranate who is doing well. She looks sad, but she's actually doing really, really well. I'm going to make a "cage" for her out of PVC pipe and heavy duty greenhouse plastic to help keep her happy during the winter. I'll also trim back her branches quite a bit to fit in the cage. She should have a strong, deep taproot by now, below the frost line, so other than the two weeks we're below zero, she should be just fine. For those two weeks, I'll hook up the heat lamp in an effort to keep her cage above 10 degrees.

I've allowed her to keep *one* fruit.

Outside of the greenhouse, I have Brandywine tomatoes in the left tomato box, and San Marzanos in the right. Moving away from the greenhouse, I have concord grapes, honeysuckle, and kiwi berry. The grapes fruited for the first time, and I can't tell you how excited I was about that! The kiwi berry grew like crazy this year, but no fruit, so I'm hoping we'll get some for next year. We planted the honeysuckle as a filler between the the grapes and kiwi berry.

In front of the arch, I have rosemary on the left,
and lavender on the right. Both are hanging in there, but not
thriving. Maybe next year they'll do better.

I was so thrilled with the grapes I got from Grandma and Grandpa Grape - it's been my goal for years to grow my own grapes. I thought the grapes were done for the year, but it looks like I'll get at least one more bunch! I don't know how common it is to get late grapes, but I'm not going to complain in the least.

The wind and summer storms have played havoc with my tomato plants. They're doing well, but it's been a challenge. I'll have to re-think how I support the tomatoes next year. The cages I had this year just weren't enough to keep the winds from blowing them all around. The other night, when I was looking for ripe San Marzanos to pick, I found this beautiful cat-faced orb weaver gracing my plant.

I learned a lot, but mostly, I learned the importance of deep watering. I was trying to water "just enough" in order to not be wasteful. However, I stunted my garden's growth doing that. My corn really took off once I borrowed a soaker hose from L.E. and started watering with that. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. The corn stalks grew to 9 feet tall, but the ears never developed any corn. There are skinny little ears all over, but no corn on the ears. Now I know.

The peas did really well in the pea/cucumber/corn patch, and the cucumbers also did really well. I think the peas would have done better if I'd started deep watering earlier. I borrowed the trellis that the peas and cucumbers climbed from L.E. Next year, I'll use our 'old' slow feed hay net as the trellis. I'll also plant the peas on the north side of the trellis so that when our stupid winds blow, it'll blow the peas into the trellis, not away from it.

The corn looks so impressive. Sadly, it's not. I'll be using it
as fall decoration instead of harvesting any corn.

I should have taken into consideration my hose length when I set up the pepper and no watermelon patch. My pocket hose doesn't reach, and so I had to spray from about five feet away, which disrupted the soil and the roots. My pepper plants didn't grow for anything, and I had to replace them once. Next year, I'll buy a longer hose and set up a soaker hose for this area. When I realized my peppers weren't going to do anything, my goal became "keep them alive the rest of the season", which worked out, and now they're coming on with some peppers. Better late than never, I guess.

That's my sunset bench under the no-watermelon arch.
I love sitting there in the evening.

The strawberries didn't do much this summer - I got one berry all season long - but I'm happy with the plants. I allowed them to send out runners all summer in hopes of filling the bed with plants. The mint has rebounded from the grasshoppers last year, and is now trying to escape the license plate border. I'll cut it back when I bed everything down with straw in a couple of weeks.

Tally, my grandturtle, has been
getting outdoor recess in the
strawberry/mint patch. She's
a master at hide and seek!

My "garden in a box" garden, made up of native flowers is doing really well. L.E. and I split a "box" since there were far too many plants for the little area I wanted to use. I planted them last fall, and did have to replace two of the plants, but the replacement plants are also doing well. Next year, they'll get minimal water, then the following year, I shouldn't have to water at all. I sort of followed the layout that Resource Central gave, but should have paid more attention so the taller plants went in the back. I didn't realize the penstemon would get so tall.

Starting at twelve o'clock and moving clockwise: yellow yarrow,
yellow columbine, purple coneflower, firecracker penstemon,
Rocky Mountain penstemon, purple columbine.

As a bonus, I had to include a picture from the sunset bench, under the no-watermelon arch. I often sit out there and do my Duolingo lessons in the evening. Once it gets cooler, I'll go back to sitting in Whimsy to do them.