I really wish I would have taken the time in past years to do a garden recap. Oh well, here is this years recap.
The biggest surprise this year was my Canterbury bells. Amy planted them in her house two or three years ago. She and I planted 1 tiny plant that was smaller than my fingernail. I thought it had died. Guess not. Apparently, this is a plant that takes 2 years to bloom. It was super pretty and I'm so glad I have it. I've let it do it's own thing to observe. It bloomed again a little bit in early September. Next year, I'll try to cut it back after blooming. I've been waiting for seed pods, but so far haven't see any yet.
Here are the garden boxes this year. The one on the left is cucumber and corn. Honestly, it was a flop. I neglected the corn, so it ended up being ready to pick and I had to idea. That goes to show you how much we love corn. The cucumbers were SO slow to do anything. It was beyond frustrating. By the time they were starting to do anything the powdery mildew was taking over. It was kinda fun to see the cucumbers growing up the corn. That's about all the good this box did for the year.
The next box was 2 beefsteak tomatoes and 2 cherry tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes quickly overtook the others ones. It was sad. I was able to get about 10 tomatoes from the beefsteak, but I actually gave them all away. Despite having the tomatoes on a drip line they still had split top. That made me mad. I hate where they split at the top.
Cherry tomatoes were amazing. They are still happily producing. My favorite thing is going out to eat them. Funny story....when mowing the lawn I stop every time I'm nearby and chow down. It's the best. I also put cucumbers in this box. They seemed to do better and we got about 4 cucumbers out of them.
On the end of the box on the right side I planted 1 spaghetti squash. Then, I pulled them up and over tomatoes cages to grow on the end of the garden area. It was SO amazing and it worked out pretty great until.....
....the powdery mildew took over. Seriously, it was so awful! I am kicking myself for not going to the store and getting chemicals to take care of it when it first started to be a problem. I think next year I'll have the foresight before it becomes a massive problem. Then again, I'm nervous to plant this type of seed because I don't want it to happen again.
The flowers went crazy this year. The petunias were just so pretty once we hit August. I was also so surprised with the marigolds. I didn't plant any of them - they just reseeded themselves from the past few years. I love how much they filled in underneath my plum tree.
My dear friend, Wendy gifted me these double ruffle purple petunias. They were adorable and so perfect for this spot out by the mailbox. They did surprisingly well for an area that doesn't get much water.
I also got lots and lots of plums this year. I was surprised. The tree still struggles with aphid and iron problems. It's so hard to get on top of it. I always say it will better next year and it's not. Hahahah. I think I got six bowls of plums. Thankfully the food dehydrator still works and I cranked out 5 quart baggies full of prunes.
This year I also learned how to divide my coral bells. They are such beautiful, delicate flowers. I would love to have the plants completely fill in this entire area. It might take a few years though.
One other important discovery this year was adjusting the reach of the sprinklers in the left area of this parking strip. I adjusted the ones that go right down the center to a 6' instead of an 8'. Instead of dead grass - this year it was finally green. Hurray!
BTW, Springville City came and took out the problem tree I had growing in this area. The roots were buckling the sidewalk. They also took out 5 sections of sidewalk and then put new cement back in. It looks really good.
