How was everyone's garden this year?

[Lavender]

I'm sitting here listening to the rain. Hopefully, we'll get a bit more sun before the end of the summer. I find everything's so beautiful at this time of the year. All my plants & herbs are at their peak. Flowers are in full bloom...which I'll leave to go to seed for next year. I've been harvesting & drying herbs all summer & only have a bit more to do.

I hope everyone's garden plans worked out for them. Soon it will be time to start thinking about what worked & what didn't & what to do next spring. :)

[Fawn]

My flowers great! My apples and pears are overflowing. My grapes became 'raisisn and my yellow tomatoes got no bigger than a wart. But other than that good.

[Faery-Wings]

My main garden, just flowers and a small pond in the front of my house was doing so wonderful until about a month ago. Between the lack of rain we had this year and that d*** tree, much of the flowers are getting brown and the pond is all mucky. This is the worst year we have ever had with this tree. The nuts are falling everwhere and I can't keep them out of the garden or pond. I have been trying to clean it up as much as possible but it is to hard to keep up with it. :(

My herbs, in pots, are doing great for the most part. My mint, basil and thyme are doing fab!! My lavender is still hanging in, it hasn't bloomed but it is still alive. I am hoping that next year will be better for it.

My small wildflower side garden is starting to get a bit overgrown. I am thinking of pulling it all out and starting over next spring.

Overall, this was one of my better years. Usually everything I plant dies. Not really but it has been more of a struggle. I think next year will be even better.

Chris

[Amora]

Sadly, mine committed suicide...

[Lavender]

I'm sorry to hear that, Amora. What happened?

[MammaStar]

well, our flower garden in the front yard did great. The roses were beautiful this year. But the veggies, sadly did not do well & I think that has to do with the stress of things going on in the back of my house (gas line being put in; critters sneaking in the yard). My one pot of herbs survived too, my lavendar isn't doing as well as I hoped but the basil & mint & thyme are thriving.

[Amora]

Originally posted by Wildchild
I'm sorry to hear that, Amora. What happened?

I think it was a combination of things...periods of no rain then heavy downpours. And those darn weeds just wanted to overcome everything, I couldn't keep up with them. If there were only 40 hours in a day I'd have a much easier time keeping up with everything!!!

[Lavender]

I know what you mean...at some point, I always give up & let the weeds go a bit. I was very surprised by my basil too. It sounds like everyone's basil is doing well this year.

Chris, I thought you had made peace with that tree! :) Hope it gets better next year. I find that my wildflower patches have to be renewed every so often too. Otherwise, some of the more prolific wildflowers tend to take over the area.

I'm thinking I'm going try to save more seeds this fall & maybe see if anyone would be interested in doing a seed exchange next spring. I'm not very good at saving seeds...I usually let everything fall & see what comes up in the spring. :D

[Silver Venus]

Just last night I made a list of all the flowers that worked in my yard this summer and all those who didnt! :)
Ive got a yard so all my flowers, plants, veggies, fruits and herbs are in pots and hanging baskets.
My herbs have been going strong since spring! I was so surpirsed at how easy it is to grow them and how fast they grow too! Ive been enjoying there tastes in my salads, pasta's and soups all summer! & I made a batch of soap using dried lavendar from my pots too. The lavendar was touch and go for a while as it became pretty dry a few weeks back, and my mint got eaten my nasty green little flies.. but after a few sprays thats growing back nicely and is my favourite herb! :)
My hanging baskets have been the most effort to protect from the sun, but they are still looking beautiful, I think they will probally die off as soon as the autumn sets in though so I planning last night to buy seeds early spring to plant for them ~ as this time I bought plants and arranged them.
My Petunia's didnt do so well as lots and lots of nasty Green fly attacked them and no matter how much I sprayed I wasnt able to rescue them :(
I planted lots of Sunflowers as part of my sun/moon yard plans, early summer and they have grown 5feet tall! They look great and I will deffiantely plant more seeds next spring/summer.
I also planted a few tomato plant seeds and they have grown very quickly, they are so easy to care for too and over the last couple of weeks Ive had about 20/30 juicy red ripe toms of them! I love my little tommy plants! :D
As for my cucumber and corgette plants ~ They too have grown wonderfully and the slugs and snails are really enjoying them!! So they are kind of for my yard animals now :)
All in all its been a great first summer in my sunny yard :D Cant wait for next year! So I can really get into planting seeds and watching everything grow from seed right before my eyes ~ magical :sunny:

[moonmagick4]

My garden is loaded with tomatoes and peppers!!We can't pick them fast enough!!!!Our zucchini and yellow squash are done.We also have lots and lots of swiss chard!!!It has definitely been a good year for our garden!!:D :D :sunny: :sunny: :sunny: :boing: :boing: :boing: :thumbsup:

[Silver Venus]

Moonmagick your garden sounds lovely! I wish I had the room and soil to grown such delicious veggies! :D

[Faery-Wings]

Chris, I thought you had made peace with that tree! Hope it gets better next year. I find that my wildflower patches have to be renewed every so often too. Otherwise, some of the more prolific wildflowers tend to take over the area.

I tried, Gods know, I tried! I had to take a snow shovel and a garbage can to get some of the nut crumbs (from the squirrels eating them) off of the walk. The lawn in a mess- I have to use a rake and it is just so frustrating to see most everything I worked so hard to grow dead now. Even my neighbors who have been here 20+ years said it was the worst they had seen. My husband is pretty determined to have it taken down.:(

I am going to try to do some research on shade herbs, Wildchild, you gave me a list a few weeks ago. I think the wild flowers (yup, only one or two kinds are left!) are going to go and some herbs will go in. And I have a small rock circle garden in the front wildflowers that is looking rough. Next year I want to make it a moongarden!

Now I can't wait for spring!

Chris

[BrightStar]

Hi all!
I'dsay the glass was half full this year with my gardens.My tomatoes never produced,I think I planted about a week too late.Luckily my neighbor grew tons of them.My hot peppers are growing like crazy.The herbs did well,I also had basil take off like crazy!My marigolds stayed beautiful.
My circular garden around my crystal cairn had a decent first year.My Mexican petunias did well.A new rosebush seems to be making it.All my different vines did well.I planted some new althea bushes and they're thriving,some in white and some in purple.The other thing that gave me trouble were some of the basic flowers annuals and the like.The 100 degree days are rough on some things.I'll have a good start for next year.
Peace and Love
BrightStar

[Socharis]

Actually my garden is doind quite well this year and so is my nw addition of my herb garden.

[skysteed]

Don't have much room for growing things, most of it parking blacktop, but what I do have, some was OK some didn't do well.
My lanvender plant did nicely, even though I almost ignored it. The companion General Lavender I bought, I just don't know, no buds, just round green leaves.
My Basil that I container plant was and still is very pale green this year even though it was watered daily and fed every two weeks.
My container tarragon looks like little twigs with a few green stubs and tiny weeny flowers, did much better last year.
Sage is very small this year and like the basil very pale in color.
Sorrel, well what can I say, I inheritied a patch from my dad's garden 5 years ago, I;ve had to cut it back twice this year and it just keeps on growing. Running out of people who know what to do with sorrel.
Same with my inherited Comphrey, couldn't kill it even if I tried.
The plants I got from dad have inherited powers, any of the plant I got from his garden can't be killed.
His Cosmos just grows like a weed. The only time I remeber to water it is when the flowers start to droop a little, by then the ground is rock hard dry, give it a drink and it perks up.

[Summer Solstice]

My roses are beautiful this year, but my tomatoes D.O.A. ....3 flowers but no fruit. HELP