This post was originally posted in April, but instead of being just about April, it will have to be about the entire gardening season- for the usual reason. And as usual, my apologies! We have so much fun, that I am often overwhelmed by the cheer amount of stuff I want to report here for posterity.
Let's start with the gardening season~
In April it was still cold and the grass had not yet all come back, but I had already started working on seeds, had created one bed under that tree there in the forefront of the grassy area, and had moved some bulbs, etc. The tulips I planted late in the winter did work in the end! I was very happy to see them. They were late, as they were planted late, but they were very beautiful and a most welcome sight when everything else was still pretty dead.
Early in the season I also decided to work on this ugly patch in the back of our house. You'll see how cool the transformation has been- if not perfect. There were so many weeds and empty dry patches and I decided to dedicate myself to making the overall look of our house better this year. Instead of focusing as much as usual on the veggies/edibles (though I did do a bit of that, too) I mostly focused on being consistent and staying on top of watering, forcing the poor hubs to help with fixing things, and planting long term (I hope!) flowers, bushes, etc.
Ugly patch in early Spring:
Less ugly patch~ I weeded and weeded and amended the soil on either side of the concrete path and turned these two strips into my flower patch and seriously seeded the area twice (early spring and middle of the summer, and I think I did do a third in the Fall but that was a much lesser amount of seed, time, etc.) I planted some annuals, of course, but also some veggies and some plants that will hopefully be coming back next year- the usual hollyhocks and morning glory, but also some sage and other draught friendly flowering bushes.
I also had a few volunteers-- a cilantro plant that produced SO MUCH and for very very long, and a loofa vine that is still growing in mid-late October (crossing fingers that it won't freeze!)
In the end we got okra, peppers, long beans, lots of herbs, carrots, and flowers-- I really did enjoy all the flowers. I didn't take pictures of everything, especially at the end of the season, but we got to enjoy it all, little bit by little bit, through the entire season. It was actually pretty perfect.
The front has been looking great this year, as well! We had a very pretty lawn this year. I am only worried about our bushes-- somehow those have been looking worse each year even as the grass gets better. I will try to water those this winter bc I think that's when they struggle and then can never get back to healthy levels even after the entire gardening season is over.
And the warm season really is over now--- I am crossing fingers that it will not freeze before my loofa matures. It is now late October (Oct 23rd to be exact) and the grass has started to yellow and I have started cutting plants down. But I am pleasantly surprised that the loofa is working out so far and that I STILL have green beans, okra, peppers, coming in. Usually, by the time kids start school in August, I am burnt out from garden work and things dwindle down fast after that. But this year I have done a better job of continuing into the fall. I did not start a new garden in the fall, but I did work on long term plantings-- look at those pretty mums, and I even bought more bulbs, which will be planted early this year (hope they make it again!)
That's been this year's gardening season. I think the camping will have to go to another post? I will check and see how best to organize everything :P