Garden Summary for 2010

Let's see...a summary for the garden this year.  Well, let's break it down.

First there are the potted annuals.  They did pretty good this year.  I always seem to fall back on the traditional favorites.  I guess they're favorites for a reason.  The impatiens, lobelia, alyssum, vinca vines, snapdragons, petunias, geraniums and marigolds did great, as always.  However, the sweet potato vine did not.  I keep trying it in different spots and it never looks like it does in the magazines!  I think that maybe our nights are just too cold for it to thrive.  I tried adding some perennials to the pots this year and I really liked the viola, lamium and English ivy.  Gotta be more reliable watering my window boxes.  The neighbours' looked great, but I know she watered everyday religiously.  Maybe there is some new gimmick I could try?  But not that weird gel stuff.  I'll have to think about it.

Next, we have the perennial/mixed garden beds.  I added  two new beds this year.  One against the back fence (perhaps my fall garden?) and one in the area between our house and the neighbours.  Both turned out pretty good.  Lava Girl really wants to add a bench to the back garden bed so I might have to rearrange some plants in the spring.  Overall everything did pretty good this year.  We hardly watered (since we had the wettest summer ever! - have I mentioned that before?).  I fussed a bit to one of the beds (I think I'll call it the summer bed) to add some more summer flowering perennials.  Can't wait until next year when they've filled in.  Also, my front yard spring garden performed great this year!  I just finished adding some more spring flowering bulbs, so next year is going to be even better!

Here is the fall garden when it was first planted in June.

Here is the fall garden in October - it has filled in a bit.  I still haven't decided what to put at the left.

 The garden between the two houses was a group effort between myself and my neighbour who is an awesome gardener!  Her garden is fantastic!  I'm trying to learn as much as I can from her.  Anyway, we wanted to keep this garden simple, so we planted mostly tough shrubs, lots of junipers, and then had fun with a few barberries.  I'd also like to add some elephant ears fro spring colour and maybe some ferns at the back for some more height.  That can wait until next year.

Here is the garden between the houses before the makeover in June.

And here it is in October - for some reason I forgot to take a picture immediately after the makeover.

Lastly there are the vegetable garden beds.  Most things did pretty well this year.  The corn, tomatoes and squash had a tough year.  I think I'll skip the squash next year.  I have become obsessed with home made pickles, so I think that I'm going to have some devote some space to some cucumbers.

Here is the garden in July - the rhubarb is huge!

And here it is in October - I've already started clearing it out, but the sunflowers are huge!

Well, that's all for now.  Time to plan for next year!  Happy gardening!