Gardening – What Went Right This Season?
It is nearing the end of the growing season here in Toronto, Canada, and one of the things I like to do at this time of year is think about everything that went right this season.
Some successes were planned.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I focused on adding perennials to the garden and most of them did very well. They are adding a base of plant life that will return every year, whether we tend to them or not. I can see how this will build to create a fuller and more resilient garden.
Some things were happy accidents, however.
A butternut squash volunteer grew in a place I hadn’t thought of adding one to. And it covered up a bare unsightly strip of ground that had been bothering me for years. We will definitely plant another butternut squash there purposefully next year!
What went right for you this gardening season?
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Gardens Build
The first year the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I had our backyard garden, it looked a bit…bare. It was mostly tomato plants and marigolds and nothing was planted between those tomato plants.
The second year, we had the tomato plants and the marigolds but we also added raspberries a perennial and some perennial flowers and a few more annual vegetables.
The third year, the raspberries and the perennial flowers returned. We didn’t have to plant them. So instead, we planted some more perennials, along with the tomatoes, marigolds, and other annuals.
The fourth year, those perennials came back also. So we added more perennials.
Years later, our garden is quite full. We have a base of perennials that come back whether we’re out in the garden or not. And we also have some plants that self seed. (We need to manage that a bit better which I will talk about in another post.)
Gardens build. They become fuller every year.
If this is your first year gardening, don’t get discouraged. Your garden will likely be fuller next year!
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Gardening And When Are Perennials Perennial
I haven’t given you an update on the lovage, French sorrel, good king henry and other new perennial additions to the Dear Wonderful Hubby’s and my garden because…
Well… I never know if a perennial has truly taken, becoming perennial until it has survived a Canadian Winter.
Just about any plant, including annuals, do well during a Canadian Summer. It is the Winter that is the true test if a perennial has taken or not.
So yes, the new perennials look like they are doing well. (knock on wood) But I’ll only know if they are truly doing well once Spring 2027 hits.
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Perennials Take Time And Care
(This is a stock photo. Our plants aren’t as pretty. – grins)
I sowed a gazillion Good King Henry seeds (Good King Henry is a perennial spinach substitute).
Only 3 of those seeds sprouted.
But 3 seedlings are all we need and all that plant needs to reproduce.
Because it is a perennial vegetable that lives for 20 years or so.
Those 3 plants over 20 years could create 180 new plants. Those 180 new plants could also each create 3 new plants a year.
So the poor germination and the time and the work it takes to get those 3 seedlings to maturity are worth it to us.
This high level of care perennials need is why many experts suggest only adding 3 new perennials to our gardens every year. They need babying and fussing over. They need our time. And our time is limited.
Perennials are an investment but they are SO worth it!
(smiles)
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Gardening – Perennials And Compost
I’m very much a lazy gardener. (grins) So the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I plant a couple more perennial vegetables or fruits/berries every year.
One of the (many) benefits of perennials is
they don’t need as much compost or fertilizer.
Perennials usually have deep roots. They can draw up nutrients and minerals from deep within the ground…like trees do.
And they aren’t growing from nothing every year. Even if the vegetation dies back over a snowy cold winter, the root system remains.
We can save our precious compost for annual vegetables or newly planted perennials.
(smiles)
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Garden Layouts Aren’t Set In Stone
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I are investing in quite a few new-to-us perennials this season.
Perennials need a semi-permanent place in the garden (they CAN be moved but it sets back their growth and is a pain in the a$$ to do). Which means we have to rearrange our rather small backyard.
We’re moving the leaf mold cages to the side of the house that gets very little sun and nothing much grows there. This won’t hurt the leaf mold production and it will free up those sunnier spaces for growing vegetables.
(smiles)
Garden layouts aren’t set in stone, my friends.
Well, unless you literally set them in stone. And even those can be changed if you’re very strong and/or have a sledge hammer.
(grins)
Change them when your requirements change.
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Gardening Self-Sufficiency And Time
(This is a stock photo. Our water storage system isn’t as pretty. – grins)
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I have a goal to be self-sufficient with our gardening.
Eventually.
If there’s ever a time when we can’t buy or otherwise obtain soil, fertilizer, water, containers and other gardening necessities from others, we want to still be able to grow vegetables and berries.
I hope that day never comes but we’re preparing for it. Just in case.
This preparation takes time. And resources. And expertise.
It isn’t an overnight, install it and be done process.
Making leaf mold, for example, takes at the minimum two years.
My first attempt was a disaster. I didn’t add enough water. The leaves didn’t break down.
I’m trying again and that will take at least another two years.
Putting together a rain water retention system, as another example, takes expertise and money. We’re building this system over time, adding rain barrels and storage containers to it every year.
Building a base of perennial vegetables and berries involves a GREAT deal of learning and babying the plants those first few years and money to buy the seeds/starts. I find we can only add a couple perennials every year to our garden successfully.
Self-sufficiency with gardening isn’t an easy overnight type of thing.
But then gardening isn’t an easy overnight type of thing.
(grins)
We can do this!
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Changing The Iris Bed
Our backyard is mostly a vegetable garden now. The individual plots are gradually expanding until there will soon only be walkways between them.
I love this!
Tending to that takes time.
So we’re trying to create a fuss-free front yard, filled with small perennial plots.
One of those plots is the Purple Iris bed.
I like the greenery of Iris plants so my initial thought was to have it be ALL Irises.
It is very green right now. All green. Too green.
It needs a couple pops of color.
My revised plan is to have one pop of color be a hydrangea we were given when we first moved into the house. That’s a fairly easy-to-care-for later blooming perennial.
Another pop of color will be a cat’s pajamas cat mint we invested in a couple years ago. That’s another easy-to-care-for perennial that blooms all season long.
I need a third easy-to-care-for mid summer+ blooming perennial that overwinters well.
I’m having a lot of fun searching for that perfect plant.
(smiles)
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