Inside: With an early snow on the ground, now is a good time to evaluate which plants worked and which ones didn’t. Highlights of my end of garden season notes follow.
Snow on the ground draws the garden season to a close. (As if frost didn’t have a say in the matter already.) Not exactly a banner year this time around, but rather than go through all my various beds, plots, and containers like I did in 2017, I’d rather focus on some of the highlights, along with what didn’t work well.
Most Notable
As mentioned in my previous post about results of the late summer garden, zinnias were the stars this year. Drought didn’t bother them, nor did heat or a little neglect here and there. They looked vibrant and full and lovely, despite the weather.
Succulents performed well, as they normally do in my containers, as do sedums. These are plants that require little work yet add variety and texture to the garden.
For the second year in a row I planted extra red cabbage into containers with the sole purpose of adding a pop of colorful foliage among my flowers. And it worked perfectly–again. I love this tip for all the above reasons, but also because these plants can be bought cheaply in the spring.
Coleus was as lovely as usual, and the begonias in August were a pure delight, as Mom always says about begonias.
Veggies did okay, with enough peppers and tomatoes to keep us in fresh eating. I enjoyed several small watermelons, and enough cukes to make a batch of curry pickles.
Epic Fails
In my final late summer garden post, I confessed my epic fails with squash bugs eating my winter squash and pumpkins and even my cucumbers. Bunnies got my cabbage and cauliflower, not once, but twice. (At least I think the rabbits came back to the garden buffet table and ate my second round of plants.)
And remember those beautiful planters we put together back in May? Turns out that some plants can be bullies. Regular container hogs. The innocent-looking white euphorbia seemed to be on a mission to take over the container, crowding out the yellow bidens, and the delicate salmon-colored diascia never had a chance. Beautiful start, poor finish. The marigolds and purple calibrachoa got along okay, but the calibrachoa seemed to fizzle in the weather. Those colorful blooms didn’t last much past spring, and the foliage suffered along until frost.
Generally speaking, the containers around the steps just didn’t have that vibrant color that is typical of most summers. And some flowers put on an early show in the spring and then stopped blooming altogether. Not the best year for containers, though I watered quite often. Nothing beats a rain shower for perking up a plant! Well, provided we don’t get too much rain, anyway.
The Stump Garden 2018
Seemed like our stump garden had a dark and brooding summer. As with the previous year, the ornamental sweet potatoes took over as the season progressed, but this time around the bronze vine gave the stump a darker appearance and overpowered the trailing vinca. The silver mound, creeping jenny, and sedums held their own as we moved through the summer, but the celosia turned into a dud. What turned out to be a nice surprise? Both the Mexican petunias and the Mexican firebush. The petunias were a nice splash of color on the road side of the stump, and the firebush turned into a bright red as we approached fall. It will be interesting to see what comes back next spring.
Gardening Hindsight
frost.
Can you say fertilizer? I shouldn’t have relied so much on the potting soil with fertilizer–for a couple of reasons. For some flowers, after that initial bloom, they never came back. The foliage continued to grow, but no flowers. My guess is too much nitrogen. I should have used some of my homemade organic fertilizers or compost. The homemade versions take a little while longer to see the boost, but they’re effective in the long run. (And cheap, too.)
For the container hogs, I could have dug the other flowers out and simply put them in their own pot to give them a chance. Also, I could have tried a technique that I noticed in Mom’s containers this year. She groups pots so close together and raises some pots higher than others so that she creates a type of fountain of flowers, and it appears to be one large container because the foliage covers the pots. So you get the same effect but the plants stay in their own container.
Whether the weather can be blamed or not? Well, some of the fault lies with the early heat and lack of rain. But, truth be told, I’m pointing the finger at me, too. Gardens need time and attention. And nurturing. Yes, nurturing. I could have spent more time giving my garden some TLC.
So what about next year? I’ll keep in mind the lessons I learned from 2018–and stop to smell the flowers along the way.
How did your garden grow? Tell us about it in the comments.
Related posts:
Taking End of Season Garden Notes
How to Prepare Strawberry Plants for Winter
Results of my Late Summer Garden
Posts from a year ago:
Swirling Patterns of Blackbirds, Posing, and Other News Fresh From the Farm