Only one month left and summer will be over and Autumn is close on our heels. My front garden is the best its ever been since I bought the house 22 years ago. My brother was ever so kind enough to come and dig my flower beds for me. We added sand, peat moss, sheep manure and perlite to ROCK hard clay. He worked it all in for me to a depth of 2 feet so you can imagine what a task that was. I have all my tropical plants like bananas, brugs, passionvines,cannas etc; annuals such as coleus, fushia, etc all in pots set into the ground so I can overwinter them in the fall. Its easy for me to water and fertilize them.
My front yard is stunning and the back gardens are completely overground. Maybe next spring my knees will be better and I can get the backyard gardens into shape again. Its so bad back there that its dismal to even look at the flowers as they bloom.
I feel so blessed that Lee did so much work for me. I imagine if he had not I would be so depressed. Its bad enough with the arthritic pain and ligament pain in my knees, but it makes my heart glad when I walk out the front door and see how lovely my front gardens are. Neighbours always stop to comment on how good the front gardens are as they are incredibly lush.
How are other people's gardens coming along?
How are your gardens coming along?
mine is sos o. with the heat, my fall, getting my uncle, youngest breaking her ankle, so many things kept me from the yard this year it has all gone bad. but great plans for a fall garden. getting ready to plant onions, greens, pansy's, bulbs, etc. can hardly wait.
Janet,
I know what you mean by a run of bad luck. It never rains, but pours when things start to go bad. Just when you think it can't get any worse it does. I have peppers, tomatoes and greens I'm going to grow in the greenhouse this winter. Kyle sent me some HOTT black peppers that I'm doing to try.
this will be the first year that i will have panels on my greenhouse for the winter. has been bing open and putting plastic on in feb that would last 3 months. now i have the panelsa for it . i can hardly waitbecause i am going to try and grow tomatoes and peppers throughout the winter for the first time. sure hope it works.
This year is making our yard into a proving ground. Anything which can survive the heat and neglect doled out upon it this summer deserves to stay in our yard. LOL!
Since spring gave way to summer, we've not been diligent in the yard because of the heat. Then, I was sidetracked by the hernia. Were it not for my mom's kindness in coming out and deadheading a lot of things one night, along with the hours Howie spent in the yard the weekend before the Fab Four's arrival, the yard would truly look horrible at this point.
I've not even been watering much. Bad plant mommy this year, I'm afraid.
gardenwife,
The heat and humidity have been unbearable. Aren't we lucky to have family to help us out occassionally. My brother never put a shovel in dirt in his life. When the big pots of brugmansia and other containers were sunk into the soil he was thoroughly pleased with the results. I gave him plants early in the spring to grow in his apartment. He's keeping them looking very nice.
jcf,
with the zone you are in they should do okay I think, but don't hold me to it. I just learned last year that tomatoes are perennials and there isn't any need to strip them from the ground. You can overwinter them and plant them out again in the spring. They do have to be mulched though.
I just have to figure out how I'm going to heat my greenhouse. I do have a wood burning stove for the daytime and I think I will use propane at night.
i use an electric heater to heat mine