Reflections on 2008

Well, I stopped updating, but I thought I would just write a little bit about everything that I grew last year, so that I'll remember!

Warm-Season Vegetables:

• Beans: I grew bush beans, Bean Festina, purchased at Park's Seed. They were so easy to grow and delicious. I plan to grow lots of them again this year and hopefully save some seeds too.
• Tomatoes: I tried growing Tomato Container Choice and Tomato Glory Hydrid. I failed. I did not understand how to harden off seedlings, and I started them way too late.
• Peppers: I grew two Pepper Golden Summer Hybrid plants. (Was available from PS.) They survived my inexperienced hands, and produced four peppers. They would have produced more, but we had a frost. They were tasty, but not that much different from bells in the store.
• Tomatillios: (Toma Verde from PS) My beautiful tomatillo plant was killed in a frost. I started it too late in the season for it to fruit in time.
• Squash: I grew Early Butternut Hybrids from PS. They produced 2 squashes, which were delicious. Again, they needed to start earlier and needed more water and mulch.
• Pumpkins: I grew Little Pumpkaroon (PS) and Howden (PS). I got one or two Pumpkaroons. The Howden didn't fruit--too late and not enough water.
• Gourds: Grew several types. Harvested one small gourd. Gardener error.
  

Cold Season Vegetables:

• Califlower: Califlower Amazing (PS): failed due to gardener error.
• Cabbage: Cabbage Cairo (PS): failed due to gardener error.
• Carrot: Scarlet Nantes (PS): failed due to gardener error.
• Lettuce: Various from PS. We had one really awesome salad from a red type. The bunnies appeared to eat the rest, sadly.
• Radishes: Organic Radish Sparkler (PS). A few of these did quite well.
• Onions: The onion sets I got from PS did not grow. I think maybe they were planted too deep or didn't have enough fertilizer. OR WATER.
  

These herbs did pretty well in containers. All from PS.

• Basil Large Leaf Italian (also grew in garden for son to munch on)
• Garlic Chives
• Sage
• Peppermint
• Spearmint

These herbs didn't work out, I need to try again:

• Fernleaf Dill (Burpee)
• Lavendar Sancho Panza

Free Issues to Gardening Magazines

I love to read magazines, and I love to garden, so I've been looking for some magazines that I could try for free first. The following magazines offer a free issue (at this time):

• Organic Gardening
• Horticulture
• Gardening How-To
  

If you know of more, please comment.

My tomatillo plant

It's starting to smell wonderfully tomatillo-like! I love this huge, sprawling thing! It's had the most beautiful flowers. I thought one of the branches had broken in a tropical storm, but it's kept on growing.

Update

Oh, my. I was hoping I had blogged when I had planted my radishes and carrots, but I guess I forgot. Anyway, I planted one round of those, and the radishes are getting big.

I planted a second round a couple of days ago.

Yellow onion sets went in yesterday.

My lettuces are growing beautifully. Sowed some more seed the other day. I'm hoping to keep us in greens for most of the winter.

Peppers almost ready to harvest! They are gorgeous!

Planted 2 crape myrtles, which I hope will make a nice hedge someday from the neighbor's porch. If they don't die. They came in containers, and I waited a week or 2? to plant them.

Front garden looks pretty except for some bare patches. Well, the one side. The other side looks awful.

Pansies and snapdragons are hard to start from seeds, but of the 2, the pansies are easier.

Started some ornamental cacti from seed.

Growing some ornamental kale for front garden too.

I think I have one califlower plant and one cabbage plant growing, but it might be 2 califlowers or 2 cabbages. I have no idea. Will try again on those in the spring! I am really excited about putting in some additional beds.

Tomatillo plant is HUGE, sprawling, and starting to smell wonderful. We are going to have TONS of tomatillos, I think!

fall plantings

Beans are gone, Howden pumpkin pulled up (was dying). Harvested miniature pumpkins, but they have bad spots.

Fall plantings in. Starting seedlings of cabbage, califlower, lettuse mostly failed. Direct sowed everything. Hoping for best.

Excited about peppers!

Front garden has huge bare spots. Cosmos seedlings spotted.

Backyard cosmos (double click) very pretty.

Zinnias planted in front of son's playhouse blooming. Planted "fence" of snapdragons behind playhouse.

Started new compost pile about a week ago. Going to let old one sit and rot.

update

I noticed some of the annuals I planted (sunflower, cosmos) have gone ahead and bloomed, even though they didn't reach near their expected height. I guess this is normal.

The beans just keep on producing, which is surprising since they are bush beans. I am thinking they might be getting spent though.

Most of my veggies and flowers are doing well.

On the difficult side of my front flower garden, I dug up the grass today that had crept in and pulled out the dead and dying plants. I have started snapdragons that will go there, as well as in the bed on the other side. The white marigolds seem to be dying off already. It felt very good to pull out all the dead stuff and leave the place looking neat if not a bit bare, and cart it all away in my wheelbarrel. I also clipped off dozens and dozens and dozens of cosmos blooms that were spent.

I enjoy being outdoors and digging and clipping and planting and weeding so much. Makes me glad to be alive.

I've filled the compost bin again. I wonder if it will go down on its own, or if I should turn it again next weekend. It was such good exercise that I might have to. Very satisfying.

Everything Update

Front Yard:

• The driveway side had some plants die. I let it go too long with out water, and there was no rain for a couple of weeks(?). There are still a few cosmos (not blooming), but I'm not sure if the sunflowers will make it. There is one brave zinnia and a marigold. The seedums continue to do okay, and the grass that crept in thrives. I really must do something about that.
  
• The less-hot side is doing great, with the cosmos thriving, the zinnias thriving, and the white marigolds really did turn out pretty, even if I decided they were dumb after I planted them. The dwarf sunflowers are lovely too--I will plant them again for sure!
  
• I am going to plant some snapdragons on the dead side and keep them watered!
  
• I learned that cosmos may thrive on neglect, but it does have a breaking point!

Front containers:

• Sage has grown a funny collapsed shape but it otherwise thriving. I moved the container to help it grow better.
  
• Peppermint doing fine. Mexican lavendar growing very slowly. Basil fine. Son (age 4) likes to eat leaves but has learned to ask permission.
  

Backyard:

• Blueberry plant in container thriving.
  
• Marigold in container died. Used container for indoor potted palm.
  
• Only one blueberry bush in yard still alive. Think I know where I went wrong. Better luck next year.
• Decided to start some tomato seeds to grow in containers. Hybrid determinate small plants. Will give it my best shot and bring them inside at night if we have a frost. Hoping we can at least have some fried green tomatoes! (Incidentally, husband bought some heirloom tomatoes at Trader Joe's--tasted divine. Next year!)
• Beans: see previous post!
• Squash doing pretty well. Have 2 big squashes that are growing. It's still flowering, but I don't think it liked that hot dry spell. Thank goodness this summer is milder and wetter than last year!
• Pumpkins doing great and flowering. There is one pumpkin already on one of my miniature pumpkin plants.
  
• Gourds--doing okay. Next year I will give them their own bed and take better care of them.
  
• Tomatillo plant! One of the many tomatillo seeds I tried to plant emerged. For a while I couldn't figure out what the plant was, but I let it grow since it looked like some sort of vegetable. It is flowering, and I think we will have some delicous tomatillos before too long!
  
• Basil--planted 4 basil plants for my 4-year-old basil eater. (Started the seeds indoors of course). Hoping we can get a pesto sauce out of them too!
  
• I have 2 red cabbage seeds started and 2 califlowers started to plant outside in, oh, 3 or 4 weeks.
  
• My yellow bell peppers are doing pretty well. Some of the leaves did get eaten, but they are growing into their cages.
  
• I also am trying to start some chives for my front herb container garden, but they have not emerged. It's weird because I thought chives would be so easy.
  
• I have plans to grow carrots, lettuce, and radishes as well this fall.
  
• My sunflowers have grown wonderfully! The Russian Mammoths especially. And I like the white and red sunflowers that bloom over and over. However, deshelling the mammoth seeds has been boring. I think I am going to use them to feed birds instead.
  
• I've had a few zinnias bloom, although I just sort of let grass grow around them.
  
• I did start a "flower garden" behind my beds against the fence. I am growing more sunflowers, some cosmos "double click," and some tall zinnias.
  

Houseplants

• doing fine; houseplants are easy

Other:

• My son planted a tiny garden of 6 zinnias in front of his new playhouse.
  
• We are going to plant tall snapdragons behind his playhouse to make a fence. (He has a trapdoor that leads into his backyard.) He has a very cute plastic playhouse.
  

Thoughts:

• I like easy-care flowers, vegetables, and herbs!
• I have really been enjoying the bees, butterflies, and dragonflies that are attracted to my flowers. I keep thinking I hear hummingbirds, but I haven't seen any yet.