We've had a pretty successful gardening season considering our lack of experience. We're thinking of ways to improve the soil over winter and making plans for what to grow more of and try new next season. Bob's been busy building things. Besides working on the shed he made a compost bin and enclosed the veggie beds with wire to exclude the voracious duck-girls who were helping themselves to everything.
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| Compost bin |
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| Artichokes, more of these next year! |
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| Lemon cucumbers - tasty, but take too much space in the greenhouse. Next year none. |
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| Squash - no more than one plant! I have enough to eat for years to come. |
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| Duck proof beds |
The ducks are a delight. They are crazy for tomatoes now that the raspberries are gone. We have so many Cherokee Purples that the cherry tomatoes would be going to waste if not for the ducks. I tossed one into the garden and tried to get pictures as they fought for ownership.
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| The winner! |
There is still a ton of work to be done in the yard, but ever so slowly I will add shrubs and beds and trees. This stunning red shrub is Cotinus coggygria 'Grace'. It will grow to eight to ten feet high and wide and I've planted it near the new patio. I want to put a purple or golden Cotinus next to it, maybe both, for contrast.
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| More beautiful than the picture can show. |
The scrawny own-root roses I planted a few months ago are growing like crazy. This is a New Dawn climber growing next to a clematis.
This is a garden developing on the east side of the house where I'd initially thought of doing roses. It's going to be a peony garden instead. No peonies planted yet, they won't be ready to pick up at the nursery for another month or two, but there are irises, cone flower, grasses, and crocosmia keeping the little fig tree company. I'll plant tulips this fall and peony poppies (if the seeds grow) next spring. Flowers in shades of red in this garden bed.
Here is one of the beds in front of the house that I started last fall. It's not apparent from this angle, but there are color groupings of various plants along the row. I'm still pulling out unwanted bulbs and am moving things around until happy with placement.
Here is Tux at the memorial garden where she spends most of her time. I've planted a rugosa rose, compact strawberry tree, ceanothus, lavender, sea holly and four different irises so far, in honor of Tag and Hoop. Oriental poppies and tulips to be added, and maybe mock orange or red flowering currant in the background, close to the fence. When the shed is finished we'll make a spot for a bench where we can sit with Tux and remember the border collies.
