Garden Journal #9

Violet's garden in October

Cleaning up

Planting bulbs

Summer in a bowl!

Surprise pumpkin!

The gourd vine was VERY happy 

The garden has nearly come to an end this year.  We had a pretty decent crop...and really enjoyed how involved the kids were this year.  Had no problems going fence-less.  The watering system was handy, but it didn't seem to water the beds very evenly, nor did we use the water from the rain barrel as much as in past years.  Back to the drawing board for some revisions.  The only total failure was the broccoli.  The pepper plants we planted from seed never yielded anything, but the ones we bought as plants did great.  Next year I want to plant the herbs right into the ground so I don't have to remember to water them separately...they didn't do well, through no fault of their own!  The strawberries managed a few little ripe berries, but not a ton.  The biggest surprises of the year were the pumpkin and gourds that magically appeared...likely seeded from the ones we chucked into the compost last year.  So our front yard has a nice little fall decoration, and we have a jack-o-lantern waiting to be carved.  

Violet's garden has been tilled and we planted a bunch of bulbs and flower seeds...in conjunction with reading Miss Rumphius.  Hopefully Spring will bring us beautiful tulips, daffs, iris and crocus (though I did see a squirrel having a little snack of bulbs out there before we covered the bed with leaf mulch).  We may even get some lupine from the seeds we scattered.  Time will tell!

We are still getting a few red tomatoes from the vines, kale, and we haven't yet harvested our carrots or beets.  Our neighbors took down a huge tree in their backyard, so next year our garden will have a lot more sun- yea!  I am not usually pro tree cutting, but this was not a particularly nice tree- it just dropped millions on leaves on our yard starting in about July.  It is always fun to look ahead to what next year will bring...before we're even done enjoying the veggies from this year!  As always, Matt will spend the winter dreaming up new irrigation systems...but he promised he won't make us move any more garden beds next year :)  Happy Fall!