Thursday, October 14, 2010

Our Garden 2010

Despite a not-so-garden-friendly summer, we came out pretty successful on our harvest. We didn't try any new plants or vegetables, but we did try a new method for growing the snap peas. It's made from a simple door-frame shaped structure out of 1x2's the width of the grow box with a sheet of 5" mesh trellis material draped over the top. So it looks like a tent, and there's something for the peas to grab onto and gets them off the ground. Worked pretty well...maybe we'll try it on something else next year too. We've enjoyed bunches of beans, lettuce, peas, onions, tomatoes (although there are a LOT still green on the vines), green peppers, rhubarb, zucchini, and the largest harvest yet of this:

...lavender! It's drying in the garage. I have a few ideas on how to use it, but for now the garage smells like a lovely English garden instead of, well, a garage.

A couple of things didn't fare so well, which meant extra room for these:

The cooler weather really brought out the blossoms on my hydrangea. I've never seen it so big! Just by walking out the front door and a few *snip*snips* later, I have fresh blooms on my table whenever I want!

So, everything's about done and cleaned up for the season. This is all that's left for vegetables:

...a few little pumpkins that I'll leave on the vine as long as possible to prolong the "shelf life".


Here's the last nice day of harvest and yard cleanup. The photo isn't great because of the late afternoon sun, but I just love that our kids aren't afraid to get in the dirt, especially Lydia. My favorite part of this picture is her wispy hair blowing in the breeze. I just love my busy little helpers!
Now it's time to make plans for next year. I'm getting tired of where the herb garden is in the front, as it seems to be a weed magnet over there. This winter I'll come up with a plan that may or may not include ripping it all out and starting over. When the days are short and nights are long, I'll flip through magazines looking for inspiration to strike.

How did your garden do this year?

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