It's been awhile since I have blogged or written much of anything lately. The summer seemed to go by all too quickly and it's hard to believe it's already fall and winter is around the corner. With temps in the 40's at night though it is a very real reminder that the year is almost over for gardening. I have to admit that this year was a bit of a dismal year for veggie gardening. The perennials and flowers basked in all of the rain that seemed to fall for weeks and weeks. The veggies sulked though and some just down right gave up.
Peas and beans did well. Onions and potatoes started to rot. Squash, cukes, and zucchini were abundant. Corn and tomatoes refused to do much of anything. Peppers gave big promises with one big flush of fruits before spending the rest of the summer sitting by idly.
It's enough to make a gardener want to throw in the towel. Each year seems to be a crap shoot and you are never sure what your odds are going to be or how mother nature is going to throw the dice. I have to admit that my heart wasn't into it as much as it was earlier in the year. Between the constant rain and heat and humidity, and having relatives visit for 7-8 weeks, I didn't feel like doing a whole heck of a lot. Spring had me going gangbusters and then things kinda just had to look after themselves for awhile.
August came though and with it some cooler temps that continued into September that had me feeling like I was being dealt a good hand for once. I seemed to get more accomplished lately than I had for the whole summer. New flower beds made, plants shuffled, and even some new purchases made. The above pic is a variegated euonymus that I googled for to show you one of the plants I just put in last week. It was an impulse purchase and I needed a plant for a difficult spot. I hope that it will flourish there despite not having the best of locations. I did like the brightness of the yellow and green leaves and already having some of the more common variegated green and white euonymus, I knew it would - or should, be easy to grow.
A few garden catalogs are still trickling in this fall and has me thinking I need to plant more trees. A new bulb catalog arrived yesterday that has me thinking tulips, a new catalog of peonies has me thinking (and googling) for peonies....yes I have a bad case of me see - me want.. A typical response for me when any gardening catalog arrives that is usually reserved for spring. Fall seems to be my new spring this year and I am taking advantage of it and it's possibilities, and I hope that you are too...
Links for some of you die hard gardeners:
http://www.paeon.de/0site.html (a fantastic site to view almost any peony variety available)
http://www.bridgewoodgardens.com/ (hosta site, because we can never have enough hostas)
http://www.ensata.com/HTML/PlantPages/siberian_index.htm (try something new like siberian iris)
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/ (gardening by the moon, check your planting dates)
