Summer gone?

Got up today and realized that the summer has flown by. The temperature today will not get into the 60’s (yes, old people still use Fahrenheit). Not time to pull out the woolies yet, but definitely a sign.

This blog is a wrap up for this years’ gardening. I spent far more time with the garden this year and am pretty pleased with the results. I have made most of the gardens with perennials this year, so next year I hopefully have everything come back and the gardens should be filling in nicely. Spending more attention to fertilizing and regular watering has paid dividends with the development of some of the plants. I have a before and after picture of the garden behind the pool.

As you can see, it filled out considerably, As well, I potted a couple of ivy, in an attempt to get the ivy climbing on the fence. I think I will pull them in for the winter to protect them from the elements during the winter.

Concerning the vegetable garden, I have mixed opinions. I was very disappointed in the lack of return with cucumbers and zucchinis, although both are supposed to be 2 of the easiest plants to get decent crops from. I need to check for next year and make sure I get the plants growing vertical quicker. I did get a reasonable growth with my garlic, a late season planting of radishes was much better than last year, I think that was due to the thinning I did once the seeds started growing and broke ground. What I did have that went crazy this year was the tomatoes and peppers. I have attached 2 pictures of these before I cut them back.

The roots for the tomatoes grew out wide and deep, I think that was directly due to the wicking watering system that I installed in the planters for this year. I have preserved both tomatoes and peppers. Thank goodness my oldest daughter and her husband like spicy. I have been able to pawn a few zip lock pouches of peppers off to them. I will definitely try to get the same cherry tomatoes as I did this year, they were very tasty and juicy. For the peppers, I think I will only plant 2 or 3 hot and the same for sweet peppers. If they grow as well as this year, I don’t want them crowded. The rodent guards I made proved to be a very good deterrent , will incorporate them into any future raised gardens I may choose to make.

In closing I have added a couple of pictures of the planters I made for beside the deck, they also seemed to flourish with more attention than I gave them last year. I did not show pictures of all of the gardens, I would prefer to surprise to surprise you in the spring. This is supposed to be a hook to bring you back wanting for more!

Hockey preseason has started, and from what I see, I am confident I will be entertained by my Leafs this year. As I did last year I will do a pre- Xmas report card with my assessment of the 2018-19 Leafs.