Out front, I have not really attended to the gardens at all since the beginning of the season and they're doing alright. On the right, the Russian Sage is growing like crazy! The yellow flowers at each end (forget the name) haven't prospered quite as well as last year, but I blame that on our clogged, over-flowing gutters and my neglect in setting up the water timer.
The fig tree out front had issues at the beginning of the year, so I basically just pruned it back. Since then, it's flourished and already had a few figs growing. It's still seems to be quite stunned in height, but that may because of my inexperience in pruning!
On the left, everything's coming up great. The sedum and coral bells are quite happy over here! The disappointment in this bed is the lack of black-eyed susans. They had kind of gotten out of control last year, so I thinned them out, moving many of them to the backyard garden. Unfortunately, none of them grew back this year, so I have a hole in the back, near the windows.
My vegetable garden has been quite a flop. It started out great, with multiple zucchini plants (8 or 10, if I recall) and some perennial herbs that came back great. Well, the first round of zucchini plants failed, so I quickly set out another and they came in fine, forming nice flowers, but never got to the point of growing a fruit. Then, they just kind of died - all of them. The tomatoes that I planted never really looked good after planting and they just kind of died, too. Then I set out corn and the first round only yielded about three stalks, so I planted more. They all grew and I had ears on each of the first stalks, but the day that I went to pick the corn, the stalks had disappeared. Yes - something ate the darn things and ran off with them. A few days later, a squirrel was spotted carrying a corn stalk across the backyard. Seriously? So, needless to say, corn also failed.
As you can see, I have a mass of green beans growing, but would you know that I have not had a SINGLE bean hanging from it? I have no idea why, except that I may have used a seed packet from last year. My ONLY success in the veggie department is the basil that grew with some extra TLC and several replantings. I know, a measly success, but in the face of such disappointment, I'll take it!
The tall perennial garden by the deck is doing great. I admit a bit of neglect recently since the cone flowers have some weakened stems with all of the torrential rains we've had lately. I haven't had an opportunity to provide them the support they need. Otherwise, I'm pleased with this garden.
The new garden in the middle of the yard is also doing well. The butterfly bush was a late bloomer, but the butterflies enjoy it! Just this morning I have a sunflower in bloom from the seeds I put in the bird feeder.
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