For Gardeners of All Levels!
Rainfall (and a little snow) has been a bit too plentiful this year. For the humans, we can be grateful for full reservoirs and green grass, though a dry weekend (coming up) will be nice. For the Birds and Squirrels, and all the other creepy crawly critters, this should be an Autumn and Winter of Abundant Food. Look at all the Plump Fruit on this Colorful Tree. Are these crab apples? And how about all the acorns!
One week after watching the Patriots play in the snow, this Sunday (Oct 25, 2009) was the final day for our Garden. And what a Fun Day! We all took turns cutting a pumpkin from the vine. Though our first frost is yet to occur, this is Halloween Week, so there is no excuse but to put the ‘Garden to Bed” as Amy did last week. It was a sad year for Tomatoes, but the Pumpkin Productivity brought plenty of smiles. The harvest is a three step process:
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Just Add Water Garden In August
Zach Puts The Garden To Bed With A Little Manure
Scituate MA October 5, 2009
The red vine is one of the many invasive vines spreading throughout the northeast.
Summer of 2009 started cold and wet here in New England. Our tomatoes, pumpkins, and blueberries suffered badly with the worst late blight in years. Though late blight is named for a fungus that usually shows up later in summer. This year we had an early outbreak, before our weather turned warmer and drier in August and September. We now have reports of a fine apple crop, and though we hear sad stories form many pumpkin growers, this writer had his best pumpkin years in years. I guess I lucked out a bit.. I certainly had my worst tomato season ever, and am concerned about my fungus riddled blueberry leaves. Let’s talk about the fun stuff.
I was very happy to get home from my 3 day jury duty last week to find a Jeep full of Mums. Janet took it on herself to hit up Shaws great selection of mums at a reasonable price to decorate our yard. I am also happy to report that my pumpkin garden produced abut 4 fruits per vine, I had three main vines.
Just when I was ready to throw in the towel and call it a season, my garden is coming alive! The dahlias that I had given up on are full of buds! My rose bushes are suddenly ready to flower again…even the ones that had lost their leaves and looked half-dead.
One bush produced the sweetest smelling rose that I have ever had the pleasure to sniff last week. 
It was an amazing scent. And a late, but fast growing gourd vine has a couple of babies on it that are getting bigger by the day. After all the rain, the black spots, the bugs and the disappointment this season, I am pleasantly surprised. Go figure.
The dahlias typically bloom until the first hard frost. But, I had such bad results with so many of them this year, I didn’t expect them to ever come around. 
I’ve attached a photo of a beautiful orange dahlia that we picked this week and put in a vase. Better late than never.
I guess that I will try to get them in the ground earlier next year….or maybe start them inside. Like Amy, I am taking notes. I’ve also vowed to plot the plan of my flower garden this fall, so I remember what lives where next spring. ( I vow to do this every year and never seem to get it done.)
It was not a great summer in our garden. In fact, I’d call it one of the worst in recent memory. But there were a few highlights.
In early August, while searching for a pre-school backpack, my husband and I found some very nice healthy hosta plants on clearance at K-mart. There were many varieties, in gallon pots, all reduced to $1.50 each. It was a steal! After a few return trips, we had planted 75 new hosta in our gardens. They blend in so well, that I couldn’t tell you where we put even half of them at this point. I have had success with some hydrangeas for the first time this year. I wish I had planted more of them! And, my morning glory seed experiment worked too. Our fence is wrapped in vines with little purple flowers poking out here and there.
As we move into autumn, the sedum look beautiful. They are full of bees, and are slowing changing color. I am thankful that they have thrived this year. I’ll be busy picking flowers until the frost.
Let’s all hope for more sunny days in 2010!
Think you can't grow a successful garden? NECN's Amy Sinclair would like to prove you wrong. She's working with Johnny's Selected Seeds of Winslow, Maine to grow a 10' by 10' garden that's low-maintenance and high-payoff. All you need to do is "just add water" (and maybe weed a little).
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