End of Summer Garden Update

It seems like forever ago when I posted our spring garden update and moved around a bunch of plants and added a bunch of new ones. Here's the quick progress report. Generally, because the yard was the dump site for construction debris, we didn't spend a lot of time out here, or get to water as regularly as needed. Things aren't as healthy as they could be, but mostly everyone lived.

Along the Sidewalk
I moved the rhododendrons, which weren't doing well in their old spot. They were doing great in the spring and sprouted a bunch of new leaves, but those all fell off when it got hot. Needed more water, but still alive. Hostas and begonias were a win again this year- the hostas came back by themselves and all bloomed. The new red grasses were awesome, but potentially grew a little too large. They are now sort of taking over the sidewalk. Thinking about moving them to create a privacy screen with the new basement back door. At the very end of the sidewalk, the strawberries and blueberries did better and continue to grow. We got a couple berries from each this year- whereas I think we had a single blueberry last year.

spindly rhododendrons

hostas and begonias

awesome red grasses taking over the sidewalk

berry patch getting a little bigger

Quartercircle
The new tree is doing great and getting bigger every day. Someone's been eating little holes in the leaves, but the tree seems to be fine anyway. The portulaca did great again (the red flowers), but only bloom in the morning. Other stuff didn't really take off- guessing they needed more water.

portulaca goes crazy in the morning

Along the Back
I never planted anything in the bed to the left of the tree. At some point, the mums I put in last fall that I thought were dead, staged a huge come-back, and are now bushes ready to pop. Don't know how that happened.

mums planted a year ago are ready to bloom again

Along the Fence
So, the kitchen yard did great here. The zucchini is a mess that crawled out of its spot and onto the yard, but it gave us some huge veggies. The tomatoes did great- but overgrew their cages. I need something bigger next year. We had a cucumber for a while, but he died. The pepper plant never produced any peppers, so that sucks. Eggplant did fine too, but also needed a bigger cage. All around, pretty good, but need better supports. Totally hideous, but I guess that's just a given.

massive kitchen garden takes over the yard

The new shrubs are all doing great. Abelias are fine and healthy and bloomed a little. The gardenias also bloomed a bit. The old azaleas that I moved seem stronger and healthier in their new spot.

new abelias blooming subtlely

new gardenias growing tall

old azaleas all bushy and happy

Pots.
The big losers of the summer were the pots. We started with these great new blue pots full of herbs and carefully located in proper places for good light. Then, they all got moved out of the way of construction and into full sun. Then we couldn't water them, so basically they all died. No herbs for us this year.  Hopefully a solvable problem - we'll just have less construction next year.

failed pots of herbs

Next Steps
All around, this yard is really starting to turn into something nice. This was a much better summer than last year, when everything basically died. Hopefully we're out of the trouble zone for new shrubs and trees, and everything will continue to grow and flower for years to come. Other than adding some fall color  and more spring bulbs once the weather cools a bit, we need some more storage and seating and a place for my hammock-- and then this yard is just about done!