Garden Diary - September 21

Yesterday was a beautiful last day of summer - warm, sunny and dry. More of this kind of weather would have made it easier to get some of the gardening done this summer - I always seemed to be dashing inside as a thunderstorm was starting. But at least the frequent rain made it easier for my new plants to get started, and I didn't need to be home every night to water the potted plants.

I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm just not going to be able to get rid of the mint in the front window bed. So instead of trying to eradicate it, I'm going to put in some more plants that will dominate a bit more in that bed, so that the mint acts like a background filler, rather than the out-of-control center of the show. After cutting down the mint, and pruning down the rosebush, it's possible to get in to plant things. I've put in irises from my mother's garden (should be shades of purple and white), purple coneflowers and phlox that I've taken from the smaller front perennial bed, and I've moved the peony closer to the clematis, since it was almost totally obscured by the rosebush. I may also try transplanting some rhubarb, to sit at the front between the forsythia and the rose, where the forsythia seems to shade out the mint a bit. And I have bulbs that I've ordered from Veseys, some of which will go in along the front of the bed, to make a bit of a border against the backdrop of the mint. I've mulched the bed and redistributed the rocks, so that the border between it and the rest of the new bed is less obvious.

I've also started some fall clean-up - taking down the dying bean vines (next year I won't bother growing them in pots; they didn't do nearly as well as in the ground), transplanting the rosemary and thyme into pots so that I can have them in the kitchen for the winter (and perhaps I'll keep them in pots outside next summer, since they'll probably like it much more than the beans did).
I've harvested about half of the scarlet runner beans, which I'll be eating for dinner tonight (I've added them in to the chicken with red wine and sage that's in the slow cooker). I've also harvested what is likely the last (and only our second) zucchini. Next year I'll plant the squash and zucchini in the ground, as they also didn't do well in pots. The runt of the litter squash plant that had been transplanted to the front is astonishingly huge now, with large leaves stretching almost around the entire front perimeter of the bed.

A few things are just blooming now - nasturtiums in the front, Easter lillies in the back. Next year I'll be paying more attention to blooming cycles of plants - I was looking for long-blooming flowers when I ordered from Veseys. The morning glories are finally paying off, although I still think that next year I'll replace them with scarlet runner beans - more flowers and edible instead of poisonous. The phlox that I cut down earlier this summer (it was getting too tall and messy) has re-bloomed, which is a nice surprise.

My neighbour from across the street just pointed out to me yesterday that I have a huge wasp's nest in the front maple tree. How has this escaped my notice? I'm a little nervous about tackling it, and as long as I don't get any flack about it, I'll probably leave it until winter.

Garden Diary - September 7

I've had success with just about everything I transplanted in the front garden two weeks ago, even though they initially looked dangerously wilted. I had to trim off lots of limp and browning leaves from the sorrel, but the remaining leaves look strong and healthy. The lamb's ears still look pretty ragged, but I'm pretty confident that they'll come back too. Most of the patches of thyme are still green, which is a good sign. Meighan's blue fescue looks perfectly at home. And the purple clover are doing just fine. It's hard to tell if the creeping golden sedum is growing, but it doesn't seem to have died off. The only iffy plant is the purple sage - the bit I cut off from the main stem only had a very small bit of root with it. If it doesn't take maybe I'll try taking a cutting and rooting it in water first.

I've bought a creeping blue juniper which I planted last weekend. The maidenhair grass is almost as tall as me now that it's blooming and is really the centrepiece of the garden. The 'runt of the litter' squash that I transplanted weeks ago from the backyard has finally taken off - it stretches around almost the entire front curve of the bed, and two small squash are growing - hopefully they'll have enough time to mature before we get frost. I think I'll plant more in the front next year - I like the way they can be positioned to follow the borders of the pathways. I also want to plant more kale (and more varieties next year) - it makes a great edible and decorative plant.

The front perennial bed is starting to look a bit ragged - I need to keep up with deadheading and trimming the foliage. I've enjoying the look of the coneflower heads after the dead petals are taken off - they're very spiky.

I'm finally getting some morning glories blooming along the side fence. I think next year I'll replace them with more scarlet runner beans - I'll get more flowers, bushier foliage, and edible beans as a bonus.

There's another small squash in the back (Mark's worried that it's not getting enough light to grow fast enough - it isn't much bigger now than when he discovered it last week), along with still-ripening tomatoes, purple pole beans (their leaves are dying off now and starting to look messy), scarlet runner beans (running low on flowers now, and the pods continue to enlarge to mammoth size), a small zucchini (this will be our second) and yesterday I just found 3 pods of peas for the first time.

I'm starting to look through and covet bulbs in Vesey's fall catalogue. Since I have created so many new beds this year, there are alot of spots that could use some colour added to come up in the spring. I'm hoping to not get too carried away...