June 7, 2011 - What a Difference a Year Makes



The last week of May, 2010


The first week of June, 2011

For all of you who have put up with my whining about the broccoli, notice I have a couple of plants in this flower bed, right in front of the lilies. I have decided that's what I'll do next year. Rather than devote precious garden space to such a low yielding plant, I'll use them as accent plants in other places in the yard. That way I can get my potato growing bed back!



16 comments:

  1. Great Idea on the broccoli! ;)

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  2. I think that's a great idea now stop your whining! Boy, your garden looks much better this year then last year.

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  3. Robin, I've been whining about the weather, too. But looking back at last year, this area of the garden is way ahead. Of course, last year was when the Sweet Williams and hollyhocks were planted, so this is their first year to blossom. It's the lilies that impress me, this is only their second year, and Annie dug all the bulbs from their original spot in the fall of 2009. They were quickly put into pots to overwinter (we were on our way south), and just got planted there by the ladder in the spring of 2010. They sure took off! The rest of the garden is behind last year's growth, especially the peppers and carrots.

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  4. I plant my broccoli here and there. I don't dvote bed psace to them. Otherwise they hog it all. Large plants, low(ish) output and such. I found that my bush beans like to be around them. Go figure.

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  5. Barbie, yeah...I'm a slow learner. Three years in a row that I've given bed space to them, but I had a fence line for stuff like that before, now that's my pathway. I'm not liking my new garden layout so much, it needs some tweaking next year.

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  6. Everything has filled in nicely, I like the ladder & birdhouse. It adds whimsy to that broccoli! ;)

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  7. Woohoo! I love potatoes. I'm going to do a full bed of them next year and even try some red ones. I got squat this year in my pots, but I also changed the location. Here's to growing more potatoes!!

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  8. It's always interesting to look back, it's funny the things we don't remember sometimes!

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  9. I wish I could have a small harvest of brocolli(compared to none!) It does take an awful lot of space though!

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  10. I love all your flowers by the fence. Gotta have flowers. To me your new garden looks wonderful and prettier than last year. At least the corner of the garden.

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  11. Kelly, I need to do a roof repair on the birdhouse...it sure did warp! The ladder has been there for a couple of years, originally for squash to climb on.

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    Ribbit, I'll drink to that! *hic*

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    Erin, I thought it was so cold this year, but when I read back, I'm always complaining about the "lower than normal" temps. This year the garden lady in our newspaper agreed, and statistics showed it was colder and wetter. Part of my garden suffered, but some of it, like this area of the garden, loved it!

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    Random, it does taste so much better....much milder than frozen or even fresh from the store.

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    Daphne, that's all in the old north garden, the only thing new is the double decker brassica bed. All the flowers that were planted last spring were either perennials or biennials that didn't bloom last year. It's becoming my favorite part of the garden. Of course, soon the butternut squash plants will take over, but for now I think it's so pretty. The hollyhocks are budded, this will be their first year to blossom. I also have cosmos in there, and some tall sunflowers that were recently planted. The zinnias (dwarf and semi-dwarf) have buds, and the Shasta daisies will soon be in bloom. Before long it will be a jungle in there!

    I put more flowers in the kennel garden this year, too. It's much farther behind, though.

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  12. wow, those lilies are gorgeous! i adore your garden!

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  13. Aren't they pretty, Kelli? They are even in fuller bloom today. I wish they would last all summer!

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  14. That garden just invites you to grab a cup of coffee and go stroll about and explore it some more! :D

    The "then and now" pics are kind of fun aren't they?!

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  15. I love the ladder and garden decor, the flowers look great!

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