We cruised through the Mediterranean regions and enjoyed beautiful places of Italy, Spain, Portugal and France this month. I barely got any time to spend in the garden. The maples had a stunning color this fall. The mild (but very wet) weather made the colors last a lot longer than usual. The dahlias kept blooming all through November. In between the travels, I did manage to plant all the bulbs (daffodils, tulips alliums and crocus) in the ground. I am so excited for the flowering display in spring.
As per my tradition, I was happy that I managed to put up my Christmas tree and the holiday decorations the day after Thanksgiving!
Not much to share from the garden this month, but please enjoy the short video of the highlights:
The Pacific Northwest (PNW) region is known for its dry weather in August. I usually get tired of lugging my hose around watering the plants in August. However this year, while we had a very dry first half of August, we got a good soaking rain towards the end of August. The plants and I appreciated the natural watering.
I harvested a lot of veggies this month – beefsteak and roma tomatoes, bush and pole beans, carrots, radish pods. This year I got the most plums ever from my backyard trees. I was so thrilled.
The dahlias are the highlight among all flowers this month. And among all the dahlias I have, the Breakout variety is the most prolific with the biggest flowers.
This month I started sowing seeds for fall. I sowed coriander which I also started harvesting and beets. Fall is almost here, and I am ready for cooler weather.
I captured the highlights of the garden in August in the video below:
June started with lots and lots of color in the garden. The weather wasn’t consistent and we continued to get lots of rain. We did get a few days with temperature highs of 80F but also lows in the 50’s.
It was a very good year for the peonies. Not only are most of my peony plants matured at this point, but I think they are also loving the consistent moisture. Lots of flowers are blooming. The roses are beautiful and I absolutely love the David Austin Eustacia Vye rose. However, this year I lost some of the roses – the Winchester Cathedral rose and the Knockout rose both finally died. And the three roses that I got from Costco last year didn’t survive either.
It was so exciting to spot swallow tail butterflies in my yard. Also very exciting is harvesting carrots. However, these carrots took so long to mature – I planted the seeds in September of 2023!! The first ones I harvested were very thin but sweet. I could harvest handfuls of strawberries this month as well. The tomatoes in veggie patch are looking strong, the peppers that I bought as seedlings are also looking fine. But the basil and pepper that I tried to grow from seeds are stunted. While I still planted them in the ground, I am not hoping for any yield this year.
The true bane this month have been the deer that keeps eating the roses, peas and even ate the tops of a strong tomato plant. The rabbits and slugs are at it too!
The highlight of this month is thyme front “lawn” which is flush with purple blooms! And the mophead hydrangeas in the backyard are also glorious.
While the front lawn is now lush with clovers, I did need to get that mowed a couple of times this month. In the last week, I spotted a swallow tail butterfly enjoying the clover blooms. It looks messy at times, but I think for now I will enjoy the buzzing activities of beneficial wild life. You can watch a video tour of my garden below. Enjoy the summer!
The spring garden is thriving this month. Perennials are coming up while spring bulbs are in their prime in April. While the tulips and daffodils started winding down their show around mid April, there are other beautiful things to enjoy around the garden. Last October, I planted a combination of Minnow daffodils and Muscari around the circle flower bed in the side yard and it looked beautiful this year. I am going to repeat this combination in other parts of the yard.
The sweet pink rhododendron has a story to tell. I grew it from a cutting from the garden of my last house. It was a 12″ rooted plant that I brought along to its new home and is largely neglected. I do fertilize it once every spring and then leave it alone for the rest of the year – never even providing any supplemental water. This is the first year that it is blooming so profusely. Such a happy sight it was when I came back from a Florida/Bahamas trip in early April and saw it filled with flowers!
Primrose “Wanda” has formed a wonderful border around the front yard. Iberis (CandyTuft) looks like a white carpet around the edges of several parts of the garden. In my opinion, Peony foliage are a sight to behold. Their upright, foliage looks so pretty and adds a wonderful texture in the spring garden. How are hellebores still looking pretty? Thats four months of beautiful colors! I certainly need to appreciate them more! The backyard cleanup has started – though it is a never ending cycle and I have a lot more to do. Mr. Ducky looks happy with tulips blooming behind him and the red Candelabra Primrose (Primula Beesiana) is blooming strong!
The seedlings that I started indoors are thriving! Except the peppers. They germinated but are still so little with only a set of true leaves. I hope these will grow better and faster. I need to do more research on how to grow peppers from seeds better. The basil seeds are also very slow to germinated. The tomato plants are so big now and already setting buds. I think it will be best to remove the buds before planting them in the ground – but I have not had the heart to do that yet. I will remove them before I plant.
One of the major changes to the outdoor areas this month is the extended patio. Its not that we needed a bigger patio, but it was needed to keep this area weed free and making sure this area is usable. Now that the patio is bigger, it looks much better given the large scale of the backyard.
Chores I tended to in the garden this month are:
Cleaned up the ferns along the narrow side yard. Taking care of Ferns are easy! While this is not necessary, they look their best with a little spring cleanup which entails removing last years leaves being careful not to cut the emerging fronds.
Removed the weeds as much as I could. Over the years, learnt that I can’t have a weed free garden and not to be too tied up cleaning weeds.
Pruned off the dead from two of my roses. Sadly, I might have lost the David Austin Winchester Cathedral rose. It had a lot of dead branches and when I removed them, I was left with barely any green. I am sad since it was the first David Austin rose I owned. However, it gives me an opportunity to add a new rose.
Added some mulch in the dahlia bed. I didn’t mulch the whole bed since firstly I ran out of mulch and secondly I want to wait for my dahlias to emerge.
Tended to the growing seedlings and also sowed the annuals – marigolds, cosmos, basil, nasturtiums, zinnias, coriander and allysums. The cosmos and marigold are ready to be planted outside after hardening off.
The irrigation system is now plugged in and primed.
Added compost to the veggie patch and the veggie containers.
Highlights of the April garden are captured in this video:
July is when the garden is in its prime. Though this is also the time when the heat of the summer soars, my lawn turns brown and I lose my patience with constantly watering the garden. PNW goes through a dry spell during the summer just when we need the rain the most.
I get most excited about the vegetables I harvest this time of the year. This year, I harvested garlic, peas, beans, lettuce, Swiss Chards and potatoes so far. I am definitely going to focus on growing more garlic. So satisfying and easy to grow them. The new (second) Plum tree bore a couple of perfect shaped yellow juicy plums this year which I harvested in July. The other plum tree which bears dark purple plums has lots of fruits which are yet to ripen. The birds have been enjoying these plums – hoping they leave a few for us to taste. I look forward to a day when the tree bears enough fruits for the birds and us to share.
I am also starting to think ahead and plan for what I want to plant for Fall. I know that this year, I will be sowing carrots and peas for some fall crop.
I captured the highlights of my July garden in the video. The audio quality is not what I expected. I hope to do better the next time. Let me know what you think. Happy Gardening!
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