I just finished watering my front and back yards. The front looks fine, lawn is still green and my various bushes and plants are thriving. That’s the good news.
The bad news? My back yard had a combination of hits and misses.
The hits: Most of my roses (primarily hybrid tea) are standing strong (a few perished), the wildflower seeds that I planted recently directly into the soil are peacefully co-existing with my also recently installed (and very lovely) succulent garden, the Waltham butternut squash vines are fruiting, both of my Nagami kumquat saplings are bearing some small fruits, both of my 3-in-1 pear trees (delicious fruit) and 1 of my 3-in-1 apple trees still stand (1 perished), and the seedlings for my eggplant and carrot plants are still growing.
The misses: Hands down, the biggest miss this year has been my beloved tomato plants. As in previous years, I started from seed and planted them in containers (as in previous years) and though I enjoyed tomatoes for a week’s worth of meals, the vines just fizzled out! Despite good efforts, I (and other gardeners as well) can experience feast or famine at any time, and I’ve gone through the latter this time around for this crop. Undeterred, I will plant tomatoes from seed again next season!
When the winter rolls around, I will evaluate if I will be replacing the defunct plants, plant wildflower seeds in their place, or leave the spaces unoccupied for the time being.
CONSUMER ALERT UPDATE: The non-fruit parts of tomato plants are poisonous if ingested. The seeds of apples and pears are highly toxic if ingested. More information on toxic plants can be found here: http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/ce/king/poisplant/tox-com.htm
Filed under: Flowers, Gardening, Succulents, trees | Tagged: apple, apples, Black Beauty eggplant, butternut squash, carrot, carrots, citrus tree, citrus trees, consumer alert, container gardening, eggplant, Flowers, fruit, fruits, garden maintenance, Gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hybrid tea rose, indeterminate tomatoes, kumquat, kumquats, Nagami kumquat, Nagami kumquat tree, pear, pear tree, poisonous, rose, roses, seed, seeds, squash, succulent, Succulents, tomato, tomatoes, toxic plants, tree, trees, vegetables, Waltham butternut, Waltham butternut squash, wildflower, wildflowers, winter squash
