Garden Highlights of 2011

Happy New Year everyone!  You’ve come to the right place – I’m tinkering with the look of the site and trying something new.  It seemed right to time it with the arrival of a new year.   Feedback is welcomed!

So…2011 was the first full year we’ve spent in this apartment.  It was my first chance to see the yard and garden in Spring, my first chance to really track the sunlight in our yard over the season, and my first chance to see where my blooming “gaps” were – with regard to both location and timing.

It was definitely a year of experimenting and learning.  Some things didn’t work out so well:  the new and very expensive tree peony that died, the Cupani sweet peas that I think I (gasp) killed, and the sturdy and well established hydrangea that didn’t bloom this year.

Other plants were very happy and made a spectacular show:  the fall-planted bulbs, the azaela, the Larkspur, Lavender, Persian Shield, Ajuga, and most of the Hostas.  The herbs are STILL growing. The Sun-Gold cherry tomatoes were the prizewinner of 2011, producing pretty much non stop for months.

Here’s a quick look back at some of the highlights and accomplishments:

Campanula did well for me and actually bloomed again in late summer!

Growing strawberries in hanging baskets allowed me to position them where they got full sun – which I would not have been able to do growing them in the ground.   Once they were done, I planted them in the ground to overwinter and will try them again in baskets this year, provided they do come back.

Making more wire compost bins so that I could keep up with compost, mulch, and leaves.  This was a big help!

This cold frame was easy to put together using an old window.  I have arugula and scallions growing in right now and will put it to good use this spring too.

The lilies were gorgeous this summer – show stoppers, as you can see.

Getting two half barrels to use as planters was a major coup.  The best part is that they were free!  Our landlord makes wine and offered to cut a few in half for me to use.  Some casters on the bottom and a few drilled drainage holes later, they made great containers for my tomatoes and herbs.

I had fun growing herbs and succulents in containers.  They definitely needed to be watered much more this way, but it was nice to be able to fill in empty spots in the yard with some color.

How great it was to be able to try so many things to help me figure out what I do and don’t want to do again in the coming year.  Lots of thoughts are slowly forming themselves into gardening goals for the coming season…which I like to think will be here before we know it.  🙂

Homemade Christmas Gifts

I had a blast making gifts to give away this Christmas.  It’s not often we have the time or the money to get gifts for all of our family and friends, but since I’ve been unemployed “temporarily retired” for the past two months, I’ve had time on my hands to make homemade gifts!

Last year I took the Buy Handmade Pledge.  Call me Ebenezer Scrooge, but I just don’t feel good, for many reasons, about the amount of “stuff” Christmas has come to generate commercially:  mass-produced presents, plastic, all those cards and wrapping paper, etc.  I much prefer to give and receive things handmade or homemade, and to support individual artists as often as I can.  This year was my chance not only to buy a few handmade gifts, but to make several things myself.  With only a few exceptions (suet + cages for feeding the birds, mason jars, and a calendar I had printed up using my own photos of my friend Bev’s garden), nearly all of the gifts we gave out this year were handmade!

 

 

Just about everyone got some sort of food – things I have canned, pickled, or otherwise preserved.  Some of the gals got all natural (homemade!) body care products.  My mom and sister got handmade (and fabulous) Hair Towels from an Etsy vendor. 

Here’s some of what we gave:

Cayenne Pickled Green Beans

 

 

PA Dutch Pickled Eggs & Beets

 

 Mustard

(GREAT recipe for mustard HERE.)

Pickled Jalapenos

 

Bergamot Bath Fizz, Rosemary Mint Sugar Scrub, Lemongrass Ginger Sugar Scrub, Lavender Hibiscus Bath Salts, and Lavender Rose Petal Bath Salts – ALL  of which I learned how to make thanks to Stevie at Garden Therapy.

 

 

 

 

I had way too much fun making my own labels with some crafting paper  I had on hand, scissors, and a glue stick!

Lavender-Hibiscus Bath Salts

 

No photos of the Sourdough Starter or the VERY hot Tomatillo Salsa, but we gave away plenty of those too.

It was so much fun making everything and being able to give so many things that I had made myself.  This year it truly was better to give than to receive!