Final Garden Stuff

All in all, I'd say this has been a successful patio gardening year. There was that bit of a dip in the overall health of my plants from my going out of town for the family reunion; my absentee-watering attempts, though not hugely successful, kept most things mostly alive so that, in the last several weeks, my little garden has bounced back pretty well! However, it's getting to the end of the season now and things are looking a little scraggly out there.

my poor spinning flowers have had a beating this summer!

Though the leaves are starting to turn, there are still blooms coming!

Now, the weather is acting like it might actually be Autumn (which is nice since we've officially exited summer at this point), signaling that it's time to start thinking about cleaning things up and resetting the deck for next year.

This crazy tomato has grown taller than Townshend.. we never did get any tomatoes off it.. but it sure grew tall!

In the spring, Townshend got a marigold from preschool that we attempted to plant. However, it did not make it. Still, we did get some lovely orange ones from the store so, with those seeds,we can try again next year.

The other day, I also snagged some spent blossoms from the school garden, so we'll have some yellow ones to try next year too.

The morning glories have been a fun experiment for my garden the last couple of years. Originally, they grew from seeds a couple years ago. I was nervous because, from all accounts, trying to cultivate morning glories is a challenging thing. However, they worked that first year and, to my happy surprise, they gave bunches of seeds at the end of the summer, so I saved some and tried again last spring. The new seeds looked different than those from the store, so I wasn't sure what or if that would cause any changes to the new plants.

Earlier in the season, I wasn't sure if my morning glories would give me seeds... maybe since the seeds were smaller, they wouldn't make seeds. Though, honestly, I wasn't sure if the birds weren't eating them all! Then, just a day or two ago, I went out to check and I found a bunch of seeds tucked up in that bundle of leaves and vines at the top of my lattice.

seeds!!!

I was so excited! So, I grabbed a few to save for next year - quick before the birds came back. Now I've got lots of seeds to play with. With all the lovely climbing vines and beautiful color, I'm thinking I might need to get another lattice to get more morning glories... They're so fun!

Now, it's time to start clipping off and cleaning up, and shutting it down for the season. It's always a little sad to take down all the color and fun from the deck, but I'm excited to have these seeds to try for next year!