what were your gardening successes and failures for 2011?
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
United States
November 15, 2011 3:43pm CST
What this year did you plant that you had no experience with? How did it do this growing season? Anything you've had previously not much luck with but did well this year?
I had planted some Walkers Low (cat nip) they were huge! And quite lovely! I just need to look up what I need to do with them for winter. I also had an aster of sorts I planted last fall that came up and it was a very pretty purple, that has recently faded with the frosts.
In the garden the plants that were new to us: Pumpkin (very large vine and one or two fruits but animals ate them not that I was expecting them to get very far), Rosemary (I tried it but it seemed my dog wasn't fond of it sitting in the window and he wrecked the plant, but I was able to use some of it for cooking as intended), Carrots ( in my other discussion we had a good yield for just trying to grow them for kicks), and the other one I tried this year was spinach (that did really well but I did not know what to expect when it went to seed, so hopefully I'll have enough seed for next years plants).
I also picked up some small butterfly bushes last summer and some this summer and they did better than I expected! Though I also put them in a spot that they favored the light in better. The kids had fun trying to catch and identify butterflies while the plant was in bloom. 
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7 responses
@GardenGerty (160612)
• United States
15 Nov 11
The heat was awful for most everything, but we had a wonderful lot of hot peppers. I pickled some, dried some and some are still waiting for my attention. I gave my cooked cranberry jelly a new twist by adding jalapeno's to some. For absolute fun, I planted purple potatoes. It has been almost thirty years since I had planted potatoes, and Wal Mart had purple potatoes. For less than three dollars I got six little golf ball sized potatoes to plant. I dug a handful in July when my grand daughter was here, because she loves purple. Ignored them the rest of the season, they got watered and that is about it. I just dug about five pounds of them. I will let the skins cure and then wash them. I will do something with them at Thanksgiving to entertain the kids at the table and my brother, the biggest kid. I had flowering bulbs bloom in the spring and that was nice, and a couple of mums are in bloom now.
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@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
15 Feb 12
You did well with those potatoes for only having a few and getting 5lbs out of the lot. I don't think I've heard of purple potatoes. Why so long since the last time you planted them?
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@GardenGerty (160612)
• United States
15 Feb 12
I have had a hard time getting a decent plot built for any kind of garden. I planted potatoes in a container this year as I had not had room to plant them or good soil.
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
16 Nov 11
I don't do a garden. I can't even do flowers. I am gone so much that they certainly suffer for it. I had a beautiful plant by my back door that my neighbor was supposed to water when I was on vacation when he mowed but he forgot! It was fried by the time I got home!
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@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
15 Feb 12
I'm sorry you don't have much luck because of your schedule. You can always look for things that are low maintenance for your zone.
@peavey (16936)
• United States
16 Nov 11
My garden was pretty sad this year. About the only thing that did well was tomatoes and peppers. I've yet to dig the sunchokes so I don't know how well the did. I planted a butterfly bush for the first time, too, and was surprised at how well it did. It was kind of late in the year to get it going, but it took off right away. I also planted an elderberry. I don't know if it will survive the winter. It didn't do very good during the hot weather, so we'll see.
Corn, squash, pumpkins, onions, potatoes, turnips, beets... some were more disappointing than others, but none of them did as well as they should have.
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@peavey (16936)
• United States
15 Feb 12
Sunchokes are Jerusalem artichokes. They're a type of sunflower that has edible tubers that you can eat raw or cook like potatoes. They did reasonably well and some of them did very well, so I'm happy about that.
Potatoes are usually easy to grow here, but last year didn't do so well. I'm not planning on planting them this year because they take too much room and mine is limited. Have you thought about bush pumpkins? They don't take nearly the room. If you were closer, I could give you some seed!
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
15 Feb 12
What are sunchokes?
I'm sorry things didn't do as well as you hoped. We did ok w/ corn only problem is we have a squirrel who thinks when the corn is ready to harvest it up for grabs by it. Hubby tried a pumpkin but the vine got too big for the room we had and what fruit we did have on the vine something started chewing on it. We got a handful of potatoes, as we were just trying those out in our garden so who know's maybe hubby will expand yet again in 2012.
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
15 Feb 12
You guys can get some crazy temps down your way. I don't blame you for not really trying.
@pergammano (7682)
• Canada
16 Nov 11
OMG...3Snuggles...are you ready for a "novel?" O.K., I will try and keep it short!
I have been gardening on this property for almost 32 years, so know my soils and garden plots..Which one get's what sun..Sandy, loamy..yada, yada! So have all those angles worked out...but Mother Nature can throw a wrench into the whole works!
Tomatoes, peppers..and all members of the squash family did NOT do well this year!
It was a cool, cool spring (coolest in the last 100 years)and the nights did not get above 50 until August (nice for sleeping..but not plants)! So all thenightshade and cucurbit family did not fair well do to blights (cool nights) and aphids (whom love the cool nights).....and DEER!
Still have tomatoes in the greenhouse...and my FALL garden of Leeks, Swiss Chard, beets, Kale and Garlic are doing stupendous!
I am savouring every bite of tomato, tho!
All my herbs did well...and I grow Nasturtiums everywhere..as there is no part of them uneatable!
My buddleia (Butterfly bush) bloomed twice...all these years I was sure it was the common Davidii...this year (first time)it bloomed a very deep purple! Guess the cold caused that! Have a great one!
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@pergammano (7682)
• Canada
15 Feb 12
Nice to hear from you, girl! I having been nearing as active, as I seem to be having a great deal of problems with the site! Lack of notifications, several mornings (including this morning) not able to post, so will see if this goes thru!
I ma really surprised that Nasturtiums do not grow well for you...Mine are in lots of sun....and they are part of my daily diet...I even pickle the seeds (what I don't save for growing) and they are better than capers! ( which are very expensive here. My Garlic was peeking thru the last snow!
NO ideas what this year will be like...as we just had three weeks of Spring weather and now it's back to freezing! It was sooooo nice not to have to make the fire, everynite.
Yes, gotta have my garden..I live for it, and it keeps me living..LOL!@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
15 Feb 12
I agree that was quite a cold summer and that's no good for a garden forsure. I hope your fall plants and those in your greenhouse did well. I've had pretty good luck with my butterfly bush but is has to be in full sun. I had one in part shade and it did not do well and then my precious neighbor put his woodpile right in that corner didn't help it continue to get any sunlight in that corner in my yard.
I only tried growing nasturuiums once and they didn't do well as I was looking for a climber for my front flowerbed. The climber that does well for me are morning glories, only problem they are agressive and can strangle other plants so you have to be careful with them and their seeds. Here's to a better garden in 2012
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@marguicha (222781)
• Chile
15 Nov 11
My season is just starting, as I live in the Southern Hemisphere. I hope I have more tomatoes than last year (the plants look awesome, but still small) I have some leeks, green onions, kale, lettuce and my green beans are coming out. The zuchinni are starting to flower, but I don´t see fruits yet
. Sweet peppers are very small and so are my basil seedlings, just changed into one container for each plant.
My cacti are griwing beautiful and it´s the time of the year when you find flowers on some of them.
I have not palnted carrots, but arugule and radishes are coming out too. We´ll see
. Sweet peppers are very small and so are my basil seedlings, just changed into one container for each plant.
My cacti are griwing beautiful and it´s the time of the year when you find flowers on some of them.
I have not palnted carrots, but arugule and radishes are coming out too. We´ll see1 person likes this
