By: Veronica Sliva
How is your garden growing? It’s mid-summer and by now you know if things are going well in your garden or not. What seemed like a good idea in late April may be a disaster by late July. Even though there’s lots of growing time left in the season, it’s not too early to start planning for next year’s garden.
Now is the time to take stock. I like to go “walk about” in my garden, camera in hand. I take photos of plants I like, plants that have under performed, combinations that work and those that don’t, container plantings, and I also snap long shots to capture the overall design (or lack thereof).
In this way -- through photos -- I critically assess my efforts. The camera never lies. Take a walk with me while I assess my own garden’s performance...
In early spring I was smitten with the catalog photo of an annual plant called “Pride of Gibraltar” (Cerinthe). The seed pack promised “Fleshy dark foliage with brilliant blue-tinged bracts and purple bell-shaped flowers”. So, I nurtured the seed along and placed the little seedlings in a prominent position in the front garden. Close up, the flower is...nice.
Close-up; wide view
But in the forefront of my garden, it’s just a big blob that's not very fetching. I see now that I used up a lot of space on a plant I wasn’t familiar with and I regret it. Lesson learned: by all means experiment with plants, but try them out first in a less important location. Smart gardeners have a dedicated place where they “trial” plants to see if they deserve a coveted spot in the garden. I now have a little out-of-the-way patch that is going to become my trial bed!
We moved into this house late last summer. All the “good” gardeners will tell you to live with your garden for a year before making any changes. I don’t have that kind of restraint. The front garden was sparse with overgrown shrubs that I pulled out, and was left with a moonscape. So, I dug a long border and got rid of half the lawn. Here’s how it looks now:
Front garden
I like the blue obelisk, but the cup and saucer vine growing on it isn’t really doing much. Note to self: choose something else next year. I’ve decided I don’t like the effect of the red geraniums, even though they match my red front door -- they look spotty. But, I do like the sweeping shape of the border. The photo reveals that the garden needs more structure. There are shrubs in there that will achieve that, but for now they are quite small and seem to be swallowed up. I guess I can wait.
Back garden
The back garden came with a mature grape vine arbour. I love how it looks over the patio (though the grapes are going moldy and I’ll need to research that.) I’m happy with my new rose garden, though the photo reveals that the bed around the 3-tier bird bath should be wider. The lavender 
at the edge is looking scraggly and I’m disappointed that ‘Elegant Ice’, the white variety, hasn’t even bloomed yet.
Tomatoes
Over to the tomato patch…I’m very happy with the stainless steel spiral stakes that support my heirloom tomato plants. I think having them grow against the greenhouse wall gives them a little extra support and helps retain some heat. But, the French marigolds I planted in front of them are dismal. They are long and leggy and have very few flowers. Nix to them next year.
So, you get the idea. How does your garden grow?
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