A Decade of Gardening Part II - a Look Back

I like to compare each new outdoor gardening season to the start of a new grade school year. There's anticipation, excitement, and a bit of anxiety of the unknown all wrapped up in a bouncing ball of emotions. We sort of know of what goes on each school and garden year, but the specific events are never the same from year to year.

This past decade of gardening took me right back to second grade which was one of my favorite years - maybe because I got glasses that year and I could actually see the chalkboard and the grass surrounding the playground outside the windows. Suffice it to say I saw green that year and if you read Part I of this three part blog, you'll remember that we had two, rather lush, greener than usual, rainy summers in 2011 and 2015. What else happened in the garden this past decade?

Below are some of my memorable years in pictures with comments.

2010 - May and June were rainy but it got hot and stayed hot July through September. It was a good spring bloom season and the very drought tolerant Cheyenne Mock Orange I planted for my favorite neighbor off her alley fence bloomed gang busters, so much so that the heavenly fragrance drifted to our backyard. At that time, we were out of room to plant this winning shrub from Plant Select® in our yard.

I promised Ann, my neighbor, at planting time (a few years prior), that she wouldn't have to water the shrub once established if she didn't want to wrangle with getting the hose over the fence if I wasn't around to assist. She was in her 80s and took the path of low maintenance and gave it a drink or two over the years. She sadly passed away last March (2019), but the shrub is going strong, just like Ann was up until a week before her death.

Cheyenne Mock Orange

2011 and 2015 - I discussed these rainy summers in Part I. It dried up enough to get a phenomenal crop of lettuce leaf and Genovese basil. My secret for enough plant leaves to eat all season, share and freeze for winter eats is to directly seed basil seeds of your choice. 

Growing Basil How To

2012 may be our most memorable garden year since the late 90s when we put in a brand new landscape. We were fortunate to start over from scratch as a result of a recent building project. The experience was not only rewarding but challenging in a good way due to all the planning and overseeing the install in steady stages through the summer. 

On the south exposure, our goal of more trees for privacy plus less thirsty herbs and perennials that appeal to birds and pollinators was met in spades (pun intended). To the west we skipped planting turf entirely and focused again on trees, shrubs, a dry rock stream and swaths of low maintenance ground covers and soft evergreen shrubs. We've made plant changes here and there over the years, but we have maintained the original concept. Not to worry, we planted our own Cheyenne Mock Orange that is almost as pretty as Ann's and just as perfumed when in spring bloom.

Thanks always goes to Mr. Alan Rollinger, a Denver based well known and respected landscape designer and instructor, who so thoughtfully and expertly designed our landscape, and to Mr. Brad Stark, (303) 669-0772 for his outstanding planting and hardscape installations including our raised beds. 

Some of the new plants for the new landscape

This slug was large and slow, easy to get a close up shot!

Red Cedar 18" depth Raised Beds, Expertly Built by Brad Stark, 303 669-0772

2012 was a red letter year when I was asked by Susan Clotfelter, a former Home and Garden editor at The Denver Post to write a freelance garden column she so aptly named - "The Punch List" about what to be doing and when in a typical Front Range garden during the growing season and other months. Thank you so much Susan, The Denver Post and my subsequent DP editors. It's been a good run so far!

2013 was an outstanding vegetable growing year. The first garlic crop in the new raised beds were planted in the fall of 2012, some varieties grew to golf ball size plus and tasted garlicky fresh. 

Hardneck 'Music,' a family favorite!

Softneck 'Susanville'

2013 Ferris is admiring the pretty one year old fall shrubs. His favorite place to roam is the south berm between the fir and spruce trees and shrubs.

2013 marked the first year I spotted and snapped a photo of our on-going nemesis in central and south Denver. More in Part III.

First EVER Japanese Beetle - late fall (which was interesting to see so late in the season)

Hope you'll check back soon for the final Decade of Gardening installment with more pictures and garden stories.