Right about this time, last year, I was making plans for how we would tackle the garden at our new house. (You can read our Garden Goals for 2020 by clicking HERE.) For Hunter’s work, we are required to live in government housing, and from time-to-time, he is transferred. Last October, we were transferred to a new station and assigned a new house—one that clearly had never been inhabited by a gardener! In terms of landscaping, we started with bare bones—not a single flower bed was in place—we just had lawn, lawn, and more lawn. And some feral, unkempt raspberries. So when we sat down to come up with our plan, there was lots of work to be done, to get the landscape headed in the right direction. Some of our top priorities included: establishing a fenced vegetable garden in the side yard; establishing flower beds around the house; planting some trees and wind breaks; and starting a mixed hedge in the front yard. Before we could do any of the above, however, we had to seek out approval from the lawn-loving superintendent.
Permission to Proceed
I’m not exaggerating when I tell you the new superintendent loves lawn. When we moved here, before doing the walk-through, we told him we were planning on doing some gardening. As I stumbled in a hole in the uneven yard, likely from a previous tenant’s dog, he said, “Yeah, I’m okay if you are wanting to plant a few things. I just don’t want you to remove any of the lawn; I’ve worked really hard on getting this lawn nice.”
It wasn’t until Hunter came home from work and told me about the tiny area that the superintendent had recommended for planting the vegetable garden, when I really started getting worried. It was across the driveway from our house, on top of a septic tank, in a weedy, dry, unkempt corner near the tree belt—an awful location for a vegetable garden. To make matters worse, Hunter had also asked for permission to plant a pair of crabapple trees in the backyard, and while he wasn’t outright denied, the superintendent complained about how much he hates crabapple trees.
So we started strategizing. I had a few fellow gardeners tell me they would be happy to help with recommendation letters or phone calls. I decided I could always pay our last superintendent a visit (with an armful of some sort of chocolatey dessert), and see if he would be willing to place a reassuring phone call, on my behalf, to the new superintendent. And then I told Hunter to invite the new superintendent and his family over for dinner. Before the scheduled dinner, I placed a digital picture frame within a clear line of sight from the dining table, and strategically interspersed my garden photos in between our family pictures. Before dinner was even served, the superintendent started asking, “Where did you take these photos?…Wow, what kind of flowers are these?!…Did you really plant all this stuff?….Was this really your last garden?…You were able to accomplish this much in less than three years at the last place?…”
By the end of dinner, the superintendent was saying, “I can’t wait to see what you can grow here!…You’re going to make the yard here look so much better!…Make the vegetable garden wherever you want it. If you don’t have enough room over here, surely we could find you a good spot somewhere else on the grounds.”
Mission Accomplished
Creating New Garden Beds
Spring was busy, as it included vast amounts of grass removal, mostly by hand, as we established and edged flowerbeds around the house and deck. In general, I appreciate curved, flowing garden beds, hand edged to perfection, but to make maintenance easier (especially for future tenants), the beds had to be edged with physical barriers to prevent the grass from creeping in. The soil was heavy red clay, and after amending it, I planted many perennials. We also established a large vegetable garden area where there was previously a sidelawn. To do so, we had to remove the sod, till in a dump truck load of compost & manure, and build a deer fence. As the days grew longer, my hands got sore and tired, and the pile of removed sod turned into a mountain. My vision of a mature landscape is still years away, but we are off to great start.
Woa, it’s windy!
We knew one of our biggest obstacles gardening here would be the wind. In fact, in anticipation for the wind, we planted a few windbreak hedges of Elderberries and Viburnums. This was one of the first priorities, obviously, because wind breaks take years to establish. We aren’t sure how long we will get to stay here, but we selected native shrubs for the windbreaks, that will offer birds cover and food for many years to come.
The biggest garden takeaway from 2020, however, was that the wind was even worse than I could have imagined. IT BLOWS! Locals told me that the wind is better in summer, but what they really meant is—July has slightly less wind than the other 11 months of the year. June was still fairly bad. After the final frost finally passes in late May to early June, the wind blows in; so all of your newly transplanted plants have to deal with hurricane force gales. When you have an already short growing season, this can really slow production.
To immediately remedy the wind situation in the vegetable garden, we surrounded it with pallets. Admittedly, the pallets drastically cut down on the overall curb appeal of the garden, but they are necessary and practical for plant survival. Some of the neighbors have told me the pallets offer a “country charm”.
Summer is Short
Another takeaway from 2020 is that the growing season can be unpredictably short. I, of course, learned this in previous seasons, gardening in Wyoming, but this year was an all time low in terms of duration. We didn’t even get a full 3 months, which was a tad heartbreaking. Most of the garden was brought to an abrupt end on September 7th, when we got several inches of unexpected snowfall.
Garden Superstars of 2020
It is hard for me to judge plants as I normally would, given that this years garden was so new, and that our season was so brief. Many perennials don’t come into their stride until a couple years after planting, and so most of the perennial plants are still babies! Each year, however, I like to make note of things that grew particularly well or simply plants that I loved! Here is what made the cut for 2020:
‘Evening Rose’ Summerific Hibiscus
I planted a few hardy hibiscuses from bare roots to bring perennial interest and beautiful blooms to my garden. They were slow to emerge from the ground, likely do to cool, early season weather. But once they got growing, by far, the most beautiful hardy hibiscus I grew was ‘Evening Rose’ from Walter’s Gardens. Once the heat of summer settled in, it was off to the races! This plant grew very vigorously, and the foliage was dramatic dark purple, which made for a pretty plant, blooms or no blooms. The day before our super early September snowstorm, I finally got to enjoy a bright pink bloom. It was gorgeous!
‘Jalafuego’ Jalapenos
The Jalafuegos outperformed every other hot pepper variety I grew this year. These plants produced a glut of high-quality, large jalapenos for poppers—we’re talking 4-5”, glossy, gorgeous peppers! I don’t know if I will even bother with traditional Early Jalapenos anymore. This one is a repeat for next year.
Mexican Sunflowers
Flowering abundantly, these are a hummingbird and monarch butterfly favorite. I’ve grown them for a few years, and I still love them! They held up to our crazy winds like champions, while many plants struggled, and they are just so easy to grow from seed.
‘Artemis’ Silver Sage
I make a conscious effort to grow some plants with interesting foliage. Like the cliche goes—Flowers are fleeting, but foliage is FOREVER! In terms of an awesome foliage plant, that is super simple to grow from seed—look no further than Silver Sage. It offers fabulous, fuzzy foliage in a beautiful shade of silvery green. When wet, the plants dazzle like they are covered in diamonds! They are equally beautiful in their velvety, dry state.
‘Midnight Masquerade’ Penstemon
Of all the beardtongues that I have grown, ‘Midnight Masquerade’ is at the top of my list. It ticks all the boxes of a great perennial plant. It has pretty purple foliage, flowers for a long time, and the hummingbirds love it! I can’t wait to see how these grow up and fill in the area where I’ve planted them. For a first year perennial, however, I was impressed with the flower power and beauty of these!
‘Arcadia’ Broccoli
Arcadia Broccoli is one of my vegetable garden standbys, but a good one! Last year, it seemed to take longer than ever to produce, but I got amazing central heads from it. Really, the heads were impressively HUGE—as big as your head! The plants also survived, well after our crazy September snowstorm, and several hard frosts, yielding many side shoots that were of equally high quality to the central heads.
‘Golden Dreams’ Coleus
Lastly, this Proven Winners coleus—’Golden Dreams’—won me over. Talk about fabulous foliage! This plant grew into a substantial bush by the end of summer, didn’t try to bolt constantly, and was such a bright spot in the garden. It features golden-chartreuse leaves, with toothy edges, and bold red veining. It was such a stunning plant and I will be on the lookout for it again, this summer!