Autumn is here and my stonecrop flowers are turning red and birches are starting to drop their leaves.
Temperature is slowly dropping and it rains more often. Days are getting shorter and we are reaching the point where the day is as long as the night.
Stonecrop is probably one of the easiest plant to grow. It can almost take any weather or temperature and still look good. Must buy more of them in the spring.
Daisies are growing wild here like nearly everywhere else.
Last year planted some May Queens and they are blooming now. To be honest I expected them to have stronger stems. They do not take the rain and wind well.
Must find a stronger variety to grow since the summer rains are not going to go away.
This is the first time I have planted bloody geraniums and they seem to do well.
Elkes’ blooms are larger than I expected and they seem to do OK even in the wet spot I have put them.
Must buy other colors next year. This flower might be a perfect choice for the summer cottage.
May was the warmest in living memory. Million bells have enjoyed the warmth and blooming beautifully.
After three cold summers I do not even care that it is too dry and everything needs constant watering.
Luckily I had two long weekends and was able to spend the time in the summer cottage swimming and sunbathing. And of course planting and tendering the garden.
Let’s see how the rest of the summer turns out to be. Now I just enjoy and spend my time outside.
The snowdrop windflowers started to bloom today. Like they all decided to open their flowers on the same day.
At first I was sure that they will not make it up here but then they started to spread and are now doing well.
Now they are just in one flower bead but my plan is to move some of them to new places to have them in several different locations.
Warm days continue and all the spring flowers are starting to bloom. The down side of this heat is that the blooms will fade away quickly.
At least few more days of warm weather left until it cools down again.
Managed to do most of the planting during the long weekend. Now just waiting to see the results and hoping for the best.
October is here but I am harvesting strawberries. This is the first time I am able to taste the Alpine Strawberry Alexandria and are they sweet and tasty! The size of a berry is larger than the wild strawberries have but much smaller than in the cultivated varieties.
I have newer tried to grow strawberries from seed. Two years ago decided to give it a try expecting to fail miserably. To my big surprise the seeds germinated and grew well. I was sure that this variety would not make it through the winter up here in the north but it did it with flying colors.
The only thing it seems to be confused about is timing. Alexandria tried to bloom early in the spring but failed. Not sure if it was the cold weather we have had. Everything is about a month late this summer and farmers are going to loose most of the grain they have grown. Definitely not an ideal summer for gardening.
But when I think about this I would not mind having a late harvest. All the other strawberries are long gone and it is nice to have a taste of summer in your mouth when the days are getting darker and darker. Let’s see if Alexandria continues to be confused and lost or align with the others in the years to come.
Time to harvest! Peas did well this year. Sawed the seeds already in April which is early up here. Normally peas are planted few weeks later.
I tried a new variety called Douce Provence and it did surprisingly well even though we had the coldest summer in twenty years. Spring was dry and cold and summer months cool and rainy.
The variety is not that sweet tough. I was expecting a bit sweeter peas.
The first hints of autumn are here. Ornamental brassicas are starting to display their colors.
The Red Pigeon is yet another newcomer to my garden. It has succeeded well and I like the colors it has.
If I am right it will tolerate the cold well and continue to grow two more months. Getting even brighter and larger. Standing out even better when nearly all the other plants are gone.
This far there has been no pests to ruin its leaves which has surprised me. I expected to loose some of them to hungry visitors. Must have more of them next year.
A new variety I tried for the fist time this year. Everything started slowly. My original idea was to have new potatoes after the mid summer and now it is mid-August.
Planted the potatoes already late April but nothing happened for weeks. Spring was simply too cold.
The end result was good though. Beautiful white potatoes and the size of them is just right.
I might have found a new variety for me. Just need to see how well they will do in the storage and of course I need to taste them first. Cannot wait, must hurry to the kitchen.
Gardening in the North 