Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Midwest Garden falling into Fall?

Normally, my blog is full of gorgeous summer photos of a garden to be proud of, but with the cold/late spring and the drowning two months of record rains, 
Chicagoland weather has been inhospitable to gardening.

My flowers are sad---everywhere, too much greenery to sustain through the season. I leave the blossoms on these to dry for the birds to feed.


Foliage was abundant, while roots were shallow and nonexistent on some of the tallest plants. A few days without water and tomatoes plants simply wilted instantly and refused to revive. Our tomatoes have been small, falling off the vines and way below normal production.



My Zinnias are 5 feet tall, but the flowers are very small and tight. 
No bouquets in the house this year each week. Never enough flowers to snitch from the yard.
I spent most of the summer dumping out saucers under plants and drilling holes in others for more drainage.


The Marigold on the right is growing through a crack in the sidewalk, just to show you what the dirt underneath is holding for water. I have watered it three times all summer.


But Fall is creeping up on us, and the sedum is small---but just opening.




These bees were absolutely burying themselves in the blossoms.


They never even blinked at me sticking a camera near them.


My back stairs---peeling from all the rain and we redid them last year, the green tinge is mold which covers everything. We bleached the stairs because they were scary slippery.


The birdhouse pole rotted, this year. Crazy!



Hollyhocks seed pods are still tightly wrapped. When they open, I will spread them out along the fence.


Strangely we have a few huge pumpkins. This one is at least 15" long.


Pie pumpkins are nowhere near ripening though.

Another large pumpkin on our antique cultivator. The leaves are starting to dry up, or mildew up--not sure which.

We have a few spaghetti squash, still hanging. Soon to be picked. They are very hard, not really ripe yet.


And Butternut squash, my personal favorite.


Another spaghetti squash, this one hides in the bean trellis, beans, we have finally had two pickings---so late.


Here's my dill---but there are no cucumbers to use it with. We had fresh cukes a couple at a time, not enough for making pickles.


Squash leaves looked like ancient tattered petticoats, and yet they try to blossom? 
Plants are confused, so am I.



And it's dropping into the low 50's tonight. Trees are thinking about turning, our Maple in front---with its edges starting to lemon out before either drying up or maybe turning salmon orange. 
Crossing my fingers. 

How is your Fall yard doing?

Thanks always for visiting. 
I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.
 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 
Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

I will be sharing at these fine Parties!



Sandi






10 comments:

  1. Hi Sandi, your fall garden is amazing. Love seeing the pumpkins and the transition from summer to fall. I'm sure the cooler temps are nice too. We are ready here for fall. Have a beautiful September and fall days ahead. xo

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    1. Yes, thank you, some cooler temperatures have helped a lot. Some flowers and tomatoes plants have revived, Happy Fall!

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  2. Beautiful photographs of your garden in the Midwest. Your care is evident. I like butternut squash and spaghetti squash, too. Some of our plants are getting tired but our marigolds are bushes now here in Pennsylvania.

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    1. Thank you Karen, our marigolds have revived with the cooler temps and are going crazy now. Happy Fall!

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  3. Despite the crumby weather, you still have some pretties. As gardeners, we can always say there's next year. We've had ample rain this summer here in Minnesota, but now things are starting to dry out, but my gardens are hanging in there.

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    1. LOL, yes, but I didn't show the worst, lol. I think cooler temperatures are helping, if we don't have early frost, we may have some decent broccoli
      Thanks for stopping by, Sandi

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  4. Last year we had a drought here in the summer and this year we have had so much rain that it ruined our plans many times. My garden is okay...It was nice not to have to water much.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, crazy weather everywhere. Hopefully we can all, take a breath with some cooler temperatures, Sandi

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  5. Sandi, I'm sorry to hear that you have been dealing with this. I still have pretty flowers here, despite our hottest summer to ever be recorded! Hubby has been cutting back a lot in the garden for me prepping for winter. Thanks for sharing with SYC. I picked a spaghetti squash the other night and we cooked it for dinner. It was okay, but needs to ripen a little longer.
    hugs,
    Jann

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    1. In lieu of all the disasters everywhere---whining about a lousy garden is foolish. Cooler temps are a help---Good luck with your garden and health. Hugs, Sandi

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Thank you for any and all comments. I will be happy to answer any questions or comments in replies or email! HUGS!